What Florida Nonprofits Should Prioritize Before a Website Redesign
As a non-profit, you must be able to reach a broader audience than a typical for-profit business. As your marketing must speak to your mission instead of a product or service, it is critical that your website reaches users on a deeper level than a corporation might have to. Your goal is to make people care about your cause instead of a product solving a personal problem. It is key to build relationships and establish an emotional connection early on. So if you are considering a nonprofit website design, how do you make all this a reality? Let’s take a look.
Identify How Your Website Communicates Your Mission
Since the mission is the foundation of your organization, it’s vital that your website speaks to the core values and goals of your non-profit. If it doesn’t, ask yourself how it can be presented in a better way so that the purpose of your organization is not only clear but consistent throughout your website and other marketing materials. Once you get a sense of what is missing from your current website, you can start creating more defined key messages and marketing collateral. Ultimately, your website should establish the who, what, where, and when of your organization front and center without users searching for it.
Key Tip – To instill a sense of urgency and encourage users to engage with your mission, utilize progress bars, achievement markers, and other similar graphic design aspects to visually show milestones related to your non-profit. These could be statements like: “Reached 87% of our goal, Help Us Reach 100% by X date” or “Raised $5,000 for X campaign, Donate today to make a difference”.
How Do You Connect with Your Audience and Target Market?
Your content needs to make users feel strongly about your cause, enough that they care to act. But first, you need to meet them at the place they are most comfortable with engaging and what will speak to them the most. Is it through social media, events, community campaigns, or a combination of avenues? Whichever way you engage with your audience, ensure your website reflects this and has the capability to encourage natural interaction.
For example, if social media is very important, you will want to pull in your social feeds to show what you are posting across each platform. If in-person events or community efforts are essential to your cause, there should be a dedicated space on your site that includes images, videos, and media to reflect these activities.
Key Tip – Don’t forget about your partners. Highlight them throughout the website to help foster relationships and encourage new partnership opportunities.
Is The Functionality Of Your Site Working For You?
Whether you need your website to collect money for fundraisers, include sign-up forms for volunteers, or house a library of downloadable guides and pamphlets, it’s necessary to outline what is currently working and what isn’t. All major elements on your “must-have” list will need to run smoothly to satisfy your website’s goals.
Key Tip – At the very least, you need valuable content that informs the user, clearly communicates your mission, and gives them a reason to care about your end goal. It should encourage them to promote your cause and to get involved in your organization.
Do you have the Right Tools to Measure Your Impact?
From Google Analytics to call-tracking services, it’s important to keep record of leads and inquiries to measure how well you are doing and where you can improve. First, decide what type of leads you want to receive and what ways your current website is lacking when it comes to tracking them. Your web and marketing team can then help determine the most applicable tools that will get you the results you need.
Key Tip – There are many plugins and apps that cater to various services across the web. Finding the best ones can be tedious so here are a few notable tools to get you started.
- DonorBox is great for donations and campaigns
- Microsoft Clarity helps you monitor and understand your users’ experience with your website, and for newsletters
- Constant Contact/ Mailchimp are excellent industry standards.
Think About Your Target Audience’s Unique Elements
Do you work with those who have disabilities? Ensure the accessibility of your site to cater specifically to their needs. Even if your non-profit is not geared to those with a disability, ADA compliance is still necessary; it will just alter the level of compliance you may need to go for. Is a large portion of your audience international? Then perhaps you need to ensure your content is available in multiple languages. Outline the traits of your target audience to ensure the overall functionality and features of your website truly speak to them and provide a pleasant experience that matches their needs.
When Your Priorities Are Set, We Offer Support
Building your audience takes more time and effort for a non-profit than a standard company. You have to remember to build your repertoire through a clear presentation of your mission and how it connects to your users. Finding the right tools and applying them to an effective website makes all the difference.
As you organize your brand, it helps to have a second opinion and an experienced team to go over your plans. Here at BrandingCup, we offer the chance to review your ideas and support your new vision.
Ready for that redesign? Contact us today.
