Kelley Jarrett, Market Manager – GUIDE Creative (@guidecreative)

2013 WEB DESIGN TRENDS FOR NONPROFITS

Presented by:

W E L C O M E !

5 Strategic expert-led website assessments

1.  Riverdale Senior Center 2.  International Visitors Council of San Diego 3.  Friends of Lincoln Theater 4.  Reading Connections 5.  Wildlife Conservation Network Inc

WINNERS!

W H E N WA S T H E L A S T T I M E Y O U R E D E S I G N E D Y O U R W E B S I T E ?

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU REDESIGN YOUR WEBSITE?

Industry Standard is to redesign at least every 3-4 Years. But, Your Website Should be an EVOLUTION

EVOLVE. CONSTANTLY.

D I D Y O U U S E A U D I E N C E I N P U T TO H E L P Y O U D E S I G N Y O U R W E B S I T E ?

“Your website does not exist as a boutique just to show off information about your organization. Instead, it’s actually a tool to mobilize your audience...”

- Raheel Gauba “Design for Good: 4 (More) Nonprofit Design Principles” Netwits Think Tank, 10

RESONATE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

Who are you trying to engage? What does your audience care about? What information do they look for first? How do they access information? Who do you rely on Most to fulfill your mission?

DO YOU NEED TO ANALYZE YOUR AUDIENCE?

Focus on your audience needs - Who are your audience groups and who is most important? - What do they care about – need, goals and aspirations? - How do they interact with you on and off your website?

RESONATE WITH YOUR AUDIENCES

Speak the right language - Choose a key message and use it

consistently

-  Listen for feedback on what’s working and what’s not through social media, blogs and surveys

-  Avoid jargon, too little or too much content

-  Test!

RESONATE WITH YOUR AUDIENCES

H O W D I D Y O U O B TA I N T H AT I N P U T ?

Qualitative is great! Just be SURE to identify trends and ACT. Quantitative is key because trends are EASIER to see.

USER RESEARCH – QUANTITATIVE OPTIONS

H O W D O Y O U M E A S U R E S U C C E S S O F Y O U R W E B S I T E ?

Source: Charitable Giving Report, Blackbaud

ONLINE GIVING TRENDS

ONLINE ACTION 60% of donors visit a nonprofit’s website before making a gift.

D O E S Y O U R O R G A N I Z AT I O N U S E A W E B A N A LY S I S TO O L L I K E G O O G L E A N A LY T I C S ?

5 G O O G L E A N A LY T I C S R E P O R T S E V E RY N O N P R O F I T S H O U L D K N O W

What is it? •  Traffic •  Referrals •  Top Content •  Keywords

What to do with it? •  Change the date range filter to include “Past Comparison” to show

YOY •  Google defaults to the most recent month’s worth of data – increase to

3 months for better trends to survey peaks and valleys of traffic •  Peaks will showy what draws traffic – is it your e-newsletters or events •  Use those pages to pull traffic to other areas on the site. •  Click datapoints to add notes – “May eNews Sent” •  Use email scheduling to send a PDF of this report to key staff each

month

DASHBOARD

What is it? •  View the most or least viewed pages •  Presents an overview of important data •  Unique views, exit rates, and bounce rates

What to do with? •  Ensure the most viewed pages include clear calls to action -  Especially on pages with the highest exit rates: subscribe, register, donate,

event registration, surveys •  For bounce rates over 65%, review each page’s entrance point -  Analyze and test how content, keywords or placement could improve rate

•  For least viewed pages, consider deleting, moving, promoting or linking.

•  Sort by highest exit rate with an advanced filter for those viewed more than 10% of total pageviews -  Shows pages in need of calls to action -  These are often confirmation pages, and ideal for further engagement.

TOP CONTENT

What is it? – Shows details of how users are finding your website •  Direct links (bookmarks, email) •  Referral Links (sites and social) •  Search Engines

What to do with it? •  Direct – shows which Friendly URLs are being used. Longer, hard-

URLs, with high return rates suggest webpages that have been favorites or found from emails.

•  Referral – shows which sites users come from -  High referral page bounce rates = content adjustments needed. -  Partnership opps -  Social sites most used – opp for future campaigns.

•  Search engines – will help determine additional keyword usage and/or engine optimization in order to rank higher SEO

SOURCE REPORT

What is it? •  Provides top search terms used to find

your website.

What to do with it? •  Learn how people are finding your website •  Understand what language they use to describe your issue and

program(s), •  Determine if they are finding the content you want them to find with the

keywords.

With this knowledge, you can: •  Adjust keyword usage on pages you’d like ranked higher. •  Adjust your Page Title, Page Description, Headers , and first content

paragraph to include successful keywords. •  Adjust your social monitoring activity to include successful keywords

KEYWORD REPORT

What is it? – Uses Google algorithms to determine when something significant has occurred on your website. •  Peak in website visitors •  Page content average views change •  Average time spent on site increases •  Change in Source percentages What to do with it? •  Turn it on under the “My Customizations” to be alerted via email when

Google determines a significant change has occurred. •  When you receive an alert, find the reason it’s happening and do it

again! •  If there’s a peak in website visitors – try to tack it to an action. If you

can’t, note the time or external factors that may affect it.

INTELLIGENCE ALERTS

I S Y O U R W E B S I T E M O B I L E - F R I E N D LY ?

-  In less than three years mobile will be the #1 way your audience will access your website … Are you ready?

MEET USERS WHERE THEY ARE

C A N Y O U R U S E R S C O N N E C T V I A S O C I A L M E D I A D I R E C T LY F R O M Y O U R H O M E PA G E ?

BE SOCIAL Social media and viral sharing are highly valuable tools in contributing to web site traffic and brand exposure - Make it easy to connect, interact and contribute

BE SOCIAL Encourage Viral Sharing - Action Sharing -  Integrate social activities everywhere

W H AT A C T I O N S C A N U S E R S TA K E D I R E C T LY F R O M Y O U R H O M E PA G E ?

TELL THEM TO TAKE ACTION Let imagery and content engage users, but align actions

with your goals - Provide a tangible to an intangible (eg. Please give $10 today

Please give 10 meals to your community today)

INCLUDE CLEAR, BOLD CALLS TO ACTION Calls to action should be clear and compelling - Never say “click here” - Be clear, direct and descriptive: “become a habitat volunteer

today”

H AV E Y O U E V E R T E S T E D C O N T E N T O N Y O U R W E B S I T E ? I F S O , H O W ?

CONTENT TESTING MADE EASY 1.  Giving terms: Try testing online

fundraising elements like your donate button. Test “Donate now” against “provide a meal to a family today” to see if the tangible element inspires more action.

2.  Colors: Try two different colors for your donation button on your homepage. You’ll be surprised at how much it may affect click rates.

3.  Add the Why: Try adding a quick blurb about your current funding priorities above the same donation button to see if it’s inspires more clicks!

RESOURCES

www.blackbaud.com/npexperts.

www.guidecreative.com

www.npengage.com/nonprofit-research/the-2012-charitable-giving-report/