Web Design

Mobile email open rates continue to climb, and there are major impacts of this trend on your nonprofit. Here are three things this trend will drive your nonprofit to address should you want to continue to use email to engage and fundraise.

The DMA Nonprofit Federation’s Nonprofit Digital Day opened with Mikaela King from Defenders of Wildlife, Sean Powell of The Engage Group, Heather Marsh of ABD Direct and Peter Kaizer of Aquilent (former digital director of Catholic Relief Services). The panel, titled “Digital Fundraising 101,” discussed the basics of online acquisitions, email campaigns, Web marketing and social media.

Although much of the panel’s morning session focused on how to use content messaging and search engine marketing to acquire new constituents, one of the biggest takeaways was the importance of making nonprofit websites as user-friendly as possible.

Here are 19 ways to improve donation pages: Ditch the PayPal button. Write a powerful headline. Use less words. Limit paragraphs to two-three sentences. Use pictures. Use white space to direct the eye. Remove sidebars and navigation menu. Reduce steps to donate. Only ask for what's required. Write copy in the second person. Pick one call to action. Repeat the CTA three times. Use bullet points and numbered items. Use big fonts. Use big buttons. Keep it above the fold. Make it mobile. Optimize for search engines. Create a seamless donor experience across all channels.

If you look at your website’s Google Analytics, you’re likely to see that about a quarter of your website visitors come knocking on your door via mobile devices — that’s a lot! You’ll want to open your door, as it were, with a friendly smile on your face. So how can your organization be as approachable as possible via mobile? elow, we’ll cover: 1) making sure your website is responsive; 2) the importance of Instagram; 3) the rise of mobile messaging apps; and 4) tips for using responsive emails for impact.

We all know that first impressions really do count. In fact, research has confirmed that folks visiting your website form an impression in one-twentieth of a second, influencing their ratings of the site. So it makes you wonder — what are potential members, supporters or donors thinking about your website? Does it inspire trust? Are they motivated to stay a while or come back for more?

With the arrival of spring, maybe now is a good time to think about a little spring cleaning on your website.

We have to let the donor experience drive our giving sites, not our cumbersome internal processes that make things difficult. This process should be filled with joy and ease for the end user, not headaches and frustration. This is especially critical because your online donors make larger gifts than those that come in the mail. Need more proof of the power of online gifts? Check out the annual report from Blackbaud.

To get you thinking, here is a brief checklist of 5 items from the donor's perspective that make a real difference.

Is your nonprofit interested in email-friendly goals such as raising money; advocating on a local, state or national level; increasing attendance at your events; recruiting volunteers; and sharing news and resources about your nonprofit's mission? If so, take these three steps to turn your organization’s website into an email-capturing machine: Ask in all the right places, make your content desirable and create a beautiful frame.

Christine Schaefer, VP of community and marketing at Salsa Labs, tackles nonprofit donation page design and explains why and how a small to midsize business e-commerce strategy can be applied to nonprofit donation page design for higher completion rate.

It’s annual report season — and awards season! What better time to get inspired by nonprofits that are publishing exemplary online annual reports? These organizations show the powerful results you can get when you revamp your annual report process. Here are some noteworthy online annual reports in five categories:

• Best Donation Generator — charity: water
• Best Messengers — Girls Inc.
• Best Year's Highlights — Kiva
• Best Bold Move to Digital — Salvation Army
• Best E-Book — Michael J. Fox Foundation

The unfortunate bottom line is no one will read your great offer on your stunning landing page if it isn’t relevant. And, it can’t convert if people don’t read it. That’s why you need to write your landing page with all three types of viewers in mind — readers, scanners and bottom feeders.

You can optimize your landing page to appeal to each type of reader by looking at the behavioral psychology of different viewers and how they consume information on the Web.