nonprofit website strategy & planning

Jen Kramer �• October 28, 2013 • slideshare.net/jen4web

www.jenkramer.org • jen@jenkramer.org

“I need a website and I want it blue. How much will that cost?”

Translating your mission and vision to a website Questions you should answer before hiring the

web team What is the job of a web designer, anyway? Finding the right person/firm for the job

Make sure you have an email newsletter and signup on every page Get on Facebook and post daily Identify keywords and use them on each page for a density of 4% Submit your site to Google for proper indexing Make use of microdata for enhanced search engine listings Look into budgeting for Google AdWords and set up campaigns for this Evaluate your Google Analytics on a weekly basis and tweak pages No more than 3 clicks from anywhere to anywhere on your site Make sure you have a donation page and you take donations electronically Purchase misspelled versions of your domain name and link them up to your site Make sure your site is backed up Pinterest is the next hot thing, so get on it and start posting

Translating your mission and vision to a website

www.redcross.org/about-us/mission

The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.

The American Red Cross, through its strong network of volunteers, donors and partners, is always there in times of need. We aspire to turn compassion into action so that... ...all people affected by disaster across the country and around the world receive care, shelter and hope; ...our communities are ready and prepared for disasters; ...everyone in our country has access to safe, lifesaving blood and blood products; ...all members of our armed services and their families find support and comfort whenever needed; and ...in an emergency, there are always trained individuals nearby, ready to use their Red Cross skills to save lives.

www.redcrossblood.org

And how can you do it?

Red Cross understands their mission and vision.

They identified the audiences they want to serve.

They know how the website should support the mission, vision, and target audiences.

Find your mission and vision (and values) statements for your non-profit. o Are they current/up to date? Do they reflect what you’re doing now?

What audience are you serving? Now think about how your website could reflect this material.

Questions you should answer before hiring the web team

Questions: What are our mission and

vision? What is our purpose? What do we want to get out of

the site? Who are our users? What do our users want? What experience are we trying

to provide? How will we measure

success?

An x% increase in the number of visitors

Reduce tech support costs by y% Convey the mission and vision of

our project and enlist sponsors Increase our visibility in the

marketplace by establishing our expertise

Reduce phone calls for hours and location

Promote events Get grant funding How does this support your mission & vision?

Get as specific as possible o Good: 18-24 year old males

in urban areas of the US with shoe sizes 12 and up

o Not as good: Young people with fashion sense

“Anyone who might be

interested” is not the right answer.

What are their specific limitations? o Specific website needs:

arthritis, wear glasses, colorblind

o Type of internet connection: dialup still reigns supreme in rural areas

o Old computers? Mobile phones? Tablets?

Be entertained; share photos, stories; reconnect with old friends and colleagues

Donate money Donate time Find out how to sponsor your project Purchase a widget at 11 PM in their

PJs Find the thought leader and see what

they think about X Tell me more about that thing I read

about in the paper this morning

Efficient Simple and straightforward Meandering, wandering Cheerful and peppy

… and does that intro movie really support that

experience?

Deep thought: No one ever says they want to make a

frustrating, difficult website. But frequently, under the banner of

“branding”, organizations do exactly this.

Websites are software, not electronic

brochures. They should be predictable and easy to use.

It’s not all about Google Analytics, although this data is important. o Review your GA data for types of browsers, hardware, visitor

patterns, search terms, etc. Are you getting what you expect?

Think about the goals for your website and write a goal that’s measureable. o Reduce phone calls about location and hours by 10% over the next 3

months. • Associates will track number of calls over next 3 months.

o Increase number of donors by 10% and increase average new donation to $25.

• Measureable via donation tracking software.

Make “store location” more obvious on the home page o And how will you do that? o And how will you measure the results?

Investigate online donation screens for usability issues. o And how will you do that? o And how will you measure the results?

Answer the questions for your own website: o What are our mission and

vision? What is our purpose? o What do we want to get out

of the site? o Who are our users? o What do our users want? o What experience are we

trying to provide? o How will we measure

success?

Find websites that might serve as a model for your own site. o The Red Cross ties their

mission and vision into their site structure well. What other sites do this?

What is the job of a web designer, anyway?

Web Designers Web Developers

What they do Make pretty web designs Improve usability and workflow Write code Provide web hosting Train clients to maintain their own

websites Choose the best web technology for

your needs Execute the web portion of your

marketing plans Determine the links on your site

What they do not do

Fix your computer Configure your email Configure your office network Develop your organizational

strategy, mission/vision/values, or marketing plans

Finding the right person/firm for the job

Someone has built my exact website before, so they should be experienced in building: o A non-profit website serving my exact target

audience and doing the same kind of work o A startup/established/well-established non-profit o With a blog, calendar of events, discussion

board, zip code locator, contact form, newsletter signup, polls, surveys…

o And they should be able to build this website in my budget and on my timeline.

o And they should be able to show me 3 examples of this exact kind of work.

o And they should be local. o And they should share all of my non-profit’s

values.

I need to find someone who can: o Write perfect, search engine

optimized code o Write all copy for my site o Manage the project o Figure out my strategy, objectives,

mission, vision, and values o Pick the perfect technology o Set up and run my social media

campaign o Network the office

In 5 Easy Steps

State your mission, vision, values.

Answer the 6 questions addressing strategy from earlier in this talk.

Why are you redesigning your website?

How will you know you solved the problem?

Graphic design Copy writing Social media Marketing plan execution Video Branding and message Custom application Mobile

How much do you want to spend on this project?

When will you start? When does it need to be

completed? Is there a reason it needs to

be completed then?

Let the designers and developers do their jobs. They are not button-pushing monkeys.

If you have requirements, list them, carefully and thoughtfully.

Do mention

“Must integrate with our existing CRM system/donor system/etc”

“We want to maintain our website after launch”

“We need best practices employed for SEO”

“We want to own our website after launch, allowing anyone to maintain it.”

Do not mention

{no mention of existing donor system or its integration}

“Must be built in WordPress/ Drupal/Joomla/something else”

“We need a blog and backlinks to our content”

“We prefer open source solutions over proprietary solutions.”

Be clear about who you are. Be clear about the problem you

want solved. Be clear about where you need

help. Be clear about budget and time. Don’t sound high maintenance. Be careful when talking

technical.

Jen Kramer Waltham, MA Phone: 802-257-2657 jen@jenkramer.org www.jenkramer.org Twitter: @jen4web Facebook: facebook.com/webdesignjen

Slides available at www.slideshare.net/jen4web Free 7-day pass to lynda.com: lynda.com/freepass/jkramer

nonprofit website strategy & planning

website questions

o specific website needs

difficult website

american red cross

possible o good

red cross skills

google analytics

rural areas o old computers

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