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Best Practices
Nonprofit Web Site Design
Gayle C. Thorsen
impactmax.wordpress.com
Understand your field of competition
Meet readers’ needs and
expectationsCommunicate in a fewseconds what you do
and why it’s important
 Bring visitors backCreate short, scannablepagesWrite for the WebMeet the needs of reportersMeet the needs of donorsUse social media effectivelyMake your site attractive tosearch engines
 
 
BEST PRACTICES: Nonprofit Web Site Design
In this eBook, I’ve brought together some of the best practices in nonprofit
Web site design. The tips you find here can help a you design your first Website or evaluate an existing site. These 20 pages by no means cover everyfacet of design, but they do hit the high points. Think of this as a jumping-off place for learning more, which you can do through my hyperlinks or your ownonline searches.
I’m hoping this book encourages more nonprofits to regularly evaluate and
retool their Web sites to take advantage of new trends and technologies.Often, nonprofits are so relieved to have a site that they stop there. They may
try to keep the site updated, but they seldom take time to assess it after it’s
been up for a while.Communications and technology are moving fast, so frequent evaluation is amust if you want to protect your original Web site investment. Keeping yoursite in great shape is one of your highest communications priorities. And youneed to do more than analyze Web statistics; you have to examine your sitefrom top to bottom
—within the context of your competitors’ sites. It’sespecially important if you’re using social media to drive traffic to your site.
 The practices in this eBook have been gleaned from my own experience andfrom longtime Web site design gurus likeVincent Flanders andJakob Nielsen,  as well as other experts. These people generously share their knowledge freeon the Web, as well as in printed books. We are all in their debt!
Gayle Thorsen 
Nonprofit Communications Consultantimpactmax.wordpress.com
There’s more information about
Web site design, social media, andnonprofit communications on myblog:impactmax.wordpress.com. 
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license,visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ 
1
Understand your field of competition
1
Study competitors’ Web sites to learn how you can gain an edge.
Identify four of your most important competitors, and create acomparison grid to record the results of your study. Keep notesespecially about things the other Web sites do
better
than yours.The kinds of things you're looking to compare are:
Design, usability, and brand
—
How attractive, easy to use, and up-to-date is the site? Does it embody many of the best practices onthe following pages? Does the site convey unique, consistent,appropriate branding?
Information resources
—
Are information resources simple to find,well categorized, and easy to understand? Are webinars or work-shops offered to share knowledge?
Interactivity and social media
—
What ways can visitors interactwith the site, and with each other? Does it offer an enewsletter?Are there links to social and Web 2.0 media?
Storytelling
—
How good is the organization at telling its story interms of 
human impact 
? (not data or processes) Does it featurethe voices and stories of its beneficiaries? Other testimonials?
2
 
Meet readers’ needs and expectations
 
2
The most basic questions you need to answer for your site are:
What is its purpose?
Who are its priority audiences?
What content are those audiences interested in that thissite can provide?AsVincent Flanders emphasizes, people visit Web sites to solve a prob- lem or get something they need
—
information, entertainment, a senseof community, or the chance to donate or buy. So, if you think yourWeb site is about getting your message out, explaining your mission,or highlighting your work, turn your thinking around and consider the
user’s viewpoint. Ask the all
-important Marketing 101 question:
Whatproblems does this site/page solve for the users you want to attract?
If you aren’t sure who your key audiences are or why they’re coming
to your site, do this little exercise.
Identify the three groups of users you most need to attract to thesite.
For each group, brainstorm questions they may have that theywould want your site to answer. Then brainstorm actions they
might want to take once they’re on your site.
Prioritize the top questions and actions; they constitute the core of your content.Kivi Leroux Miller suggests that you organize your site around them. At the very least make sure paths to thoseanswers and actions are on your homepage.
3
Communicate in a few seconds what you do
and why it’s important
 
Your
homepage
is a crucial introduction to your organization. Within afew seconds, a first-time user should understand the purpose and use-fulness of your site. Your homepage should show how the site can
meet the user’s needs; highlight your richest, most current content;
and demonstrate your positive impact on society.
Your homepage (and all other pages) should
load very quickly
.
Don’t use an introductory “splash” page or flash animation.
Your
mission statement
and the word “welcome” should not be
on your homepage.
Strive for
simplicity and clarity
in design. Your homepage shouldbe attractive and engaging, but uncluttered.
Put your
logo
at the top of the homepage and on every page onyour site. It should always be linked to your homepage.
A one-sentence
tagline
on your homepage should explain whatyou do and how you differ from others doing the same.
An
About Us
link should be clearly available for users who want toknow more about you.
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