What makes a good nonprofit website? How can you improve your donation page and stay within your nonprofit web design budget? We dissect this question and give tips you can implement on your own WordPress website today.
Most nonprofits believe that they don’t have the resources to implement successful strategies on their own. Although this may be true for some, most organizations are simply mislead on what it takes.
We’ve taken the guess work out of it.
Tried. True. Tested. We’ve made a bunch of nonprofit websites over the years and there seems to be proven strategies that actually work, giving you a good nonprofit website.
Below are 6 easy steps you can do right now to get more donations through your nonprofit website. Obviously every nonprofit is different, but this should be a good starting point.
1.) Make the Donation Button More Prominent
This sounds like an obvious one but it often goes overlooked. Make it obvious. Make it easy. How big is too big? What color?
There’s no magic answer, but you definitely want plenty of contrast to distinguish the call to action.
2.) Change The Button Text
Does your button say “Paypal” or “Yes I’ll help save a life”? Get straight to the point and be bold about it. Use words relevant to the action. It’s easy to connect with a purpose rather than a name of a company.
3.) Add Good Photos
Good photography can make or break a website. A big, beautiful bold photograph showcasing what you do is not just helpful, it’s mission critical to your nonprofit’s success. If you don’t have quality photos consider hiring a photographer with your new website in mind. Some ideas to photograph are:
- Your next event or fundraiser
- Your team in action— on site and/or in the office
- Your working space
- Your team— portrait/family photo style
- Smiling faces
- Relevant extra photos
4.) Use Social Proof (people care)
People want to know what other people are doing. If you have a good social following, take advantage of it. Use testimonials. Use numbers from your followers. Show the world that other people already care and more people are likely to care.
5.) Stats, facts & figures, oh my!
Here are some common questions that should be answered on your website. Not just buried in the FAQs, either.
- How many people signed up last month?
- Where does the money go, specifically?
- What is your organization’s impact?
- How does my donation help?
- Are you making any progress?
- Why are you better than other organizations?
6.) Be transparent on where the money goes.
People want to know where their donation is going. Be open and tell them. You’ll be surprised how many other people follow their lead.
7.) Use a personal voice
You may not know every single visitor, but you need to pick out one person and speak to them. We call this a persona.
Once you have an established persona you can have a true voice. Figure out the message you want to portray and say it like you’re talking to one person.
Example:
“Thank you so much friend! You’re awesome. People like you make the world a better place”
—vs—
“Our organization says thank you for your generosity”
See the difference? The former is a lot more effective than the latter.
But before you do anything… test.
Do you know how many people come to your site every day? Where do people click? Have you tested out which headlines get more donations? If you’re not answering yes to all of these, then check out this awesome blog post about how to boost conversions with testing.
What methods have you tried with your nonprofit website? Have some worked better than others? Let me know in the comments below.
Also, please sign up for the mailing list (on the top right hand side of this page) so you never miss a post! We are doing a post every day for October, preparing you for the giving season.
Cheers!
Shane Michael