Your organization's website is critical to your success. It's the place to tell the world about your mission and motivate visitors to take action—whether it's making a donation or signing up for your services. For many organizations, it's difficult to know where to start. What do you do next with your website and how do you manage it?

1. WELCOME!
13 Things Your Nonprofit Website Needs In 2013
Featuring Jamy Squillace and Richard Dietz

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Our Speakers
Richard Dietz
Founder of Nonprofit R+D - Technology Training for
Nonprofit Professionals
Richard has over 20 years' experience working in
and with a wide variety of nonprofit, political, and
government organizations.
You can find Rich on his website
http://www.nonprofitrd.com
or tweeting @nonprofit_rd.

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Our Speakers
Jamy Squillace
Sr. Product Manager Sage Nonprofit Solutions
Responsible for Sage Fundraising 50, Sage
Fundraising Online, Sage Nonprofit Online and
Sage e-Marketing.
Jamy has 16 years experience in product planning
and management. Her goal is to create and evolve
solutions that fulfill customer desires and exceed
expectations.
You can find her blogging at SageWords.net or on
Twitter @jrsquillace.

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Questions
• Please type in chat at the bottom of the left hand
viewing pane.

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Agenda
• Introduction
• Website Structure / Elements
• Website Content
• Next Steps

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Experts have all the answers…
• No, not really
• There are “best practices,” but you must test in your
organization
• Testing is the key,
– Much easier to do online
– If it works, do more.
– If not, try something else.

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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslows_hierarchy_of_needs

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Online Hierarchy of Needs
Avoid Shiny Objects
Need a strong Foundation

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Is it so bad? What could happen?
• Bad first impression
• Leave before learning
about your org
• Tell their friends

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Get Control of Your Website
• You need the ability to:
– Change the content
– Make quick updates
– Add/remove content
– Stay current
• You need to be testing to find what works
– In order to test you need control to make the changes

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WEBSITE STRUCTURE / ELEMENTS

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1. Most Wanted Response (MWR)
• What do you want folks to do when they reach your
site?
– Who visits your site
– What are they looking for
– What do you need them to do
• Too many choices = No action (Jam Study)
• Make those actions easy to find
– Above the fold
– Big buttons or easy to find pathways

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1. Most Wanted Response (MWR)
www.bestieswithtesties.org

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1. Most Wanted Response (MWR)
www.littlereddoor.org

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2. Prominent Donate Button
• Could be your MWR
• Big, bold and easy to see
– Don’t make supporters work for it
• On Homepage and EVERY page
– Every click loses conversions
– Where’s the checkout?
• Strong Call To Action (CTA)
– Weak – “Click here”
– Stronger – “Help ___ Today”, “Make a difference”

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2. Prominent Donate Button
www.coloncancerpreventionproject.org/

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2. Prominent Donate Button
www.bestfriends.org

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3. Capture Email
• #1 way to raise money online…still
– Email >> Landing Page
• Opt-in box – with incentive to sign up
• Easiest way to connect and follow-up
– 7 touches – marketing principle
– Follow up can be very effective – progress, success, more help

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3. Capture Email
www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/

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3. Capture Email
rememberme.ushmm.org

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4. Simple, Clear Navigation & Design
• Navigation
– Must be by user focused and not by department
– Focus on the most important things you need your donors to
KNOW or DO (MWR)
• Design
– Goolge/Facebook vs. crazy clutter sites
– Avoid clutter
– Don’t make your prospect think…
• Custom graphics

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4. Simple, Clear Navigation & Design
www.iesabroad.org

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4. Simple, Clear Navigation & Design
www.acumenfund.org

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5. Simple Donation/Reg Process
47% of donors give up before they have made a donation because the
online journey is not intuitive and engaging
http://www.nomensa.com/about/news-items/charities-fail-make-online-impact
• Shorter is better
– You can always ask more questions later
• Strong single call to action
– Remember the jam study
• Form should be embedded on your website
– At very least it should look like your website

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5. Simple Donation/Reg Process
www.napervillehumanesociety.org

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6. Social Media Sharing Buttons
• Allow supporters to spread the word
– Let them share in the ways they want to share (options)
• Social signals are key with Google now
• Simple “Tell a Friend” Button
– Add a strong call to action for them to do it

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6. Social Media Sharing Buttons
www.hcz.org

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7. 3rd Party Endorsements
• Let supporters know its OK
– They are not the only ones
– The organization is “trusted”
• Testimonials
– Clients, supporters, major donors, celebrities, etc.
– Be a part of the community
• Validation and “Trust”
– Charity Navigator, Guidestar, Verisign, BBB, etc.
– Great in the footer and on the donation page

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7. 3rd Party Endorsements
www.oxfamamerica.org

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8. Obvious Contact Information
• “Contact Us” in the navigation
– Provide multiple ways to contact you
– Phone, email, form, etc.
• Contact information on every page
– Footer is a great place for this
– Include your phone number
– Google likes to see this too

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8. Obvious Contact Information
www.livestrong.org

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9. Other Ways To Engage
Provide ways for supporters to engage in multiple ways and
in the ways they want to:
• Events
• Social media
• Volunteer
• Petition
• Polls
• Peer-to-peer fundraising

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9. Other Ways to Engage
www.charitywater.org

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CONTENT

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10. What you do and WHY
• Two-second test
– Strong headline, what you do
– Impact – Where does the money go / accomplish
• The WHY can be even more important
– Xerox study – just needed a “why”
• 60%  93% using only “because”
– Simon Sinek – Why is compelling and gets people to take action
• MLK – “I have a dream” not “I have a plan”
(http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html)

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10. What you do and WHY
www.one.org/us/

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10. What you do and WHY
www.charitywater.org

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11. Tell Stories!
• Stories create an emotional connection
– Individual stories are best
– People can relate to people
– Easier to show the “Why” with stories too
• Inspire with your passion
• Use stories throughout your content
– email, website, social media, etc.
sethgodin.com

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11. Tell Stories!
rememberme.ushmm.org/

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12. Images and Video
• Best way to tell a story
– Much easier to create the emotional connection
– Utilizes more senses
• Most likely to be shared
– 5-10x more shared over text
– More likely to “go viral”

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12. Images and Video
www.austinhumanesociety.org

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12. Images and Video
cej-oregon.org

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13. Website Audit
• Get honest feedback of your website now
– Volunteers, board members, family members, etc.
– UserTesting.com
– This will be your pre-test / starting point
• After you implement some of these changes do a post-test
• Ideas for audit
– Ask them to donate
– Ask them to sign up for your email list
– Ask them to describe what you do
– Ask them what they think you would like them to do on the site
– Ask them to find ___________

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What to do next?
1. Do your pre-test website audit.
2. Implement some of the ideas presented today
3. Do your post-test audit and track results

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13 Things Your Website Needs
1. Most Wanted Response
2. Prominent Donate Button
3. Capture Email
4. Simple, Clear Navigation & Design
5. Simple Donation and Registration Process
6. Social Media Sharing Buttons
7. 3rd Party Endorsements
8. Obvious Contact Information
9. Other Ways to Engage
10. What You Do and WHY
11. Tell Stories!
12. Images & Videos
13. Website Audit

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Q & A
Learn more about Sage Fundraising Online
www.sagefundraisingonline.com

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Contact Information
• Connect with Rich on his website, http://www.nonprofitrd.com/ or
via email at rich <at> nonprofitrd.com <dot> com
• Connect with Jamy and Sage
– Email nps <at> sage <dot> com
– Download the presentation and handouts from
www.slideshare.net/sagenonprofit
– Read our blog, http://www.SageWords.net.
– Like us on Facebook,
http://www.facebook.com/sagenonprofit
– Follow us on Twitter, http://www.twitter.com/sagenonprofit
– Join the discussion in our group on LinkedIn.
– Watch and follow on YouTube,
http://www.youtube.com/user/SageNonprofit
– Pin with us on www.Pinterest.com/SageNonprofit