What would you like your Web site to accomplish? Community outreach? Client education? Fund-raising? Most organizations today have some type of Web presence, but are you really getting your money’s worth?
Your mission
Every company exists to further its mission. Your Web site should be used to involve clients by demonstrating your mission and providing easy access to information and resources. For example, an arts education organization might provide a list of classes along with a registration form. A steel corporation could offer shareholder information or international locations. A food bank can provide dates and times for food distribution. And a health organization could publish tips on living a healthy lifestyle. The key to an effective Web site is to demonstrate that the company’s mission comes first and to provide resources for clients.
Keeping costs in line
The costs of designing and maintaining a Web site can outweigh the benefits unless you plan for the long-term. Get prepared by deciding what you want to accomplish with your Web site, and consider the resources you’ll need to keep it running. Training someone on your staff to design, program and maintain the site may be more feasible than hiring a design firm. Regardless of who maintains your site, plan to provide most of the data and images yourself. If you decide to outsource, partnering with one firm to provide the design, hosting and maintenance of the site may provide the most cost savings to your organization.
Gaining and keeping an audience
Web site visitors are actively looking to gather information or get involved. Your site needs to be well-organized and should include content that is accurate and concise. Information and art should be designed specifically for the site. Keep new users coming to your site by choosing a Web address that is familiar and easy to find — include your organization’s name, if possible. An example of an effective and easily memorized Web address is www.susiesdollfactory.com. Make sure you include your Web address on stationery, newsletters and brochures, and do your best to get it listed in the top search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
Fund-raising on the Web
As Internet use expands, the opportunities for fund-raising are dramatically increasing. There are benefits to making an online appeal.
A Web site reaches out to a much wider (national) group of donors.
There is a relatively low per-contact cost.
You can reach highly educated and wealthy potential donors.
Web sites provide contributors with an easy way to donate.
But online fund-raising does have its downsides. Consider the following.
Can you accept online donations? You will need to process credit card payments, which can be costly to establish.
Can online donors be linked to your database to receive adequate recognition?
Are you registered in every location where you are soliciting funds? Most states and many municipalities require charities soliciting funds in their area (even over the Internet) to pay a registration fee.
Evaluating your expected fund-raising revenues can help determine whether the additional costs make sense.
Feedback and maintenance
Changing your Web site — improving it and keeping it up-to-date — are two of the most important steps. Whether you hired an outside firm to maintain the site or someone is responsible internally, you will need to archive any content that is outdated and add fresh content on a regular basis. Visitors will stop coming to your site if you have nothing new, or if events are outdated. When posting, pay attention to how long the information will be available.
Your Web site can be a useful tool in telling the community about your mission and helping you raise the funds needed to accomplish your goals. Proper planning and maintenance will increase the benefits dramatically.
Jerry Justice, MCSA, MCSE, is IT manager at SS&G Financial Services Inc., covering its entities and offices. Reach him at [email protected] or (330)668-9696.
