The Foundations of a Great Nonprofit Website

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

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What We’ll Cover

The why of creating website goals

Starting with organizational goals

Creating connected website goals

Making website goals concrete

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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