Setting Goals and Objectives
Your nonprofit has big plans, but before you can fully engage in your mission it’s critical to have rock-solid goals and objectives.
Define Your Mission and Vision
To build a successful brand you have to define your mission and vision. This begins with clearly articulating your nonprofit’s goals through the creation of a mission statement and a vision statement. Defining these statements will help you ensure that your website aligns with the organization’s mission and supports your operations.
Identify Your Target Audience
Who does your nonprofit serve? You must understand your audience’s needs, preferences and their behaviors. Creating a persona will help you identify your target audience and you can use this persona (or ideal customer) to guide your website design, branding and content. Your content strategy can be developed based around what you have learned about your target audience.
Determine Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
How do you measure success, or know that you are making progress? The best approach is to establish metrics that will allow you to measure website success for donations, engagement and conversions. These key performance metrics are also critical in terms of tracking website analytics so that you can monitor progress and make data-driven decisions. One important consideration is to set realistic goals and benchmarks for your website’s performance.
Choosing the Right Nonprofit Web Design Agency
What to Look for in a Nonprofit Web Design Agency
Choosing the right partner to help elevate your nonprofit can be a challenge. One of the primary considerations should be experience working with nonprofits and understanding the unique needs of nonprofits. You should check to make sure the agency has a portfolio of successful nonprofit website designs and campaigns. Depending upon your niche, you might want to seek out a company with expertise in nonprofit-specific web design and development.
Benefits of Working with a Nonprofit-Specific Web Design Agency
An agency with deep experience working with nonprofits will intrinsically understand nonprofit goals, challenges and best practices. Nonprofits have unique needs, so if an agency has expertise in nonprofit-specific web design and development there is a good chance that your organization will see the results based on their experience. The ability to create a website that aligns with your mission is critical and picking the right agency will go a long way in finding success online.
Questions to Ask Potential Web Design Agencies
Interviewing potential web design partners will help ensure you make the right choice for your organization. A few examples of questions to ask are listed below.
- What experience do you have working with nonprofits?
- Can you share examples of successful nonprofit website designs and launches?
- How will you ensure our website aligns with our mission and supports our operations?
Nonprofit Website Design and Development
Planning and Strategy
The first thing to do is create a project plan and timeline for the website design and development. The website strategy should align with the nonprofit’s goals and objectives. If the nonprofit has an existing website, an audit should be performed to identify areas for improvement.
User-Centered Design Principles
Your website should be designed with the user in mind, with a focus on accessibility, usability and creating engagement with your audience. In order to do this well you must conduct user research and testing to inform the design decisions. This info is then used to create a website that is intuitive and easy to navigate.
Website accessibility is important as it helps to ensure that users with disabilities can engage with your content and understand your mission. To build an accessible website you must follow web accessibility guidelines and best practices. The end goal is to create a website that is inclusive and welcoming to all users.
Mobile Optimization and Responsive Design
Building a website is critical for spreading your message to the world, but the website will also need to be optimized for mobile devices in tablets so that all users have a good experience. Responsive design techniques are used to create a seamless user experience across all devices. The website must be tested on major browsers and mobile devices to make sure that everything looks and functions as it should.
Developing Nonprofit Website Content and Storytelling
The visions for your nonprofit should be developed with a content strategy that engages your audience and portrays your core values. Use storytelling techniques to bring the mission to life and create high-quality engaging content. You can also create a content style guide that will help to ensure consistency with all messaging. Visuals and multimedia elements can help to make the content more engaging.
Understanding Nonprofit Website Trends and Best Practices
Researching current nonprofit website trends and best practices will help to understand the core elements that will be effective for your organization. Emerging nonprofit website trends can make your website more personalized and dynamic. Community building and networking are other important aspects of your website development planning. This can help you find the right partner with a website design and development agency.
Launch and Deployment
The website is almost done! You will want to plan a successful website launch and deployment which means that the website goes live without any issues or errors. This can be prevented with quality assurance testing by your website agency partner. Once the website goes live, it is time to celebrate and promote the website through social media and other marketing channels.
Nonprofit Website Support and Maintenance Services
Support and maintenance are things you should discuss with your nonprofit website agency. Once your website goes live you will want to have a plan for regular updates and backups. Develop a plan to ensure website security and a way to prevent any ongoing issues. There are various website security tools to monitor and protect your nonprofit’s website.
Understanding Nonprofit Website SEO and Search Engine Marketing
A nonprofit that wants a solid website presence should learn the basics of SEO and understand the importance of keyword research and optimization. Keyword research is used to identify relevant keywords and phrases. Optimize website elements such as title tags, meta descriptions and header tags. The keyword research will help to inform the content creation.
Search Engine Marketing and Advertising
Search engine marketing and advertising are options that your nonprofit can explore. Understand the benefits and drawbacks of paid advertising. If you decide to use paid advertising, it is important to develop a search engine marketing strategy that aligns with your organization’s goals.
Nonprofit Website Donations and Fundraising
Creating a Donor-Friendly Website
Nonprofit websites will typically require a way to accept online donations. With this in mind, the website design should be easy to navigate and use. A key element is to create a clear and compelling donation process. Use storytelling techniques to convey your nonprofit’s mission and impact. If your audience is engaged there is a much higher likelihood that you will get donations.
Online Donation Platforms and Tools
There are various online donation platforms and tools that are specifically designed for nonprofits. Nonprofits should consider factors such as ease of use, customization, integration with other tools, payment options and the cost of the tools. Choose a platform that aligns with your nonprofit’s needs and goals and measure how well it works once it is deployed.
Fundraising Strategies and Campaigns
Develop a fundraising strategy that aligns with your nonprofit’s goals. The fundraising campaign should resonate with your target audience. Storytelling techniques can help to elevate your organization and ensure that your fundraising goals are met. A nonprofit website should be community-focused. Make sure to design a website that is engaging and helps to build and promote your mission.
Nonprofit Website Branding and Visual Identity
Developing a Strong Nonprofit Brand
Having strong branding for your nonprofit will put you leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. Understanding the importance of visual identity and consistency will help you create a brand that resonates with your audience. Develop a brand style guide that will ensure consistency in all design elements and marketing.
Visual Branding and Identity
Learn how to create a visual brand identity that aligns with your nonprofit’s mission. Your branding should encompass visual elements that reinforce your brand. A color palette and typography choices will be helpful in creating consistent designs. All of these design elements should be compiled into a detailed style guide that will be a beacon for your organization going forward.
Brand Consistency Across Channels
Once your brand is established, it is important to learn how to ensure brand consistency across channels. The nonprofit brand guide is essential to ensure consistency and develop and ongoing brand strategy that aligns with the nonprofit’s goals.
Nonprofit Website Case Studies and Examples
Successful Nonprofit Website Designs
What makes a successful nonprofit website design? Research other nonprofit organizations and study their online presence. Make sure to note the focus put on user-centered design and accessibility. Then develop a plan to create a website that satisfies your organization’s goals.
Website Nonprofit Redesigns and Makeovers
Some nonprofits go through a rebranding process where the same business and design fundamentals stay in place but are refreshed to give a fresh appearance. If you take this approach, make sure to develop a plan to redesign and refresh the nonprofit’s website with a competent design agency or independent designer.
Is your Nonprofit Ready to Revamp it’s Online Presence?
Maybe it is time for your organization to start looking at changes. Our design agency has a long and successful history working with nonprofit organizations. We offer free consultations and are happy to answer any questions you may have!
