The anatomy of a great nonprofit website is built by telling the story of who you are, what you do and why your audience (donors!) should care. We’ve taken that a step further by putting together a website checklist with additional key elements and best practices for nonprofit website engagement. Take a read through our high-level tips and then be sure to download our free guide for particulars as you build out your nonprofit’s site.
Use your metrics
Keep an eye on your website traffic by using free tools such as Google Analytics to analyze top-performing pages, most-viewed (or exited) pages and where your traffic is coming from to make informed decisions on new content, pages or areas of the site.
Make it mobile-friendly
Ensure visitors to your website have a positive experience whether they are viewing from their desktop, their phone, tablet or otherwise. If your donation pages and website, in general, are not yet mobile-friendly, make it a priority to change that.
Add key website elements
Make it easy for users to navigate your site as well as share their findings with their networks. Ensure your social media links are prominent on your website header or footer, ensure there is a simple way to get in touch via a contact form or chatbox, and always have your donate button visible.
Get creative with gated content
Build your contact lists by adding gated content to your website. Gated content is content, where a visitor needs to fill out a form or provide additional information (name, email address, etc.) to receive the content as a downloaded piece of information, new landing page, etc. Think of templates, research reports, etc. for these gated content elements.
Write copy with keywords and SEO in mind
Storytelling is a huge part of what draws donors in. As you craft your messaging, consider researching keywords so that as donors are looking for organizations of interest, yours comes to the top of the search engine. Many small to mid-sized nonprofits will use localized SEO strategies. For instance, instead of using the phrase ‘dog shelter’ an organization may use the phrase ‘Cincinnati dog shelter’ for specificity and ease for donors (or participants) to find them.
Don’t forget email sign-ups
Make it easy for visitors to stay in touch by offering an easy-to-find email sign-up area on your website. This is something that can easily be added to the footer of your website so that it appears on every page.
Brush up your nonprofit’s website with our free, Nonprofit Website Checklist for Optimization and Engagement. Use this website checklist to make changes to your existing site or when it comes time to build a new site.
