Resources

Optimizing Your Nonprofit Website

Too often, I see nonprofits assume that they can’t do much to improve their website without a complete redesign. But that’s far from the case. With small projects and incremental improvements, these articles can help you take big strides to enhance everything from content to conversion to accessibility.

Simplify Your Website Text
Small text improvements can significantly impact user experience and site effectiveness. As part of routine website maintenance, focus on simplifying and clarifying transactional text (like calls-to-action and form instructions) and take care to remove unnecessary words and use plain language to ensure empathetic messaging.

​A Nonprofits' Guide to Google Search Console: Troubleshooting Technical SEO
Google Search Console (GSC) is an important tool for nonprofits to understand. It’s free, easy to set up, and provides real insight into how Google perceives your web presence. From understanding how to read the key GSC reports to resolving common technical SEO issues to ensuring your pages are properly indexed, my article gives you practical strategies to tackle the critical first step towards improving your nonprofit's online discoverability.

10 Guidelines for Nonprofit Website Credibility
In 2004, researchers at Stanford University released highly influential guidelines for establishing web credibility. 20 years later, they are still nearly completely applicable. I’ve laid them out in a somewhat reordered framework and supplemented them with descriptions that address the distinct needs and best practices for today’s nonprofit websites.

Using Objectives to Optimize Nonprofit Web Pages
It’s difficult to effectively prioritize a page without first understanding what it should accomplish. Defining “Page Objectives”can help you balance your nonprofit’s goals with what your visitors are hoping to do on a page. These objectives then provide a map for defining Calls to Action (CTAs) and prioritizing the information and features on a page. I provide step-by-step details and three examples. 

Turning Your Metrics Into a Nonprofit Website Measurement Plan
A solid measurement plan provides a straightforward way for your nonprofit to integrate metric reviews into a busy schedule, ensuring your website moves consistently in the right direction. It pinpoints exactly which metrics matter for your goals, and then how you’ll collect and use them to decide what to change. In this article, I outline the seven questions you’ll need to address to develop your plan.

A Practical Roadmap to Website Accessibility
If you’re not sure if your website is accessible, then it probably needs some work. Improving it isn't a simple task, but I suggest a two-part method to create your own roadmap. First, look at your content, pictures, and processes. Then, define a project to address the technical parts of website accessibility, which are often hard even to audit. This article tells you how.

Updating Website Features in Bite-Size Chunks
Often, nonprofits create new website functionality only as part of a major redesign. However, shifting to more periodic updates, or an “incremental enhancement” approach has a lot of advantages. This article talks through why you might want to change your approach, and how to get started.