DIRECTIONS COUNCIL FOR VOCATIONAL SERVICES SOCIETY

October 7, 2010

Today’s Presenter

Zenia Wadhwani

Director, Program Development

CanadaHelps.org

What is CanadaHelps?

A public charitable foundation that provides accessible and affordable online technology to both donors and charities.

For Charities

A cost-effective means of raising funds online.

For Donors

A one-stop-shop for giving.

CanadaHelps is a charity helping charities.

DID YOU KNOW? VIDEO

WEBSITES 101: IS YOUR WEBSITE COSTING YOU DONORS?

What makes a great website is focus and clarity of purpose.

A great website is unpretentious. It doesn’t pretend to be what it is not.

It never wastes your time because it always gets to the point.

A great website helps you to act.

~Gerry McGovern

What We’ll Cover

• What is Web Usability and Why is it Important?

• 3 Basic Principles of Web Usability

• Cheap and Easy Usability Testing

• The Value of Web Stats

• A Few Extra Notes

• Resources

What is Web Usability and Why is it Important?

How Do Supporters Find You?

49% more likely to give than

one who was dissatisfied with the overall experience

A visitor who is satisfied with their experience

with a nonprofit website is

Web Usability

The ease of use and visual design of your website.

Why is it Important?

• Good websites…

• Are inviting

• Are easy to navigate

• Offer valuable information

• Are not distracting or confusing

• Don’t drive people away

• Are compelling

• Make giving easy

• Will be visited again

• Are liked

The Return on Investment

• More engagement from users

• Increase credibility

• Get better media coverage

• Gain more support for your cause

• Increase donations

3 Basic Principles of Web Usability

1. Appearance

Make Text Easy to Read

• Use a standard font and proper size

• Use proper contrast

• Use proper caps

• Best readability is dark on light (like black on white)

Whitespace

Visual Consistency

2. Functionality

Website Conventions

Nav

igat

ion

Navigation

Content Body

Banner

Contact & Misc Information

Website Conventions Applied

Nav

igat

ion

Navigation

Content Body

Banner

Contact and Misc. Information

Avoid Too Much Scrolling

• Keep it narrow

• Sideways scrolling is uncommon … and annoying!

Self-Explanatory Choices

Menu Food Menu Cuisine Options Culinary Delights

Jobs Job Openings Employment Opportunities Career Services

About Us More Information About Us Organization Information

Volunteer Volunteer Opportunities Give Us Your Time

Breadcrumb Navigation

User knows:

• Where they came from

• Where they are

• Where they can go

Home is only one click away.

Links

Check for:

• Dead links

• Misguided links

• Imposter links

• Hidden links

• Logo links

The Back Button

Speed

• Make your pages load quickly

• Limit use of large pictures

• Interactive media can slow connection

3. Content & Placement

Writing for the Web

• Web writing is concise

• Keep paragraphs short and use bullet points

• Bold important points, but sparingly

• Homepage should show your most important parts

• What goes “above the fold”?

• Are you making it easy for supporters to give?

Page Organization

• A separate page for each section

• Headlines are key

• Pictures to compliment topic

Picture

Heading

Content. More Content. Some more content. A little more content. And that’s about it.

Show What You Do Clearly

• Easy to see and understand

• Make it easy to remember!

Where’s your button?

1 in 5 visitors to a nonprofit website go specifically

to make a donation

• Put your Donate Now button on every page.

• Encourage monthly giving.

Show How People Can Get Involved

• Donate to your cause

• Volunteer their time or skills

• Share your story with their network

• Make your calls to action very prominent

Salvation army example

Make it Easy to Contact You

Nav

igat

ion

Navigation

Content Body

Banner

Contact Information

We! We! We! When designing or improving

a website, think about the USER first!

X X X

Cheap and Easy Usability Testing

Testing Questions

1. Is it obvious what this site is about?

2. Is it easy to find what I need?

3. Are the most important things visible when I arrive?

DIY Usability Testing Step 1: Find Testers

• Find 3-5 people who have some time (~30 minutes) to have a look at your website

• Testers should not already be familiar with your site (no staff, Board or regular volunteers)

• Testers should be representative of your usual website users

DIY Usability Testing Step 2: Using your site

• Ask testers to comment as they navigate your site (to give you insight about their choices)

• Ask testers to accomplish your main calls of action

Sign up for your newsletter

Click your Donate Now! Button

Find and apply for volunteer opportunities

Other ways they can get involved (buy tickets, buy products, join a group etc…)

Find general information about your organization’s mission and mandate

Contact your organization

DIY Usability Testing Step 3: Observe

• Take note of:

• How long each step takes to complete

• Tester confusion at any point

• Frustration

• Ease of use

• Work with your web team to have the main issues and frustrations address

• Repeat your usability testing whenever you make major changes to your site

Survey Your Users

• Make a checklist that rates your website

• Free online surveys (www.surveymonkey.com)

• Put a link on your site

• Put it in your newsletter

• Try to get everyone to do it, even those who know you well

Check Out Other Charity Websites

The Value of Web Stats

Why Are Web Stats Important?

• Understand your users

• Know what people do on your site

• Provides tangible feedback about your site

• Leaves the guessing out of what works

Visitors

Gain insights about the visitors of your website

• Unique visitors

• First time vs. repeat visitors

• Visitor loyalty

• Length of visit

• Browsers

• Geographic profile & language

Content

• Top content

• Top landing pages

• Top exit pages

Traffic Sources

• Direct traffic: typed your address in a browser

• Referring sites:

• Know your top referring sites

• Are your ads working?

• Search Engines

• Keywords

Google Analytics

• Free service

• Comprehensive feature set

• Go to http://www.google.com/analytics/

Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug

• Best seller

• Easy to read

• Great content

• Lots of examples

• Great section on Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing and Resources

A Few Extra Notes

Content Management System

• Easier to create, edit and publish content

• Reduction of costs and calls to the IT department or company

• Fresher content

• Share the workload

• Easy to use; no need to learn code

• Consistency of design preserved

• Navigation automatically adjusted

• Access from anywhere

Search Engine Optimization Sear Engine Marketing

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.

Other forms of search engine marketing (SEM) target paid listings. In general, the earlier (or higher on the page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine.

Stolen from Wikipedia

Secure Online Donations

What are you doing to keep donor information safe?

If you are collecting credit card information on your website, it’s important to know about PCI DSS – Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards - a set of comprehensive requirements for enhancing payment account data security on a global basis.

The PCI DSS is a multifaceted security standard that includes requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures. This comprehensive standard is intended to help organizations proactively protect customer account data.

Your Turn

STRETCH BREAK

PHILANTHROPY 2.0

What We’ll Cover

• Web 1.0 & Web 2.0

• Some Web 2.0 Tools

• YouTube

• Flickr

• Blogs

• Twitter

• Social Networking

• Giving Pages

• Case Study: Apathy is Boring

• Principles of Social Media

• Debunking Web 2.0 Myths

Web 1.0 and Web 2.0

Web 1.0

• The ability to disseminate information electronically: to display and promote an organization, person, or idea on the internet

• Web 1.0 facilitates one-way transactions

• Fundamentally important for every website

Web 1.0 Fundamentals

• Solid and intuitive website design

• Website usability

• Short and simple messaging

• Compelling stories and e-newsletters

• Fresh and up-to-date information

Web 2.0

• Richer user experience

• interaction, engagement, conversation, collaboration, connections

• Encourages & allows for two-way communication

• users now being talked WITH instead of AT

• User-generated content

The Difference Between Web 1.0 & Web 2.0

Web 1.0 was about publishing and transactions.

Web 2.0 is about networks and community.

Many

Few Many

Many

Some Web 2.0 Tools

YouTube

• Provides a platform for video content

• Media outlet + social networking site

• Nonprofit program now available in Canada

• Interesting YouTube Stats:

• Exceeds 2 billion views a day worldwide

• 24 hours of video uploaded every minute

• 51% of users visit weekly

YouTube Tips

• You don’t have to be Martin Scorsese

• Check out www.animoto.com to create compelling video quickly and easily!

• Keep it short and sweet

• Share your video: embed into your website/blog, email the unique URL to supporters and friends

• Connect with your viewers. Ask for feedback!

Flickr

• Photo sharing website

• Online community platform

• Photo repository

• Photo search engine

• Includes various photo related tools

• Over 4 billion images as of October 2009

Flickr Tips

• Encourage people to take photos

• Tag and title strategically

• Interact with users

• Make use of the tools on Flickr

• Create a group for your specific event or contest

Blogs

• Blend of “web log”

• Online journals

• Focus on a particular subject, organization

• Interactive; allow for comments to be made

• An alternative newsletter

Blogging Tips

• The best blogs create a sense of community and commitment to a cause

• Use your blog to tell your charity’s story

• Make it personal

• Reply to comments you receive – listen and learn!

• Offer an RSS feed

Twitter

• Free micro-blogging tool that lets you share short (up to 140 characters) updates with people

• Similar to instant messaging, but opens up conversations to a wider audience

Twitter = Instant Messaging + Blogging

Source: www.johnhaydon.com

Use Twitter To…

• Make connections

• Gather support

• Educate followers

• Add personality to your organization

• Ask/answer questions

• Communicate quickly

• Show appreciation

Twitter Tips

• Balance promotion & conversation

• Follow people

• Be real

• Use Twitter to monitor conversations

• Be generous: reply & re-tweet

• Use a Twitter tool like HootSuite to manage tweets

Social Networking

• The practice of expanding one’s network by making connections through individuals.

• Allows members to interact, discuss, share quickly & easily

The Connections & Impact

CHARITY

DONOR

DONOR NETWORK

Initiates a campaign More donors align to cause; more funds raised

Communicates in multiple ways

34% Percentage of offline donors

who would urge others to support the same cause:

59% Percentage of online donors

who would urge others to support the same cause:

Social Networking Tips

• Start with one tool at a time

• Keep your information up-to-date

• Share your stories

• Build your brand

• Engage, encourage, empower

• Remember it’s a conversation – listening is just as important as talking

• Promote the page

CanadaHelps GivingPages

• Micro-giving sites

• Allows individuals to raise funds for their charity or charities of choice

• Allows charities to create a unique space to highlight specific fundraising campaigns (i.e. pledge events)

• Anyone can create and manage one

GivingPages Tips • Give your donors specific ideas, i.e.

wedding registry, birthdays, host/hostess gifts, in memoriam

• Highlight a specific project or campaign your charity is running; and talk about IMPACT

• Run a fundraising contest through GivingPages

• Share the unique URL with your network of supporters in all your communications, e.g., email signature

• Ask local businesses to start up a fundraising campaign for you

Case Study:

Principles of Social Media

Be Real

• Leave room for personality

• Most online communities expect a less formal tone

It’s a Conversation

• Balance self-promotion with listening

• Social media is about personal connections

• Engage with your fans, followers and supporters

Timeliness is Key

• Communications must be timely

• Quick responses are indications of an active organization and a responsible one

Encourage Participation

• Encourage your supporters to take action

• Provide opportunities to engage online and off

Measure Results

• Track the effectiveness of your social media presence

• Followers

• Conversations

• Conversions (volunteers, donations, support)

• Remember it’s not all about the numbers – focus on quality vs. quantity

Tell Stories

• Personal stories make good content and build personal connections

• Thought-provoking content will get shared more often

Let Go!

• You can’t control the message on social media tools

• Provide good/clear messaging, interesting stories and engage with supporters

• Join the conversation

Set Some Boundaries

• Develop a set of social media policies for your organization

• Focus on effective use of the tools, not controlling online activities

• Set clear expectations of employees and volunteers

Integrate

• Include social media into your existing fundraising and marketing plans

• Consider your online presence (website + social media) as a communications channel

Debunking Web 2.0 Myths

“It’s expensive.”

• Basic accounts are free and really all you need!

• Free blog tools:

www.blogger.com www.wordpress.com

• “Young” is a relative term

• Almost everyone can get online!

“It’s only for young people.”

15% From the ‘Greatest Generation’ Born 1901-1945

Of all giving online:

52% From Baby Boomers Born 1946-1962

30% From Generation X Born 1962-1980

The most significant characteristic associated with online giving is higher

education.

• It’s just a matter of time and practice.

• These tools are designed to be user-friendly!

“It’s hard to do.”

• Some tools may be a fad, but the concept behind Web 2.0 is not

• Social networking and engaging your donor base will never go out of style!

“It’s only a fad.”

• Focus on Web 1.0 first

• Walk before you run

“I need to do it because everyone else is.”

• Be prepared to give up some control

• Create solid messaging and trust it!

“I will lose all control.”

Your turn

MyCharityConnects.org

What is MyCharityConnects?

CanadaHelps' online resource centre for charities – a website dedicated to connecting charities and nonprofits to the technologies they need to succeed.

What can I find on MyCharityConnects?

• Free online resources for charities

• Information about technology , Web 1.0, Web 2.0 & social media

• Video demonstrations

• Webinars (online seminars)

• 2009 Conference materials

UPCOMING WEBINARS

October 13 – The Networked NonProfit: Using Social Media to Accomplish More With Less

October 27 – How Tweet It Is

November 10 – SEO, SEM and Analytics for NonProfits

November 24 – Everything Old is New Again: Getting Back to Fundraising Fundamentals

December 8 – Technology - a Source of Frustration or Creativity for Your Organization?

www.mycharityconnects.org

“A nonprofit can become a highly visible source of vision, information, and shaping for donor generosity.

Donors are great people. But most of them are not experts in the causes they support. They're looking to you to be expert, to apply their generosity for maximum impact. Or even to invent some new better way to change the world that they'd never dreamed of.

The best nonprofits bring vision and expertise to the table, then set donors free to help them make good things happen.”

Donor Power Blog – September 4, 2008

Welcome to Giving Made Simple.