6 Preparatory Steps for a Political Campaign Website

The following steps are in a general, but not particular order. They should be incorporated into your

overall campaign planning.

1. Secure your domain name. If you are going to set up your website sometime in the future, it is best to secure domain name as soon as possible. A domain must be registered through a domain

registration company (called a registrar). You can choose to register your domain name and host your site with the same company or you can split your domain registration and hosting between two companies. 2. Determine the look/color scheme of your campaign. This can be as simple as white text on a blue or

red background, or something more elaborate. The colors, font type, and even particular campaign

images should be incorporated into the look of your campaign website. This helps ensure overall

consistency and branding.

3. Start gathering materials. The good thing about a campaign website is that you can (and should) start

early and add content to the website throughout the campaign. Since the candidate’s bio or resume is

likely written, your website can start with that information and grow from there. Position papers,

endorsements, news and other content can be included initially or added later.

4. Get some photos ready. Start archiving some photos for both print and web. Keep a backup of large,

high-quality images that can be resized as needed throughout the campaign.

5. Determine if you are going to take contributions online. Taking contributions online can be costly, as

most online payment processors take a fee per transaction in addition to a percentage of the

contribution. However, there are low-cost options that do not require set-up fees. The time it takes to

set up an online contribution system could easily pay for itself. Explore the options early and decide.

7. Be ready to use your domain name with all of your campaign materials. When designing your

campaign materials, be sure include your campaign website domain name in EVERY print piece

distributed by your local campaign -- flyers, press releases, posters, yard signs, buttons, banners, TV and

radio ads, and anything else related to your campaign.

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