You’re ready to share your nonprofit’s story with the world and your website has been built to do just that. But with all the other sites out there, how do you drive traffic to yours? And ultimately, once they’re on your website, how do you get visitors to act—either by making a donation, signing up for an event or commenting on your blog posts?
Consider the following 4 tips to drive traffic and increase engagement on your nonprofit’s website:
Prove your worth
If your website is one of the primary ways for soliciting online donations, make sure your organization’s mission statement, services you provide and how you use your donations are prominent and easy to find. A recent Nielsen study found that donors give to organizations that share their ideals and values; when choosing among charities, donors want to know how nonprofits do the things they say they do. Tell them.
Make it easy
Think from a user’s standpoint. Your visitors are coming from their desktops, tablets and smartphones. Think about implementing a responsive design and keep clicks to a minimum—make it easy for them to find the information they’re looking for. In addition, think about mobile and responsive donation forms. Not only should your website content grow (or shrink!) depending on the screen your users are visiting your site from, but the donation aspect of your website should be just as fluid.
Research keywords
On the inside, you may know your favorite program by an acronym—but your donors do not. Think like your donors think—what keywords and phrases would they search for if they were looking for you online? Tap into Google Keywords Tool and get a sense of the types of words and phrases that are used to describe your nonprofit and the type of work you do. Implement those keywords around your site—in the copy, in blog posts, in headings or even in your navigation.
Keep it fresh
Make a point to update the content on your site regularly. If donors happen upon your site multiple times in a month they want to see what has changed. Likewise, search engines like Google like to see that websites are active and updating content on a regular basis. Regular content updates can also help with search engine optimization (along with your keywords above)
What strategies have you recently implemented to increase traffic of your nonprofit’s website? Share your successes below!
