Hi friends 👋🏻

This week, a quick video demo from a recent nonprofit website project that gave me the chance to implement geographic search in a custom content collection.

And a reminder about the upcoming Text for Good program, with a discount code for you!

---

Want links to recent emails or a sign-up link to share? Go to The Digital Landscape sign-up page​

---

Let's talk about collections of custom content

I’ve written plenty of times (and have plenty of case studies) encouraging the development of custom content “libraries” — landing pages for a collection of content items that use filter and search controls to let users explore.

For nonprofit organizations, often this content is "Resources" or "Publications". I've built libraries like that for Listen4Good, and the Christensen Institute.

Other times, the content type is more specific. For example, Camp Cocker Rescue needed a "Dog Profile" content type. And the National Sailing Hall of Fame needs "Inductees".

What do all these "resource collection" pages have in common?

They use custom fields and taxonomies to filter the display of content items, and often allow users to access filter and search tools to explore the collection themselves.

What about when your content includes location data?

When designing this kind of user experience, it’s important to think about the user journey. When searching through content, what is the user looking for? What are their next steps?

If the custom content has location data, is the user interested in finding locations closest to them, or getting directions?

In a recent project (full case study coming soon), one of the custom content types is medical facility locations.

This is a great example of a custom content archive page that needs geographic search functionality.

As you can see in the video demo below, I added a geographic search field that autocompletes US places and addresses, and allows users to set a radius in which to search. This can be combined with other filters, in this case, a list of services available at each location.

This geographic search even includes a button you can click to trigger your browser's geolocation feature, if you have that turned on.

For anyone that's curious, this is built on a WordPress site, using ACF Pro and WP Gridbuilder with the Map facet add-on, in combination with Google's Geolocation, Geocoding, and Places APIs.

If your website includes custom content with location data, think about how you can provide a user experience that does more than just list addresses!

---

Reminder: Text for Good starts next week!

If starting an SMS program is on your to-do list for 2026 and you're not sure where to start, check out Text for Good, a three-part workshop series that will help you confidently launch (or clean up) your texting program in 2026.

Caroline Griffin from Marketer on a Mission and Amanda Speer at Mission Generosity will guide you through the following 3 workshops:

• Platform Selection and Budgeting (April)
• List Building and Cleanup (May)
• Mapping Your Message Calendar (June)

​You can find all the details here, and good news: if you use code BHD49 at checkout you'll get a $49 discount on the total cost.

---