the foundations of a great nonprofit website
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Creating a nonprofit website is no easy feat, but it's hugely important to the success of your organization. It's our hope these tips will help you make a better website for your nonprofit that not only looks and works great, but truly helps you do more good in the communities you serve. For more on developing a website for your nonprofit, check out out blog: http://wiredimpact.com/blog/TRANSCRIPT
The Foundations of aGreat Nonprofit Website
David Hartstein & Jonathan GoldfordWired Impact
2The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
Wired Impact
We make websites for nonprofits
Jonathan GoldfordProgramming, Usability
David HartsteinContent, Measurement
3The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
What We’ll Cover
Setting website goals
Creating great website content
Driving traffic to your website
Increasing conversions
Measuring outcomes
Setting Website Goals
5
What We’ll Cover
The why of creating website goals
Starting with organizational goals
Creating connected website goals
Making website goals concrete
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
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Why Create Website Goals?
Lots of tools, systems and opportunities:
We must be able to track success to invest effectively
So…
Only so much…
Time & Money
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
7The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
Start with Organizational Goals
Increase New Donors
Increase Repeat Volunteers
Provide More Health Improvement Information
8The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
Create Connected Website Goals
Increase New Donors
Increase Repeat VolunteersProvide More Health Improvement Information
Increase Number of Online Donations
Increase Volunteer Form SubmissionsIncrease Downloads of Health Related PDF
9The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
Make Website Goals Concrete
Increase Number of Online Donations
Increase Volunteer Form SubmissionsIncrease Downloads of Health Related PDF
Raise $1,500 Online Per MonthSign Up 10 Volunteers Online Per Month
30 Downloads of Health Related PDF Per Month
10The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
Website Goals Should Be…
As concrete as possible
Based on a timeframe
Initially somewhat arbitrary
Numerous, then prioritized and limited based on constraints
Ambitious, but realistic
Creating Great Website Content
12The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
What We’ll Cover
What’s the point of website content?
General tips for better content
Nonprofit-specific tips for better content
Some examples of awesomeness
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What’s the Point of Content?
Not just story time…
… need to compel visitors to act
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Your Mindset
Always think like your website visitor(s)
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General Content Tips
1. Specifics work better than generalities
2. Stories are more engaging than statistics
3. Photos and videos promote emotion4. Avoid jargon5. Write how you speak6. Use lists and headings7. Give visitors a reason to check back
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Nonprofit-Specific Content Tips
1. Illustrate your impact with first-person accounts
2. Give multiple, specific ways to get involved
3. Be transparent (build trust)4. Establish authority5. Clearly state the problem6. Inspire hope
Better content means you can ultimately
do more good
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Video Example
What moments do you find most moving?
What sticks with you?
Rachel’s Gift
Driving Traffic to Your Website
19The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
Driving Traffic to Your Website
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What We’ll Cover
Where does your traffic come from?
What do search engines care about?
How can you boost traffic to your website?
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Where Does Your Traffic Come From?
Organic search (branded vs. unbranded)
Paid search
Referrals from other websites
Social media
Email newsletters
Direct traffic
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Organic & Paid Search
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What Search Engines Value
Search vs. Website
Relevance
Popularity
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Tips for Getting More Traffic
1. Use words people will search for2. Produce fresh, interesting content3. Involve your community4. Build relationships on social media5. Think about building links
Is it the “right” traffic?
Increasing Conversions on Your Nonprofit’s Website
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What We’ll Cover
Defining a conversion
Examples of different types of conversions
Tips to improve your conversion rate
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What is a Conversion?
A Conversion is a specific, beneficial
action a visitor takes on your website.
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What Types of Actions?
Downloading
Donating
Commenting
Signing up to volunteer
Sharing via social mediaRSVPing for event
Signing up for your email newsletter
Viewing a page, story, or blog post
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How About Some Examples?StillPointe Llama
Sanctuary
Besties with Testies
Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York
Global Advance
Oxfam America
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Your Website Must Load Quickly
Sources: KISSMetrics, Mashable
40% of Users Abandon a Website
That Takes More Than 3 Seconds to
Load
100 200 300 4000%
2%
4%
Amazon Increased Revenue by 1% for
Every 100 Millisecond Decrease in Load Time
Decrease in Load Time (Mil-liseconds)
Reven
ue I
ncre
ase
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
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Ensure Consistency Across Browsers
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Everything Must Be Easy
Have you ever had that feeling of confusion? That feeling of “what do
I do next?”
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Everything Must Be Easy
UsabilityHow easy is it to use and how easy is it to
learn?
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Everything Must Be Easy: Examples
Navigation is very clear and includes search just in case
CAPTCHA is very unclear and difficult to use
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Provide Many Opportunities to Engage
Not everyone wants to or is ready to get involved in the same way.
UNICEF PETA
AARP
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Keep Engaging Convenient
ACLU
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Use an Easy Donation Process
Provide a link to give on every page
Keep people on your website
Give them donation options
Only include necessary form fieldsThe Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
Measuring Website Success
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The Components of Measurement
Your website goals
Tools for measurement
Reviewing your data
Adjustments to goals, website and other tools
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
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Your Website Goals
Raise $1,500 Online Per Month
Sign Up 10 Volunteers Online Per Month
30 Downloads of Health Related PDF Per Month
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The Tools for Measurement
Analytics Tool Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet can aggregate data across all areas,
not just web analytics.The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
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Reviewing Your Data
When are you going to discuss the results? Once a month? Once every three months?
Who is going to be involved in these reviews? Who is going to be the point person?
What do you want to come out of each one of these reviews?
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Adjustments to Goals, Website and Other Tools
Goals should be adjusted depending on success and outside factors
Test changes to the website and other tools (Tip: Don’t make changes too often to ensure confidence in results)
Repeat the adjustment process
Adjustments and changes should be ongoing
The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
We’re Done(which is good, because you must be tired)
http://wiredimpact.com(314) 801-1328
45The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website
AttributionPhotos• http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiertz/6531669359/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/calsidyrose/5717134392/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/agnihot/4976632376/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/6415460111/sizes/z/• http://paulirish.com/lovesyou/new-browser-logos/• http://findicons.com/icon/126880/apple_iphone?width=256• http://www.flickr.com/photos/appsmanila/7983070362/sizes/s• http://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/6415460111/sizes/z/• http://www.rimmkaufman.com/content/bad_captcha2.jpg
Websites• http://stillpointesanctuary.org/• http://www.bestieswithtesties.org/• http://gsneny.org/• http://www.globaladvance.org/• http://www.oxfamamerica.org/• http://www.redcross.org/• http://www.unicef.org/• http://www.peta.org/• http://www.aarp.org/• http://www.aclu.org/national-security/detention• http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.support