How to Increase Traffic to Your Nonprofit Website

Learning how to increase website traffic seems like a no-brainer after you launch a nonprofit website. Before people can donate or volunteer, they’ll need to be able to find you. And these days the web is likely how most people are going to find out about you. Gaining traffic is important for any website, but it’s important to stay proactive in your efforts to promote both your website and your organization.

Every piece of your nonprofit marketing strategy can be utilized to drive additional traffic to your website, where conversions like online donations, event registrations and sign ups for emails or to volunteer should be seamless.

Before we dive in, we want to empathize with you for a moment. Marketing can be really confusing, and it’s not always obvious what the right choice is. Give each section a shot! See what you’ll be able to tackle in-house and where you may need some support. You might be surprised by what you can accomplish for your nonprofit with a new focus on the website.

Think Quality Over Quantity

The number of visitors to your website doesn’t matter a whole lot in its own right. Whoa! Hang on there. What matters is how many of those visitors are the “right visitors.” We’re talking about those visitors interested in your cause and thus more likely to take meaningful actions on your site, be that signing up for a newsletter, volunteering, attending an event or donating.

We have here the ever-present dilemma of quantity and quality. When it comes to website traffic, it’s crucial to remember to focus on the visitors that will take action as opposed to the number of visitors who stop by for a minute (or less). For example, we’d rather have a higher number of folks signing up for email newsletters and donating online with fewer visits overall, than vice versa.

The goal when building traffic to your site is to attract people that will be genuinely interested in your cause. Focusing on tools like social media, blogs, search engines and newsletters can drive people to your website. And targeting your actions on those platforms to your specific audience will attract the right people. Keep your current and potential supporters top of mind on each platform you use in your nonprofit communications. Interested visitors will stick around to learn more and maybe even take one of your valued actions. But let’s break each strategy down a little further.

Each of the following chapters focuses on one specific aspect of your nonprofit marketing that you can use to drive traffic.

Increase Blog Traffic

A blog has the potential to drastically expand your audience. Learn six ways to strategize your nonprofit’s blog in order to drive more traffic.

Drive Traffic From Email

Email subscribers have already indicated that they’re interested in your nonprofit’s cause. Make the most of these supporters by sending them to your website to convert.

Drive Paid Search Traffic With Google Ad Grants

Google Ad Grants offers eligible nonprofits up to $10,000 of FREE advertising every month through their AdWords platform. Learn how these ads drive traffic and how to get your nonprofit started in the program.

Get Website Traffic With Event Promotions

What if you could do a better job promoting your events and get engaged visitors on your website in one fell swoop? Learn seven ways to promote events on your website, and try them out for your nonprofit’s next shindig.

Build Links to Your Site

Aside from the traffic that links themselves bring in, links play a crucial role in improving your search rankings. Check out a few ways to start reaping those benefits and building links to your site.

Increase Social Media Referral Traffic

Start building out your nonprofit’s social media strategy to better engage with your supporters. Find tips to promote website content on social media channels.

SEO for Blogs

Blogs are a great place to drive visitors who are interested in your cause but not looking for your nonprofit by name. Learn what you can do to start optimizing your posts and making the most of search engine optimization (SEO) on your blog.

Send Print Newsletter Traffic to Your Site

Just because your print newsletter isn’t online doesn’t mean you can’t use it to drive web traffic. Send your supporters online to take action.

Campaign Promotion That Drives Traffic

Promote your nonprofit’s next campaign on your website. Learn ways to get supporters to convert on your site.