Web Content Best Practices for Nonprofits

Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content

AGENDA 9:00-9:15 Orientation & Introduction 9:15-9:45 Part 1 – Foundations 9:45-10:30 Part 2 – Content Format 10:30-10:40 BREAK 10:45-11:45 Part 3 – Content SEO for Google 11:45-noon EvaluationsLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 2

Web user research on Non-profit websitesLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 3

What donors look for Causes that share their ideals and values. How the organization proposes to helpLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 4

What’s most important to donors Mission Goals Objectives Work Presence in reader’s own communityLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 5

What kills donations on sites Majority of problems are content-related Content problems 53% Navigation, transactions, etc. 47%Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 6

What kills donations on sites ? Donate 17% Nowhere to click to donate!!!Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 7

Credibility Engagement Ability to deliverLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 8

Best Practices for Website Content Part 1Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 9

Laying the foundation: BEFORE you create content Define goals Know audiences Who you are What sets you apart from competitorsLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 10

Know your website goals Specific Measurable Examples of specific and measurable goals: • Increase donations from small donors by 10% • _____________________________________ • _____________________________________Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 11

Know your audiences Audience segments Age Gender Income Lifestyle Opinions & ValuesLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 12

Practice: audience profileFor ONE audience: Age _____ Income ________ Gender ________ Lifestyle ____________________________ Opinions & Values______________________________Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 13

Know who you are A statement that sets you apart from competitorsLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 14

Examples of taglinesLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 15

Practice: laying the foundation How well does your site Reflect your goals? Reflect your audience(s)? Scale of 1-5 (5=best rating) Is your tagline at top of home page? Every page?Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 16

Overview  Brief, specific content written from the perspective of your readers’ interests, desires and background.  Content that is formatted to make it easy to find what they’re looking for on the page.  Headlines, subheads and content that are oriented to their interests and goals.Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 18

Site visitor behaviorLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 19

Site visitor behavior 20% Users read about 20% of textLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 20

Site visitor behavior What’s here? How can I find what I’m looking for? Short articles Skim highlightsLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 21

Site visitor behavior Ruthless about abandoning sitesLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 22

Skimming content How people scan a website page 23Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content

Inverted pyramidLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 24

Use subheads  Tell the story on their own  Capture essence of paragraphLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 25

Make paragraphs short 6 lines MAXIMUM 3-4 where possibleLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 27

Make paragraphs short 6 lines MAXIMUM 3-4 where possible Make sentences shortLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 28

Make paragraphs short 6 lines MAXIMUM 3-4 where possible Make sentences short Use bullets & numbersLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 29

Use boldface and italics NEVER underline text unless it’s a LINKLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 30

Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 31

Credibility Grammar Spelling PunctuationLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 33

Pair up and review sitesFirst, take a couple of minutes to review your partner’s siteHome page: What does this organization do? What’s special about it? Is that clear at a glance?Review lower-level pages: Can you scan and know what the page is about? Is the most important information at the top? What could be shortened, and how would you do it?Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 34

Help people find you Optimize your content for Google organic search (SEO) resultsLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 36

What’s good for copy is good for SEOLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 38

SEO for content• Identify keywords (search terms)• Make a list of 5-6• Select one or two per page for optimizationLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 39

What’s a keyword? 41

Select keywords Know your audience What words are they likely to use?Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 42

Identify keywords One of your audiences? ____________________________ Two or three phrases they might search for? ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 43

Research competition for keywords 44

Using your keywords Make a list Narrow down to 5-6 Assign 1-2 keywords to each page Use no more than 1-2 per page Front-load in page titles and heads Top-load keywords – at top of pageLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 45

Top-down contentLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 46

Use keywords in page titles “Selecting the first 2 words for your page titles is probably the highest- impact ROI-boosting decision you make in a Web project.”Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 47

Where to add Page Title to a web page you’re creating 50

Headings (levels & tags)

Where to format headingsLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 52

Image captions & <alt> tags 54

Caption textLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 55

Copy text from page on your website, paste into texteditor (Word, Notepad, etc.)SAVE this document!• Revise the page title, main headline (Most important words at beginning of each)• Shorten a paragraph• Underline something you could link to another pageLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 56

Review Lay the foundation: audiences, goals, your identity, competitive differences Make content easy to find on your site and read on the page Make it easier for people to find you via Google: optimize site contentLinda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 57

Resources Letting Go of the Words—Writing Web Content That Works by Janice (Ginny) Redish Herschell Gordon Lewis on the Art of Writing Copy by Herschell Gordon Lewis Don’t Make Me Think, by Steve Krug Almost anything by Jakob Nielsen. Books. Web site = useit.com Usability.gov Linda Kolker Best Practices for Web Content 58

Web Content Best Practices for Nonprofits

by LindaKolker on Jun 22, 2011

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Web Content Best Practices for Nonprofits — Presentation Transcript