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As a Non-profit, your website is the face of your organisation, so you need to make sure that it’s in tip-top shape for anyone who is reading, whether they’re a volunteer or a donator. To help, we have put together a website checklist so you can be sure that your website is the best it can be for your visitors.
Simple Navigation
A website that is easy to navigate and simple is the best way to keep your visitors on your page and stop them from bouncing off.
A great place to start would be to ask individuals who do not know what your Non-profit is about to visit your website whilst you watch. Encouraging them to talk to you about their thought process whilst navigating a site is key to understanding what your other website visitors may be thinking. After spending some time on your website, why not ask them a few questions to gain a further understanding. A few examples can be ‘what do you think our missions is as a Non-profit?’ and ‘what do you think our message is?’. You can use their feedback to make improvements to your Non-profit’s site.
Donate Button
Number 2 on our website checklist is a donate button! If your Non-profit accepts donations online, then having a donate button that is clear and visible to visitors is very important! Having a donate button in your website’s menu bar so it is visible to users on any page is a great way to ensure that the user is aware that they can donate. A great example of a Non-profit website with a clear and visible donate button is the Norfolk Community Foundation. Take a look below.
Clear Menu Bar
A menu bar for any website is crucial to help the user find what they are looking for. Does your Non-profit website have the following in the menu bar?
- Home
- About Us
- Our Mission
- Get Involved
- Contact Us
A great website that has an excellent menu bar layout is the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. Take a look below!
As you can see, they also have all of their social media icons in the top left-hand corner.
Install Yoast SEO Plugin
Ensuring your site is SEO friendly is so important! You want your site to appear on the search engine results page. Yoast SEO has a free standard package available to guide and help you make your website pages more SEO friendly. You can find out more about this plugin here.
5) Clear Call-to-Actions
This is one that you cannot afford to ignore. Check each page of your Non-profit’s site and ensure that it has clearly defined call to action elements. Call to actions helps funnel your visitors to the most essential locations. They can also help you build an email list if you are looking to develop a database of followers for your Non-profit.
Secure your Non-profit’s Website
If your Non-profits website doesn’t have an SSL certificate, it will show as ‘not secure’ in the users URL bar. This doesn’t give the user confidence in your site, which may tempt the user to leave.
So what is SSL?
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser.
This doesn’t give the user confidence in your site, which may tempt the user to close your site.
For more information on how to get an SSL certificate, click here.
Fix any Errors with Google Search Console
Using Google Search Console is an excellent way to keep your Non-profit’s website in tip-top shape. This free tool from Google will flag any errors on your Non-profits site, giving you a chance to resolve them.
For more information on Google’s Search Console, click here.
We hope this website checklist for your Non-profit’s website will help you to attract more visitors and donors.
