Important components of your Nonprofit’s Websites

As a nonprofit organization, Charitynet USA cannot stress how important it is for your 501c3 organization to create a unique and cohesive online presence. When a potential donor, volunteer, or community member is seeking information on your services, one of the first places they will look is on your website. For many community members, this is their first contact with your organization and they will form their opinion on your organization and its services solely based upon your digital content. Nonprofit organizations can no longer create a simple one page website and expect to have high SEO results or gain a significant amount of community support. It is important for your organization to ensure that all of your digital content is current, easy to locate, cohesive looking, and simple to navigate.

If your organization is struggling to create an online presence that contributes to a professional impression, you may want to consider adding the following components to your websites.

A blog- A blog is an easy way to keep your viewers up to date on the accomplishments your organization has achieved, highlight any upcoming events, and publish relevant news articles on the demographics that your programs serve. It is important to update your blog a minimum of two to three times per week. Regular blog updates will also improve your organization’s SEO results and will drive additional traffic to your website. Be sure to use key words that are relevant to your mission and reflect the needs that your organization addresses.

Photo Gallery- In today’s society, the value of visual content cannot be underestimated. One photo that tells an impactful story may gain more attention than a one page article. A photo gallery is also an easy way to show donors what their contributions are being used for and the needs that are being addressed. Labeling each photo with keywords is also an easy way to increase your organization’s SEO score.

Links to social media- Facebook, instagram, twitter, YouTube, Google plus, and pinterest are a few social media mediums that are extremely popular and will help your organization reach a larger audience. In order to make it easy for community members to find your social media accounts, it is important to have links to your accounts located directly on your website. Like your blog entries, it should be a large priority of your board members to continually update these accounts with relevant information and updates. 

Contact Page- Nothing is more frustrating than trying to find a phone number or email for a company on an outdated and unorganized website. Make sure that donors and community members can easily locate your phone number, mailing address, and email for your 501c3 organization.

Online donations- It is no secret that many consumers lean towards shopping online and contributing financially via credit card. Making sure that donors can easily contribute to your organization via credit card or PayPal will assist your organization with meeting its fiscal goals.

Author Bio: The writer is an expert in the field of nonprofit website with focus on charity website.