Building an Effective Website for Non-Profits

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Will Lybrand Melanie Seibert Building an Effective Website

Transcript of Building an Effective Website for Non-Profits

Will Lybrand

Melanie Seibert

Building an Effective Website

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Introductions

•About myself

•Melanie – Content Strategist

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Taking the Audience’s Pulse

•How many people work on your website?

•How many people are overseeing an ecommerce site?

•How big is your website?

•Who uses a blog?

•Who outsources their website?

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Overview

•The importance of a web site, worth the investment

•Real world constraints

•Each topic could be an hour

•Google it, do it

•Conversation, ask questions

Let’s Jump In

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What It Takes

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It’s Simple…1. Planning – Ideation & Definition

– Determine why, set out your goals– Specify who you are building it for– Determine needs– Set budget, evaluate in-sourcing and outsourcing

2. Execution - Build & Maintain– Write content– Build prototypes– Create designs– Build and deploy

3. Improve & Optimize– Measure performance & evaluate– Iterate on #2

Part of the plan!

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Setting the Stage

•Starting from scratch vs upkeep

–First 90 Days analogy, Michael Watkins (turnaround, salvage, continue success)

•A Balancing Act

–Planning & Strategy vs Execution & Tactical

–Creativity vs Science

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Interweaving

As we go through the over-arching steps, we will add to the tenants of running a website

Build on a foundation

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Ready Set Go

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Determine Why

•A site needs stated purpose

–Money? Attention? People?

•Specific activities

–Sign-ups, leads, social following, online store, etc.

•Document Everything

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Product Management

•Captain of the Ship, Quarterback, Director…

•Prioritization

•Site Strategy

•Wear the hat

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Get in the Goal

•Set Targets and Track against them

•Create a Dashboard (example)

•Stay Focused

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The Audience

•Define who you are talking to: personas

•Speak to that audience

•Limit by making tough decisions

•http://www.forrester.com/

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Needs

• Lots of blog posts? Sign-up forms? Credit cards?

• Static one-off?

• Execution & Support

• Mobile? Go responsive

– 55% cell owners go online

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Flexibility

•Websites are alive

•Plan for the unexpected

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Budget, In vs Out

•Wide ranging costs

•Be smart about spend, do what you’re good at, get help with the rest

In-sourcing• Requires staffing, guidance,

leadership• Quicker reaction time• Longevity, dedication

Outsourcing• More expensive• Trust• Less hassle

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Thus far…

•We know why

•Specific visitor activities

•Goals are set

•There is a defined audience

•Our needs are clear

•What next?

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Intro to Content Strategy

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What is content?

•Copy•Photos•Video•Podcasts•Infographics•Articles•Music•Updates

•Illustrations•Diagrams

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The stuff people come to your site for.

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http://brownsharpie.courtneygibbons.org/

Entropy (n.): Lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.

(Google)

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• A website, like any system, will decline into disorder if left to itself.

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3 Evidences of Entropy

on websites

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1. Silos

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@RU2K on Twitter

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2. Clutter

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3. Lack of insight

Bilal Kamoon on Flickr

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Tools for battling entropy

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Problem 1: Silos• Stakeholder interviews

• Understand who impacts the project, how, and what they want.

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Problem 1: Silos

•Content workflow diagram

•Understand how content is created, who affects it, and how.

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Problem 2: Clutter

• Content inventory

• Understand what content you have. Can be quantitative or qualitative.

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Problem 3: Lack of Insight

• Voice chart– Understand how you come across to your users.

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Problem 3: Lack of Insight

•Channel map

–Understand how users interact with each piece of content you create.

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contentmarketinginstitute.com

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Problem 3: Lack of Insight

•User testing

–Understand whether users are able to find/do what they need.

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There’s so much more...

• Governance

• Maintenance

• SEO

• Gap analyses

• Reports

• Style guides

• Content matrices

• Analytics

• Expert reviews

• Content reuse

• Editorial calendars

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Helpful resourcesfor getting started

Content Strategy for the Web,by Halvorson & Rach

Letting Go of the Words,by Redish

Content Rules,by Handley & Chapman

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Write

•Have a clear message - http://letsembark.com/

•Create an inventory & map

•Set tone and voice

•Use a calendar

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Content Management Systems

•Use one

•Lets you manage and publish content easily

•Types

–Wordpress, Drupal, Squarespace, etc

•Easy to modify

•Ecommerce Platforms

–Magento, Spree Commerce,

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Set the Experience

•What is UX? IA? Hard to define…

•Map the user’s experience by persona

•Set homepage, major section, and page goals

•Build Prototypes

–Allows for discussion and manipulation

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UX Design Tools for Prototyping

•Axure – http://www.axure.com

•Balsamiq - http://www.balsamiq.com

•Visio

•Pen and Paper

•Whiteboards!

Check the app marketplace!

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Thus far…

• We know why

• Specific actions

• Goals are set

• There is an audience

• Our needs are clear

• Content comes first

• Experience maps or prototypes

• How do we make it enticing?

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Web Design Time

1. Stay consistent with color and typography

– Offline synchronization

2. Have a design or pattern library, style guide

– http://developer.android.com/design/index.html

3. Use mock-ups

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The Genius of Design(ers)

•Photoshop, Paintshop, Illustrator

•Spend time on Illustrations, photos, the graphical

–Not on bulleted lists, padding, font sizes (set by style)

•Leverage templates

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Build and Deploy

• Use source control

• Have a test environment, or two, or three

• Build a rigorous deploy process

• Deploy on schedules

• Project management tools

• Hosting

– Redundancy, Speed, Uptime, Security, Price

– Do Not DIY

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Optimize

•Analytics Tools

–Google Analytics, free, easy to use

–Revisit the process & flow

•Use Data to inform actions, back into the flow of work

•AB Testing

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Tips

• Avoid using dates except where prudent

• Avoid Flash

• Use a blog, write regularly

• Have reports emailed to you

• Responsive design

• Google Webmaster account

• Landing pages

• Nonprofit Website Best Practices

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Will [email protected]@wlybrand

QuestionsFavorite/Worst website?Site for Evaluation?