Your homepage is the face of your nonprofit. Whereas advertising and marketing appeals will probably be supporters’ first impression of your nonprofit, your homepage tells supporters every thing they should learn about your nonprofit (whether or not it’s intentional or not). To enhance guests’ expertise in your homepage, learn to construct and keep an accessible homepage with a contemporary design that displays the subtle nonprofit behind it.
If you happen to don’t have expertise in internet design, upgrading your web site can appear to be a monumental process with the potential draw back of breaking core functionalities. That will help you confidently lead your nonprofit’s homepage growth, this text will go over:
The primary three sections will focus on key points of your homepage, permitting you to take the primary steps in direction of creating and sustaining a higher nonprofit web site. The final part will then focus on actionable steps you and your staff can implement to repeatedly enhance and improve your web site.
Design traits change, and whereas your present supporters have a transparent concept of what a web site ought to seem like now, their expectations could shift sooner or later. When you design your web site, proceed to maintain up with technological and design modifications within the nonprofit sector so as to have your homepage persistently make an excellent first impression.
However first, you’ll want a stable grasp on the necessities. Let’s dive in.
Homepage Options
When guests come to your web site, what would you like them to see first? Almost each nonprofit ought to have a couple of core options on its homepage, however the order and presentation of these objects will have an effect on how your guests interact together with your web site.
Listed below are a couple of must-have options in your homepage:
- Fundamental details about your nonprofit. Fundamental info consists of the identify of your nonprofit, your contact info, and an abbreviated mission assertion or abstract of what your group is. Moreover, take into account spotlighting a venture your nonprofit is at present engaged on or has just lately accomplished. Maintaining common information updates in your web site offers guests examples of your work, whereas additionally assuring them your nonprofit remains to be lively.
- Navigation bar. Your navigation bar must be close to the highest of your homepage, must be apparent to guests upon first look, and may comprise hyperlinks to key pages in your web site. Put your self in your homepage guests’ sneakers as you take into account the labels in your navigation bar, particularly if in case you have nested objects. Conduct person testing by having customers follow navigating your homepage to make sure they’re making the proper assumptions about what content material is below every label.
- Hyperlink to your donation types. Donating must be as simple as potential for guests. Many nonprofits have massive, brightly coloured donation buttons situated someplace close to the highest of their homepage. Others have the donation type already open in a sidebar or over their hero picture to let guests enter their donation info with out navigating off their homepage.
- Hyperlink to your volunteer/contact types. Much like your donation type, your homepage ought to characteristic a “Work with Us,” “Get Concerned,” or “Volunteer,” hyperlink someplace above the fold (or close to the highest of the web page). You’ll want to differentiate your volunteer type out of your careers web page, if in case you have one. Careers and job alternatives are typically linked in your webpage’s footer in case you are recruiting.
- Emblem. Your whole web site ought to signify your nonprofit’s model, and inserting your brand entrance and heart will make it clear to guests what homepage they’re on. Your brand ought to make an look on each web page in your web site (often within the higher proper or left nook), however could be bolder or take heart stage in your homepage.
Think about your viewers and the way your viewers interacts together with your nonprofit as you start the design course of. Are your supporters from a particular space? Have they got particular jobs? Are they from a particular technology? Take the time to analysis your viewers and conduct person interviews so as to perceive who your web site ought to attraction to.
Homepage Design
Whereas experience helps, you may create a beautiful, trendy web site with out being knowledgeable web site designer. You’ll simply have to observe a couple of customary greatest practices and thoroughly take into account how design will affect your customers’ expertise.
Your web site’s design ought to improve the data in your homepage quite than being incidental. Resolve what you wish to draw your guests’ eyes to as you take into account your design decisions for:
- Photographs. Your web site ought to have high-quality pictures, graphics, or different visible media. Alongside together with your brand, take into account making a predominant hero or banner picture that evokes emotion whereas additionally informing guests about what your nonprofit does. For instance, an environmental nonprofit may need photos of volunteers planting bushes or eye-catching graphics showcasing what number of bushes they’ve planted over the previous 12 months.
- Colours. Select colours that align together with your nonprofit’s model. Along with coloring menu bars and part dividers, take into account implementing gradient overlays to provide your homepage a constant coloration palette. Nevertheless, make sure you depart white house in margins and between sections to provide your guests’ eyes an opportunity to relaxation.
- Textual content. Textual content design consists of your headers, paragraph line-length, and use of bullet factors and numbered lists. Robust textual content design consists of clear headers, quick line lengths, and offers readers breaks between blocks of textual content with white house and listed content material.
- Structure. As talked about, take into account what order to place your options in. Some web sites use vertical column layouts to show plenty of info directly, whereas others act like a social media feed, permitting guests to scroll till they discover the content material they need. Your structure impacts how viewers navigate your web site, so prioritize navigation and comfort above all else by lowering litter and guaranteeing your navigation bar is all the time accessible.
As you add design parts, take the time to ensure your web site meets accessibility pointers. Add alt-text to photographs, transcripts for movies, and guarantee essential fields on donation types are marked by one other visible help than simply coloration alone.
Homepage Upkeep
After constructing your nonprofit’s homepage, you’ll need to conduct common upkeep on it. You must usually add new content material to your web site so as to present your exercise to your supporters, however including new pages with out correct upkeep can result in damaged hyperlinks, complicated web site hierarchy, and lengthy load occasions.
Not all web site upkeep requires you to have data of coding (although it could possibly assist), and there are lots of routine operations you may full your self. Cornershop Artistic’s information to nonprofit web site upkeep supplies a guidelines of things that features:
- Changing outdated hyperlinks. Outdated and damaged hyperlinks could make guests doubt your web site’s safety, which can trigger them to hesitate when inputting their monetary info into your donation type. Click on all usually used hyperlinks and check hyperlinks to new pages to maintain your guests in your web site and away from 404 Error messages.
- Checking loading occasions. In case your homepage takes longer than two seconds to load, guests could not trouble to attend, dropping you web site visitors and potential donations. Lengthy load occasions could be attributable to massive picture recordsdata or pointless plugins. Try this information for extra details about what you must search for (and keep away from) in a WordPress plugin.
- Actively testing types. Follow coming into your info into your donation, volunteer, and registration types to make sure info is flowing via to your CRM correctly and that there are not any pointless steps slowing down the method.
Staying up to date on web site and on-line greatest practices requires time and routine analysis. In case your homepage has an issue you aren’t outfitted to deal with, attain out to skilled web site consultants for recommendation. For instance, critical points like a safety failure require rapid consideration and warrant bringing in exterior assist to guard your donors’ safety and your popularity.
Steps for Enchancment
Implement the practices on this information as a primary step in direction of forming a greater digital first impression. Keep in mind, although, that creating and sustaining an up-to-date web site requires constant analysis on new expertise and internet practices.
As you enhance your web site, begin trying into further enchancment methods resembling:
- Attending coaching programs. As nonprofit expertise evolves, the listing of issues to be taught grows together with it. Coaching programs can train you how you can take advantage of the instruments you’ve got and doubtlessly begin tackling duties in-house that you beforehand needed to outsource.
- Hiring a advisor. It’s possible you’ll determine that your nonprofit doesn’t have the time and assets to construct and design your homepage. On this case, look into internet design consultants specialised in nonprofits to find what you want and what choices are on the market. If you happen to’ve by no means labored with an exterior knowledgeable earlier than, this information to nonprofit consultants outlines necessities to bear in mind.
Hold your funds in thoughts as you get to work in your web site. Designing, coding, and sustaining a web site can rapidly turn into costly, so make sure you create a listing of must-have parts and a funds to make sure nothing important is forgotten with out spending greater than essential.
Your homepage’s guests are used to trendy internet design and can strategy your web site with particular expectations of what a homepage ought to look and act like. When you wish to give these guests a singular expertise, guarantee they discover your web site simple to make use of, modern-looking, and safe.
Design your web site with comfort of use and your model identification in thoughts, and usually replace it to ensure the trouble you place into its creation by no means goes to waste attributable to loading occasions or damaged hyperlinks. With a stable internet design basis in place, you’ll be capable to begin bringing all the different pages in your web site up to the mark, too. Better of luck!
Concerning the Writer
Ira Horowitz
With 15 years’ expertise, Ira is an knowledgeable in nonprofit on-line communications and on-line fundraising. His work has resulted in elevated funds and resounding supporter engagement for a whole lot of organizations.
Ira oversees our venture administration staff and works with shoppers to supply our shoppers with the absolute best closing product. He additionally manages all of our strategic engagements and helps information nonprofits to find out their long-term technique objectives for on-line communications.