{"id":10259,"date":"2018-06-21T13:23:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T17:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/?p=10259"},"modified":"2024-11-12T18:50:25","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T23:50:25","slug":"how-to-improve-your-nonprofit-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/how-to-improve-your-nonprofit-website\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve Your Nonprofit’s Website"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve crafted heartfelt, donor-centric campaigns and appeals, your social media followers engage with you\u2026 but your online giving doesn\u2019t seem to be going so well. Why? It could be your website! Rachel Clemens, CMO of Mighty Citizen, presented some fantastic insight and action items\u00a0at 2018\u2019s Nonprofit Technology Conference for improving nonprofits’ websites to get donors giving online!<\/p>\n

Why does paying attention to what the heck is going on your website matter?<\/p>\n

In 2017, the percentage of total fundraising that took place online sat at 7.6%, and\u00a0the percentage of online giving that was done from a mobile device was 21% (according to Blackbaud’s Charitable Giving Report). If you have a website and it’s not mobile-responsive, you could be losing out on donations! Sites that aren’t mobile-responsive no longer rank as highly in Google’s search results. It literally pays to get your site up to speed with modern times.<\/p>\n

Where do you start? Internally. Before you hire outside help for your website, sit down with current stakeholders and set some goals (don’t forget to document them and know how you’ll measure them). The first thing you need to ask is\u00a0What are you trying to accomplish with your site?<\/strong><\/em> The answer to that question becomes your overall call-to-action.<\/p>\n

Not only do you need to think of an overall goal for your nonprofit’s website, it’s important to set a goal for\u00a0each page<\/strong> of your site. Think of your site as a collection of goals. Be sure to speak to the owners of each page to gather information about the content and call-to-action. A good way to start is with a content audit. In the example from Rachel below, each page was assigned an ID number with the name, purpose, desired user behavior, and desired audience recorded.<\/p>\n

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User Types and User Journey<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Another thing to keep in mind is that not everyone visiting your site is going to be the same type of user. You could have volunteers, donors, partners, or clients accessing your site at any given time. Each of them has a very different set of needs and desires, and each of them should be able to navigate your site easily, which is know as navigating with cognitive ease. You’ll need to anticipate your varying users’ needs and give them what they’re looking for. A great way to do this is to develop user personas for your site visitors. Check out this great article by John Haydon on the subject: How to Create User Personas for Your Website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s important that your user journey pathways are clear and free from cognitive load. Make sure you’re not overwhelming any of your users with too many forms of navigation, too many call-out boxes, too many images… basically too many\/too much of anything! Keep it simple and easy!<\/p>\n

A great example of what NOT to do comes courtesy of a Norwegian company’s site. Betcha’ don’t even know where to look first.<\/p>\n

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Must-Haves<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As you’re updating your site, there are a few things that you absolutely must have. No, really. You need these.<\/p>\n