Have a clear idea of the purpose of the site

• Before starting, make sure that you are clear on the goals of the site. Talk to everyone. In the long run, good planning is a lot cheaper than changes later on, so make sure that you are on track before you start.

• Find out who the users are, and make the site for people like them. This will require some research and interviews to help generate ‘personas’. Getting to know your audience will help focus the look, feel and voice of the site.

Be nice to donors

• Provide a simple and easy path to donating money. Link prominent on front page, and every page.

• Make the process as painless and quick as possible. Don’t ask for too much information on the forms.

• ‘Package’ donations up to levels, and what to expect from each level.

• Transparency – show where money is going, what a difference it makes.

Be nice to the journalists

• Make it easy for journalists to find information

• List the contact details of the key people in the organization

• Allow easy download of images from the site so that journalists don’t have to make a request and wait for a response

• Include press-friendly quotes and soundbites on your site.

Be nice to volunteers

• Provide multiple means of contact

• Show different ways to volunteer, different ideas.

Be nice to the casual visitor

There are many reasons why people might be visiting your site. They don’t always have a clear idea of what you do. Make sure that people can get oriented easily.

• Shortened mission statement on page

• summary of types of work/projects

Focus on content

• Use graphics to support content

• The layout should be flexible/adaptable enough for changing content

• Make sure each page can be scanned easily

Make it easy to share

Many social content/networking tools can get your message to the people who need to hear it. You can find out what people are saying about your organization. It’s a cheap way to connect with current supporters, and get in touch with new ones. Journalists use social media to get story ideas, so you should place yourself there.

• Include links to popular bookmark sites/services on article pages on your site

• Have a Facebook and Twitter presence

• Leave comments on other people’s blogs and feeds to engage and to link back to your site.

Have a news/blog component

Fresh content keeps visitors coming back. Rich and varied content is good for search engines.

• Use Wordpress to manage news

• Include summary of latest or featured news on your front page

Be mindful of branding

• Make sure the site is consistent with the brand and other promotional materials.

• Just because you are excited about your new site doesn’t mean your visitors are. When they visit for the first time, they don’t care that the site is new, or in beta, or under construction. The brand, not the construction of the brand, is what you should show. What you do, how you do it, how they can help.

Examples of best practices

• http://www.nature.org/

• http://www.wfp.org/

• http://www.maplevalleycc.org/

• http://www.greenpeace.org/international/ (apart from the pop-up at the start)

References / further reading

Smashing Magazine Cameron Chapman, May 14th, 2009

Nolo (Legal Information), Iiona Bray

Frogloop (Care2’s marketing blog for non-profits), Adrienne Royer, Feb 2009