The 7 Essential Qualities of Your Nonprofit Website

Before a donor chooses to give to your organization, he or she will most likely check out your website first. If you’d like to ensure you make the right impression, The following is a list of qualities your website should have to maximize its impact on current and potential supporters.

1. Easy to navigate

Visitors’ eyes should be swiftly directed to the right places on the page. People will leave if things are too difficult to figure out.

Action: Try making use of white space, and consider consulting someone with experience in graphic design.

2. Inviting

Be sure to provide your visitors with means to stay connected with your mission.

Action: Provide easy E-newsletter signup and thorough contact information.

3. Aesthetically Compelling

This factor matters more than you might think. According to research conducted by Guidestar, people process visuals 60,000 times faster than text, and web posts with visuals stir up to 180 percent more engagement. Another study found that nearly 40% of viewers will leave if a site isn’t visually pleasing.

Action: Enhance your site with pictures, and create an atmosphere with your homepage that immediately draws visitors in.

4. Modern

Keep your website updated and fresh-feeling. This one really goes along with the previous point: first impressions are important. If your blog has a stale, outdated feel to it, maybe your organization is too. You need to do everything you can to show your potential supporters your dedication to the mission.

Action: Continuously update your website.

5. Concise

Your readers have myriad things vying for their attention every day, so make sure your content is worth their time and gets to the point.

Action: Streamline and shorten the content you publish when you can to make it easier to digest.

6. Action-oriented

Make your organization’s mission clear to readers, as well as the roles you want them to take as your potential supporters. Also, be sure to include a prominent donate button.

Action: Include a call to action, preferably on your homepage.

7. Mobile-friendly

This is a big one, considering the majority of website traffic comes through phones. According to studies, 60% of mobile users expect web pages to load in 3 seconds, and 80% of mobile users leave a site immediately if it’s not optimized.

Action: Do what it takes to make your website mobile-friendly because, in today’s day and age, it pays big time to be technologically savvy.

If you can check all of these items off your list the next time you update your website, you should experience lower bounce rates and increased support for your organization.