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The Ultimate Guide to a Successful Nonprofit Website Project

  • Overview
  • 1. Planning
  • 2. Hiring
  • 3. Content
  • 4. Process
  • 5. Launch

The Ultimate Guide to a Successful Nonprofit Website Project

It’s time to redesign your nonprofit’s website, but you don’t know where to start. Here's my best advice for planning and executing a project that saves you money, avoids common pitfalls, and results in a website you love. 

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Contents

Part 1: Planning for a Nonprofit Website Project Expand
  • Save money on a website project with effective planning
  • Define your nonprofit organization’s goals
  • Who is the website for? Identify your nonprofit’s target audience.
  • Get to know your nonprofit’s target audience
  • Questions to get to know your audience
  • Make it personal with personas
  • When to do a website project
  • Get the right people involved
  • Assign a point person
  • Make sure you have complete access to all accounts
  • Some notes on domains and hosting
  • What actually needs to be on your nonprofit’s website?
  • Review your existing site
  • Get your assets together
  • Can the site save you time?
  • Decide on a donation platform
  • How to maximize donations on your nonprofit website
Part 2: How to Hire a Web Design Firm Expand
  • How much does a nonprofit website cost?
  • Hiring FAQs
  • Pick a web design firm you like and trust
  • How to contact web design firms about a potential project
  • Understand what’s in the website proposal
  • How to choose the right firm for your web design project
Part 3: Organize Your Content Expand
  • Getting your content together for the new website
  • Stories are key for engaging web content
  • Make a content plan
  • How to optimize your content for search engines (SEO)
  • Create your content with SEO in mind
  • When to get copywriting help
  • Photography for your nonprofit’s website
  • Consider video
Part 4: Phases of a Web Design Process Expand
  • Discovery/Research
  • Sitemap
  • Website Prototype
  • Visual Design
  • Draft Site
  • Revisions
Part 5: Launch and Beyond Expand
  • Soft launch
  • An opportunity to reintroduce yourself
  • Then let everyone know!
  • Plan for website maintenance and updates
  • Key aspects of website upkeep
  • Analytics
  • The launch is just the beginning

How to build a new website without breaking the bank

Website projects can be costly, time consuming, and overwhelming to dive into, which is why so many organizations keep websites they hate for far too long. But it doesn’t have to be this way! 

This guide will help remove the mystery and overwhelm of a website project. I’ll walk you through exactly what to expect from a project, how to prepare, and provide tips to keep costs within your budget.

Who this is for

Nonprofit directors, employees, and board members who are responsible for the success of a web project but are feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or just confused about the whole thing. Whether you're redesigning an existing site or building your organization's first website, this guide will help you know to make the most of your project. 

How you know it’s time for a new website

  • Your website doesn’t project the image you want.
  • You feel slightly embarrassed to share your website with supporters, funders and partners.
  • Your content is outdated and you don’t know how to change it.
  • The design looks old.
  • Your site doesn’t work well on mobile devices.
  • Users can’t find the information they’re looking for. 
  • Donation forms, sign up forms, or member login functionality is broken or requires a lot of staff time to keep up. 
  • The site structure no longer matches the priorities of your organization.
  • The site is built using old software and you can’t find developers willing to work on it. 
Part 1: Planning for a Nonprofit Website Project

Hey y'all, I'm Chris

I spent the first five years of my career working at a handful of nonprofit organizations before starting my web design business. This experience brought me deep appreciation for both their impact and quirkiness and I’ve worked extensively with dozens of nonprofits over the years. 

With experience on both sides, I’ve developed a good sense of what is key to a successful nonprofit website project and I’ll do my best to share that with you here!

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Part 1: Planning for a Nonprofit Website Project

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