37 Must-Have Strategies to Better Engage Your Website

VisitorsSue Anne Reed, The Engage Group (@pmgengage)

Rob Manix, Defenders of Wildlife (@defenders) Allyson Kapin, Rad Campaign (@radcampaign)

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Design

Keep your design simple and clean

1

Keep your navigation easy to use

2

Put your important messages first

3

Make sure your website visitors know where you want them to go

4

Use a prominent donate button

5

Best practice◦ Make sure it matches your nonprofit’s other

materials ◦ Plan ahead before you start to code what colors

you want to use for your design, link color, text, etc.

Use a palette generator to find matching colors ◦ http://kuler.adobe.com/◦ http://colorschemedesigner.com/

Choose an appropriate color scheme

6

Many tools available to help automate link checking ◦ http://validator.w3.org/checklink◦ http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

Test your links

7

Use great images to help tell your story

8

Find ways to incorporate video and other multimedia

9

Create an easy to find sign-up form

10

Give visitors a reason to provide additional information

11

Have most important information “above the fold”

12

Don’t make pages too long

13

Include a clear call to action on every page

14

Reduce the use of Flash

15

Information

Make your mission statement easy to find

16

Tell compelling stories

17

What impact are your activists, volunteers and donors having on your organization?

Find ways to tell stories

18

Best practice ◦ Develop an editorial calendar to publish new

content on a regular basis Resources

◦ http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/resources/email-newsletters/sample-editorial-calendars-for-nonprofits/

◦ http://lightboxcollaborative.com/2012_editorial_calendar

◦ http://www.slideshare.net/MyCharityConnects/editorial-calendar-13048865

◦ http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33415/A-Step-by-Step-Guide-to-Efficient-Social-Media-Publishing-Template.aspx

Keep content fresh

19

Build contact information into navigation or design

20

Resources◦ http://

www.netwitsthinktank.com/search-engine-optimization-seo/master-seo-in-10-minutes.htm

◦ http://seo.grassroots.org/◦ http://social.razoo.com/2012/07/seo-101-for-nonpr

ofits/

Keep SEO in mind, but don’t overdo

21

Use dynamic content when possible

22

Best practice: ◦ Have a thank you page after people sign up for

your email list and donation

Don’t forget about your thank you pages

23

Mobile

Create mobile specific donation landing pages

24

Resources◦ http://www.beaconfire.com/blog/2011/10/ten-best-

practices-for-mobile-design-usability/

◦ http://newyorkblog.foundationcenter.org/2012/03/if-youre-thinking-about-creating-a-mobile-web-site-for-your-nonprofit.html

Have a mobile landing site, but allow people to access the full website

25

Resources◦ WordPress themes:

http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2012/06/responsive-wordpress-themes.html

◦ Web gallery of responsive sites: http://mediaqueri.es/

Use a flexible/responsive layout to make your site mobile friendly

26

Social

Give website visitors ways to connect with you via social media

27

Make content easy to share

28

Incorporate social proof when possible

29

Landing pages

Create custom landing pages for special campaigns

30

Remove navigation to make landing pages easier to navigate

31

Have a clear goal for each landing page and remove any clutter

32

Testing and tools

What should be tested? ◦ Loading page times ◦ Link checking

Resources◦ http://code.google.com/p/linkchecker/◦ http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/site-link-analyz

er/

◦ https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/

Use Google website tools to test your website

33

Know where your visitors are going on the site and optimize navigation

34

View search results to explore how people are finding your site

35

Give a friend $10 to make a donation on your website.

Ask them to try and break the page. Get their feedback on the user experience.

Test drive your donation page

36

A/B test donation landing page to find the best conversion

37

Contact Info: ◦ Sue Anne Reed

The Engage Group @Sue_Anne

◦ Rob Manix Defenders of Wildlife

◦ Allyson Kapin Rad Campaign @womenwhotech

Thank you and your contact info here

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Don’t forget to visit the Solutions Showcase!

Many of the ideas discussed today are on display at the Solutions

Showcase!

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