Preparing new website content is an exciting stage of the project! As you gather text, photos and other supporting materials, it gets easier to visualize how everything will look on the site. The biggest task left to do between now and your launch date is filling your site up with great information. Staying on track means sticking to a schedule and strategy for your web content creation.
Stay Focused on the Goals
Everyone wants their website to be a good one, but how will you know if your site is effective?
While each organization is different, the only way to to measure success is by setting goals and tracking results over time. In the early stages of building a website, we ask our nonprofit clients to pick the top three actions that they’d like website visitors to take. From there, decisions are made about design, page structure and navigation.
Now that you’re ready to tackle your site’s content, these same goals will influence the information that goes on each page and how the pages work together to move someone toward action and deeper knowledge.
If you’re still struggling to set goals for your website, start with your organizational goals. What is your nonprofit hoping to achieve this year? From driving more donations to recruiting skilled volunteers, your website probably has a role to play in many of your big picture goals.
And last but not least, don’t forget about the goals of your visitors. A site that is too focused on the needs and internal structure of your nonprofit becomes a virtual brochure rather than a welcome mat. As you gather and write content, think about the types of people coming to your site, what’s most important to them and the actions that they might take to learn more about your cause.
Need a little help fleshing out your target audience? Start by creating personas.
Create a Timeline for Web Content Creation
Unlike print projects, a website is a living piece of collateral that can (and should) be updated on a continual basis. But this flexibility also makes it very tempting to put your content writing and editing work on the back burner as you create a new site.
Break up the task with personal deadlines. Completing three pages a week doesn’t seem quite so daunting as a twenty page website, especially if you can delegate to multiple writers. Also be sure to add in extra time for review and editing as well as approvals, if you need them from other staff or your board of directors. Managing feedback from stakeholders should definitely factor into your planning.
By setting and sticking to a deadline for web content creation, the rest of your website project can stay on track and launch with its best foot forward.
Table of Contents
Nowadays, most nonprofits and NGOs around the world have websites. What are you doing to stand out? Invest your time in creating fresh and compelling content to attract supporters. Go to Chapter 1.
Quickly preparing your website content keeps you on track for a timely launch. Stay focused on the goals and set a reasonable timeline for content completion. Go to Chapter 2.
Website content is more than text on a page. Start collecting other types of content that you can re-purpose to make your site more robust, such as photos, newsletter stories and testimonials. Go to Chapter 3.
It can be tempting to take shortcuts, like fixing outdated information after launch. Now is the time to take your nonprofit website to the next level by making a plan for great content. Go to Chapter 4.
Forget that you even know how to copy and paste! Writing for the web just got easier with these 11 tips that will help you stick to best practices. Go to Chapter 5.
Wishing your web pages looked more professional? The secret to great content entry is staying consistent across your site. Keep track of your formatting with a simple website style guide. Go to Chapter 6.
Just because it looked great in a brochure doesn’t mean your text is website-ready. Writing scannable content that engages your supporters boils down to these 8 simple rules. Go to Chapter 7.
Now that you have a handle on the basics, take your nonprofit to the next level with website content that goes above and beyond. Get inspired by examples from real nonprofits! Go to Chapter 8.