Have you ever gone to a website and immediately been visually assaulted by loud colours, weird fonts or simply can’t find what you are looking for after searching frantically until frustration sets in?
If you are anything like me, you close that tab super-fast and move on to the competition!
Now just think for a minute if you actually drove to see a business. You park in front and glance at the store front. The windows are clean, there is an inviting waiting area with a fancy-pants coffee machine and a friendly receptionist to greet you and announce your arrival PLUS some FREE mints in a bowl (Crazy deliciousness!).
So I don’t get it! Their website is full of non-relevant ads, horrible colours, missing images and you cannot figure out how to purchase their product easily but their shop front is lovely and professional!
Why? Don’t they know much online business are they missing out on in this day and age?
The same holds true for your non profit website.
Information suggests that you have only 5-10 seconds to capture your donors attention on your website. And their first impression of you in the digital age IS your website. So no pressure guys but you have 10 seconds to sell yourself! Eek!
Think of your website as an employee that will work for you 24/7! It will promote your organization, sell your products, take donations and communicate to your audience every step of the way ensuring a smooth transaction that they will enjoy and all while you are sleeping or watching re-runs of Baywatch scoffing Mac’n’Cheese. Its stops short of gift wrapping your product but a happy donor will recommend you like a silent partner in your dream business so make them your bestie.
The FIVE top key components of successful website design:
Responsiveness
Your donors do not want to squint at their devices trying to stretch images I assure you! And Google no longer rank non-responsive websites so get with the program. Make sure you are a viable contender for those donors who have money to donate. Make sure you are RESPONSIVE. No ifs or buts.
Navigation
Don’t turn it into a hide & seek challenge for your donors to donate! You may have liked hide and seek when you were five but not as a busy adult who has a lot to juggle in their day. Keep it simple and don’t make them work too hard to spend some lovely hard –earned money with you!
Relevant Content / SEO Optimisation
Get in the minds of your donors, what are the most common questions about your products or services? So write about exactly that! Don’t overthink it. Be passionate about what you do and use targeted keywords that are SEO optimised so your audience can find you easily.
Visual Design
Ever heard the expression ‘You only get one chance to make a top notch first impression so make it count’. It’s still spot on! A website with a harmonious colour scheme, high resolution images and text that has plenty of white spacing to make it easy on the eye will keep your visitors on your site. This is your fastest route to establishing yourself as a trusted organization that donors feel safe donating to. And that is exactly what you want!
Speed
Slow loading websites get the chop FAST! Biggest culprits are websites full of images that are GIGANTIC! Resizing images is a big part of building a website and keep in mind who you are building it FOR. Not you. It’s for your donors and you need them! Minimise plugins. Many old websites have lots of old defunct plugin affecting the speed of the pages loading. Ditch them and keep your donors!
So you have a beautiful website now what?
Top Tips
- Keep your content relevant and updated. No one wants to see images of you or your staff wearing rock concert t-shirts from 1988 and blogs about old outdated processes.
- Fashions change and so do websites. Colours, styles and even fonts come in and out of ‘vogue’. Make sure you allocate some marketing funds to keep your website FRESH.
- We can’t be great at everything! Find a great web developer to build your website while you do what you do best and watch the investment pay off!
