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Servicing
The Metro Atlanta Area
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Top 10 Mistakes Non-Profit
Organizations Make
When Dealing With Their
Web site They Don't
- List Their Web site as the Official Web site of their organization:
If you do a look up of the Red Cross, you will find several Web sites
that deal with them, and several Web sites that discuss them, but you
know you are going to their site when you see "the official Web site
of".
- Have an Archive of Newsletters and Articles:
This not only helps with search engine placement, but the more information
that you provide on your Web site, the more people will come back to
your Web site. People don't really look for advertisements on the web,
they look for information, and the more you offer them, the more they
will come back to your site.
- Keep Things Consistent in the Web site:
Their main draw to the Web site might be to offer information, but when
people get there its nothing but donate donate donate. While people
are always looking for places to donate money, they don't want to be
constantly hammered at. But you want to offer people a way to donate,
so you have to make sure that its available but not constantly hammered
at them. The theme of the Web site should be consistent and easy to understand.
If people can't navigate through the site, they won't stay long.
- Use a Different Site for Different Divisions:
If your organization is a school, and there are 3 divisions of the school,
elementary, middle school, and high school. One Web site will not be
able to encompass everything for all three schools without getting too
big, and people getting lost at the site. You want to provide them with
a simple way to get through the site, find the information they want,
without finding the information for too many things at the same time
and giving them information overload. Of course, you want to provide
a link from each schools page to the others, but you want to make sure
that each has its own domain name that is relative to the school it
represents (i.e.: yourschool-k-5.org, yourschool-6-8.org, yourschool-9-12.org)
this will provide a simple way for people to navigate through your site.
- Offer a FAQ Page:
People like to be able to get general questions answered without having
to make phone calls and send emails. They usually won't pursue basic
questions. If you provide them with a FAQ page, then they can get their
basic questions answered and this can leave them with bigger questions
worth actually contacting you for. This also allows you to keep from
being redundant and answering the same questions over and over again
when people do contact you.
- List Their Cause at the Beginning of the Web site:
One of the first things people should see when they reach your Web site
is your cause. It should be a big bold statement that they see. They
should be able to identify who you are, and why you are in business.
So many non-profit organizations are in business these days, its not
always easy to identify each one individually and its even more difficult
to know what each one is supporting. This also allows people to separate
you from the other organizations that are out there.
- List Their Mission Statement On Their Web site:
People want to know what your mission is and how you intend to reach
it. This gives people a sense that you are a real organization and that
you have a real purpose. With so many scams being done on the web today,
people like the security of knowing that they are dealing with a real
organization.
- Accept Donations Over the Web:
If people are looking to send you money, several people will first try
to do it over the internet. In today's world, people are paying their
bills online, they are buying their gifts online, and they are making
donations online. Do you really want to turn people away because you
don't offer them the convenience? Its too easy for them to type in another
Web site address, or do a search for a similar organization and find
one that will take their money over the web.
- Offer Testimonials:
This shows a personality for the organization. It let's people know
that the organization has other clients and customers. It also shows
a history. That it is not a fly by night organization but that it has
been around for a while, and people are happy to deal with them.
- Keep the Web site Content Changing, Keeping it a "Live Site":
If you want people to come back to your site, than you have to give
them a reason to come back. If you want people to think that your organization
is a "live" organization than you want people to see that
you are making changes and growing. If people don't see your Web site
reflecting your business growth, they will move on to other Web sites
where they do see it.
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