Turning Your 2009 Online Resolutions Into Action
It’s March of 2009 — certainly you haven’t forgotten about your New Year’s resolution already, have you?
Whether it’s exercising, spending more time volunteering or some other personal goal, the first 100 days are critical to your success. You must engage and take action if you desire any level of accomplishment.
The same applies to your organization and the online resolutions you might have set entering the year. If you haven’t taken action to put your ideas and new online concepts into motion just yet, now would be a good time to revisit your organization’s resolutions for 2009. After polling hundreds of nonprofits at the start of the year, we at Convio found that nonprofits have honed in on four main areas that they want to better address online in 2009. Here are some important points to consider as you begin taking action to tackle each of these resolutions.
Resolution No. 1: Make our Web site easier to use and more informative.
The first question you should ask before refreshing your Web site is “What am I trying to achieve?” Do you understand what audience you’re trying to reach? Do you know what you want online visitors to do once you reach them? Online marketing is about connecting with individuals and building strong, lasting relationships with them. By defining your goals first, your organization will be much better positioned to maximize the impact of a newly designed Web site.
Keep in mind that the expectations of constituents have changed in recent years in terms of the online experience they expect with your organization. Their online standards are set by today’s more comprehensive and dynamic sites such as Amazon.com or iTunes. Some simple steps for creating a Web site that is easier to navigate and provides a beneficial user experience include:
- Thinking like a Web site visitor and organizing content according to how and where one would expect to find information;
- Cutting the clutter and providing simple pathways for users to find information;
- Providing clear calls to action;
- Allowing for engagement with supporters, such as taking surveys to create feedback loops or allowing visitors to submit comments on a blog;
- Paying special attention to video, which is quickly becoming the easiest way to communicate short messages; and
- Tailoring content to specific audiences you are trying to reach.
