Do you intend to revamp the existing website of your nonprofit organization? Or perhaps you’re interested in designing a brand-new website? If so, you are in the right place.
Your non-profit website serves as an important cornerstone for all of your digital marketing and fundraising initiatives. An effective approach to spreading the word about your nonprofit organization’s objective is to design a nonprofit-focused website. A stunning website can attract visitors to want to know more about our organization, which could increase the likelihood that they will become donors, volunteers, or members of your nonprofit organization.
The overall appearance and feel of your website is created by strategic user interface design components, which gives your audience an understanding of your organization’s mission and brand. A well-designed website translates your vision and offers opportunities for your audience to participate in your organization’s goal. The best way to position your nonprofit organization for online success is to adhere to best practices for website design. With the use of the techniques that will be mentioned below, you will have insights to build a website that potential supporters will find appealing and accessible.
Website Design Best Practices For Nonprofit Organizations
1. Ensure That Your Content Takes Center Stage
A brand-new visitor will decide whether to stay on your website to learn more or leave after reading a sentence or two. Adopting a content-first approach is among the best practices for your nonprofit website design. Thus, the design of your nonprofit’s website should be centered around content that is relevant, informative, engaging, and user-focused.
You can also increase reader engagement and keep your nonprofit website active by adding a blog. A blog is an effective tool to help increase traffic to your website by giving you a place to share stories of impact, share more about your mission, showcase your most recent projects, and build relationships with readers by creatively presenting your impact.
2. Prominently Feature The “DONATE” Button On Your Website
A lack of direction will prevent potential donors from donating to your organization. The “Donate” button on your website should be prominently displayed on each page by being incorporated into the main navigation.
By ensuring that the donation button is featured throughout your site, you can ensure that visitors may access it whenever they are moved to donate. The button should be big and noticeable so that it stands out and is impossible to ignore. This makes donating easy.
3. Use Compelling Website Visuals To Tell A Story.
While you can convey all the vital details about your nonprofit through text alone, doing so could result in a bland and unattractive website design for your nonprofit organization. Thus, your website should be visually dynamic and engaging.
Statistics show that processing visual information takes a tenth of a second, which is 60,000 times faster than processing words. Because the human brain processes images much more quickly than it does words, using images to explain your nonprofit’s narrative and draw in new supporters is imperative. Infographics with solid and educational information, pictures of regular humans helping and making a difference, and emotionally charged photos of the people you serve will help your audience better understand your organization’s objective.
4. Embrace Simplicity In Website Navigation.
Simple & Intuitive navigation makes it easier for your site visitors to find the information they need after arriving on your nonprofit organization’s website.
Use your website’s main navigation bar to direct users to the key pages on the website, such as the home page, about us, blog, etc. Utilize buttons and other calls to action to draw viewers in and persuade them to access your donation page, volunteer registration page, newsletter signup form, and other engagement options. By including significant links in your footer and a sitemap that lists all of your web pages, you may further enhance the usability of your site.
5. Prioritize Website Security
Websites with security features are valued by Google search engines, but effective security is also crucial for keeping your audience’s trust. Visitors disclose their personal information to you on your nonprofit website, including their names, addresses, phone numbers, and more. Failure to keep their information secure could result in both an instant loss of support and long-term damage to your credibility.
Your nonprofit organization’s website security should be your top priority given the surge in cybercrime. You should install an SSL certificate on your web server to ensure the security of your website. Your application protocol (HTTP) will switch to HTTPS after your SSL Certificate has been successfully installed to signify that the site is safe. This way, it is less vulnerable to data breaches, safeguarding the personal data of your donors and the reputation of your nonprofit organization.
6. Optimize Your Nonprofit Website For Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Your website should serve as both a rallying point for your devoted followers and a resource for attracting new prospects. This is only possible, though, if your website is SEO-optimized.
According to statistics, 75% of people don’t scroll past the first page of search engine results. These results highlight the significance of having a search engine-friendly nonprofit website. Providing high-quality, relevant, and up-to-date content, conducting keyword research, optimizing your web pages, promoting your website through other channels of communication like social media, email, and events, making your website mobile-friendly, etc. are all ways to improve your nonprofit website’s search engine ranking.
7. Optimize Your Site For Mobile Visitors
According to research from The State of Modern Philanthropy 2022, mobile devices are the most common way for donors to access campaign pages. Furthermore, all campaign categories receive at least 50% of their traffic from mobile devices.
Given these numbers, making nonprofit websites mobile-friendly is standard practice. Your nonprofit website needs to be built using a responsive design foundation so that it can automatically adjust to multiple screen sizes. Additionally, mobile-responsive donation pages increase donations by 34% compared to non-responsive ones, thus, you must ensure that your nonprofit website isn’t dismissing your prospective mobile audience. To offer an easy mobile donation experience, ensure your nonprofit website has large, easy-to-click buttons, compressed images to optimize speed, easy-to-read text, and is easy to navigate regardless of the device being used to access it.
Use The Best Practices For Your Website To Increase Traffic And Engage Donors.
Although it may be challenging, creating an engaging and user-friendly nonprofit website is not impossible. With the right structure, content, and sitemap, your nonprofit website can successfully engage your audience and promote your cause. Utilize the aforementioned best practices to enhance the impact and efficacy of your website in luring and educating prospective contributors and volunteers about your nonprofit organization’s mission and objectives.
Need Professional Assistance?
Hyperlink Media is a team of web design experts who can assist you in developing a new website for your nonprofit organization or giving your existing website a facelift to reflect not only your mission, but to also motivate your followers to support you through donating, volunteering, or advocating.
Get in touch with us to arrange a FREE CONSULTATION right away.
