Yesterday I wrote an article about 10 prerequisites for social media networking, one of which was to ensure that your website is presentable before engaging the social media world. Below are four tips to help make your website (and the most important part, the donate button) shine.
1. Make your donate button easy to locate
Have a friend sit down in front of your website home page and count how many seconds it takes them to find and click on your donate button. If it takes them more than two seconds, your button needs to be far more visible. Make sure the button is on the upper portion of the screen. Make the button big, colorful, and easy to see.
2. Frame the donate button in an interesting way.
Your organization’s financial needs are not the only reasons you should offer on why someone should click on your donate button. Around the donate button, place pictures, articles, and reasons why someone should give. Let donors see what the impact of their donation will be and why your cause is relevant to them personally. Make the button fun or compelling to push.
3. Add a sense of urgency.
If there is no crisis happening, it is harder for people to give. Create a sense of urgency by organizing a campaign with a goal and deadline, a matching grant, or an appeal for highly tangible items or programs.
4. Realize that donors require relationship.
While it would be easier if donors gave right away, most people will not contribute without a previously established relationship. Make sure your website can easily capture visitors’ email addresses so you can build relationships with them. Think of ideas beyond a newsletter sign-up. Here’s an original idea for attaining email addresses.
Information taken from: Katya Andresen. “4 Basic Website Tweaks.” Network for Good. <www.fundraising123.org>.
-- Ashley High is a Research Assistant at Christian Foundation Grants (www.christianfoundationgrants.com) which is a subscription database of foundations that provide grants to faith based organizations. iDonate.com is a website (www.iDonate.com) that allows ministries to receive non cash gifts online.