Nowadays every business and nonprofit organization needs a website, and yet I so often see them without it. Or sometimes they do have one, but it clearly hasn’t been worked on since the late 90’s or it’s lacking some really important functionality or legal features.
I guess I’m probably hyper-sensitive to it since I build websites for a living, but let me give you some good reasons you should care, too:
- 88% of website visitors are less likely to come back to your site if they have a negative experience. Plus many say that if the website looks bad or malfunctions, they assume the organization doesn’t care. (Source)
- 75% of users base their judgement of a website’s credibility on how it looks. (Source)
- Slow-loading websites are a major reason people consider a website experience to be negative. (Source)
- 85% of people want an organization’s mobile site to look and work better than their desktop site and 90% of users are using more than one screen or device to look at websites. (Source)
- Site visitors will form an opinion about your website .5 seconds after it loads on their screen. (Source)
- Humans now officially have an average attention span that is shorter than a Goldfish so you don’t have much time to grab a website visitor’s attention and keep them there. (Source)
I could go on, but you get the point.
You NEED to care what your website looks like and what kind of experience people have when they visit it. Your ticket sales, donations, campaign goals, and engagement level depend upon it.
Which, of course, begs the question: Ok, I care. I still don’t know how my website stacks up so what should I be looking for?
The answer to that question is multi-faceted and to some extent depends on what your organization does and how you want users to be able to interact with your website. So while I can’t give everyone a one-size-fits-all answer, here are some things your website should do or have:
#1 – Does it look good?
#2 – Does it look equally as good (if not better) on a smartphone or tablet screen?
#3 – Does it load really fast?
#4 – Do you update all the information regularly?
#5 – Do you have an up-to-date Privacy Policy and Terms of Use page?
#6 – Is it so simple to navigate and find information that a 5-year old could do it?
#7 – Do you have contact information up?
#8 – Can users donate right on the website and it actually works?
#9 – Can users buy tickets/buy art/register for a class/whatever on the website and it actually works?
#10 – Are you using the website as a core marketing tool to build email lists, social media followings, and convert visitors into donors and patrons?
If you answered no to any of those questions, then it’s time to revisit your website and bring it into the 21st century. Technology has come far, and whether we like it or not we should keep up with it regularly if we don’t want to be left in the dust.
With competition for dollars being fierce between mainstream entertainment mediums and what arts orgs can offer, you really cannot afford to not take your website seriously.
Next steps for improving the digital presence of your arts nonprofit:
- Download my “Your Ultimate Arts Nonprofit Website Evaluation Checklist” to get more on how to evaluate your website as well as a few bonus free tools to help you do it.
- Get in touch with me so we can talk about evaluating your website together. I can help you identify areas of weakness and strength and help you formulate a plan to fix it or redesign it.
- This fall I will be rolling out a brand new eCourse designed just for small or startup nonprofits who either need to get their first website up and running or need to redesign a not-so-great site but don’t have the budget to hire a web developer.
In my course I will give you a DIY, step-by-step guide on how to create an amazing, beautiful, functional website that engages your visitors. I don’t use tech jargon, I break it down to bite-size chunks, and you get access to a private FB group for support as well as me to personally help you with any roadblocks you encounter. If you’re interested in an early-bird discount when that course comes out, fill out the form below and I will send you updates and discounts!
To the cainnonprofitsolutions.com owner, Your posts are always well written and informative.