Big Fundraising

The Final Two Home Page Must-Haves

Here are the last two items on my list of Ten Things You Must Have On Your Home Page:

9. No old or outdated info.
I can't tell you the number of home pages I visited where I saw old events listed, old mission statements, outdated contact information. Take a moment right now to look at your home page, and get rid of anything there that's outdated.

10. Contact information.
Do not make anyone search for a way to contact you. I have visited more web sites than I care to count that made me surf through two or three levels before I found a telephone number, mailing address or email address. Make it easy for clients, volunteers, and donors to get in touch with you: include your contact information (telephone, mailing address, email) on your home page.

I hope you've found this tips useful. I encourage you to implement at least one of them right away, and watch what happens to your web traffic.

Here are the last two items on my list of Ten Things You Must Have On Your Home Page:

9. No old or outdated info.
I can't tell you the number of home pages I visited where I saw old events listed, old mission statements, outdated contact information. Take a moment right now to look at your home page, and get rid of anything there that's outdated.

10. Contact information.
Do not make anyone search for a way to contact you. I have visited more web sites than I care to count that made me surf through two or three levels before I found a telephone number, mailing address or email address. Make it easy for clients, volunteers, and donors to get in touch with you: include your contact information (telephone, mailing address, email) on your home page.

I hope you've found this tips useful. I encourage you to implement at least one of them right away, and watch what happens to your web traffic.

Still More Home Page Must-Haves!

Today we're looking at two of the items that you must have on your home page that must be updated fairly frequently.

7. Pictures of clients/successful outcomes for your organization.
In addition to the testimonials, you should include some visual representation of the success of your organization. Some people react more favorably to pictures than to text, and photos will appeal more to these folks. Try to gather photos on an ongoing basis, and rotate them as you rotate your testimonials.

8. Announcements of upcoming events.
Any upcoming events must be listed on your home page. If you're sending notices and/or invitations, people will come to your web site to find out more. An added bonus is if you can install the capability for people to signup and/or purchase tickets online. PayPal is a very easy way to do this; 1shoppingcart.com is a bit more complicated (but it has more flexible reporting capabilities). You can also use EventBrite or eVite.

Almost done...tune in tomorrow for the last to items!

Today we're looking at two of the items that you must have on your home page that must be updated fairly frequently.

7. Pictures of clients/successful outcomes for your organization.
In addition to the testimonials, you should include some visual representation of the success of your organization. Some people react more favorably to pictures than to text, and photos will appeal more to these folks. Try to gather photos on an ongoing basis, and rotate them as you rotate your testimonials.

8. Announcements of upcoming events.
Any upcoming events must be listed on your home page. If you're sending notices and/or invitations, people will come to your web site to find out more. An added bonus is if you can install the capability for people to signup and/or purchase tickets online. PayPal is a very easy way to do this; 1shoppingcart.com is a bit more complicated (but it has more flexible reporting capabilities). You can also use EventBrite or eVite.

Almost done...tune in tomorrow for the last to items!

Home Page Must-Haves 5 and 6

Our focus today is on actual content of your home page. Here are the two most important items you can include in the content of your home page:

5. Your Mission Statement
Seems obvious, doesn't it? Yet you'd be amazed at how many organizations do not include their mission statement on the very first page of their web site. If your home page doesn't include your mission statement, or you have an outdated mission statement up there, fix it now!

6. Testimonials
Many organizations include some testimonials on their site. I encourage you to have one or two short, powerful testimonials right up front on your home page. You may already have a file of testimonials from your clients; however, I encourage you to also include testimonials from your donors, volunteers and other community members as well. Since you can't tell why someone's landed at your home page, you want to information that appeals to as broad an audience as possible.

Tomorrow, we get into items seven and eight on this very important list of Ten Things You Must Have on Your Home Page.

Our focus today is on actual content of your home page. Here are the two most important items you can include in the content of your home page:

5. Your Mission Statement
Seems obvious, doesn't it? Yet you'd be amazed at how many organizations do not include their mission statement on the very first page of their web site. If your home page doesn't include your mission statement, or you have an outdated mission statement up there, fix it now!

6. Testimonials
Many organizations include some testimonials on their site. I encourage you to have one or two short, powerful testimonials right up front on your home page. You may already have a file of testimonials from your clients; however, I encourage you to also include testimonials from your donors, volunteers and other community members as well. Since you can't tell why someone's landed at your home page, you want to information that appeals to as broad an audience as possible.

Tomorrow, we get into items seven and eight on this very important list of Ten Things You Must Have on Your Home Page.

More of the Ten Things You Must Have On Your Home Page

Here are the next two items in my list of Ten Things You Must Have On Your Home Page:

3. Link to board and staff lists, with short bios.
Many funders will require this, and many will go to your web site to get it. This is one terrific way to make potential donors feel comfortable with the stability and professionalism of your organization. By including these lists on your web site, and making them easy to find, you'll go a long way to making a potential donor feel comfortable that their investment in your organization is worthwhile.

4. Link to your media room.
"What is a media room?" you may ask. This is one place where you include press releases, articles about your organization, and a summary of information about your organization. Any reporter (or blogger) who may be writing about your organization will go here to find pertinent information. Savvy donors go here as well to see how well you've been getting the word out about the good work you're doing. Make it easy for visitors to find out about your publicity efforts by including a link to your media room right on your home page.

More tips tomorrow...

Here are the next two items in my list of Ten Things You Must Have On Your Home Page:

3. Link to board and staff lists, with short bios.
Many funders will require this, and many will go to your web site to get it. This is one terrific way to make potential donors feel comfortable with the stability and professionalism of your organization. By including these lists on your web site, and making them easy to find, you'll go a long way to making a potential donor feel comfortable that their investment in your organization is worthwhile.

4. Link to your media room.
"What is a media room?" you may ask. This is one place where you include press releases, articles about your organization, and a summary of information about your organization. Any reporter (or blogger) who may be writing about your organization will go here to find pertinent information. Savvy donors go here as well to see how well you've been getting the word out about the good work you're doing. Make it easy for visitors to find out about your publicity efforts by including a link to your media room right on your home page.

More tips tomorrow...

The Importance of Your Home Page

I've been doing a lot of research lately on homepages of nonprofit organizations. Frankly, I'm shocked at how many of them create a terrible first impression. Badly designed, last updated two or three (or more!) years ago, no easy way to find out more about the organization, no way to give/support the organization up front!

The result of my research is my list of Ten Things You Must Have on Your Home Page. Over the next few days, I'll share this list with you, and give you some resources to help make your home page as effective as possible. Here are the first two:

1. Allow visitors to signup for a newsletter or other regular communication right from your home page.
Encourage visitors to learn more about your organization by signing up for your newsletter, or offering a special report on the state of your business/client base, right on your home page. It's fairly easy to create a simple signup box, through an autoresponder (that's a tool that automatically responds to signups). Several good ones are: AWeber.com, Constant Contact, 1shoppingcart.com

2. Include an online donation button.
This is so easy to do, I really don't get why every organization doesn't have one! You can easily set this up through PayPal or Network for Good. I even suggest including a "Donate Now" button on every single page of your site: you never know when or how people will be motivated to give!

Come back tomorrow (better yet, sign up for automatic notification of updates to this blog) for more of my Ten Things You Must Have on Your Home Page.