Designing the Perfect Web Site
Your web site is likely the most common place that people will go to learn about your organization. Like it or not, visitors will be forming impressions, both conscious and subconscious, based on what they see.
It pays to give your website the same quality of thought that you give to how clients and visitors are received at your organization's front door.
Each year the Web Marketing Association recognizes the best non profit web sites from around the country. Their list of winners from previous years is a great resource for ideas to improve your organization's web site.
In looking over the winners, I jotted down what I liked best and least in each (and some of the best ideas made it onto this web site). When designing your organization's web presence, you should study the sites of your peer organizations, as well as take ideas from successful sites outside of your area of practice.
That list of do's and don'ts can serve as a checklist as you review your existing site or plan a new one.
Here are five characteristics that I found were most effective in the Web Marketing Association's list of winners:
1. A clear, concise description of the organization's mission and main activities on the home page.
2. Relevant, timely information about the field in which the organization is a player. By making the site a source of this information, they show their organization's knowledge and credibility, and give readers a reason to return often to the site.
3. Well chosen images that give energy and excitement to the site. They use photos that show what the organization does best, not boring posed shots of donors or board members at fundraising events.
4. Opportunities for viewers to interact with the site. Here are just a few ideas:
- a place to add email address to receive a newsletter
- online donations
- a quiz or poll on an apropos topic
- an online game (if you have the resources to create one)
5. A simple and clear layout, with intuitive ways to navigate around the site.
The help of a professional web designer is a great investment. Once a draft of the site is ready, have stakeholders explore and give you feedback on what they liked and what they found confusing.
Your website should be a work in progress. Keep jotting down notes and ideas for future versions.
Here's a helpful site for non profit web designers:
About.com's Design and Usage Rules
Sometimes it's best (and more fun) to learn what NOT to do!
Webpagesthatsuck.com
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