Hi friends 👋🏻

Zooming out this week to a one of the highest-level questions I think about with almost every client. Last week I introduced this question in conversations with two potential nonprofit clients that couldn't be more different:

• A tiny, volunteers-only, local conservation org focused on one specific ecosystem
• An international NGO managing millions of dollars in grant and program funding for network organizations in 10+ countries

Both organizations are doing good, powerful work, at dramatically different scales. And this high-level question is equally relevant to both.

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The Question

Here's the question my clients are often asking:

"What should we put on our website?"

It's a basic question. Obvious. And feels really big.

Some organizations respond to this with the kitchen sink approach. EVERYTHING. We're going to put all the things we've ever created on our website, and we're going to keep adding things just as fast as we can think of them.

Other orgs are more hesitant. They know they shouldn't put everything on the website. So paralysis strikes, and not much of anything goes on the website.

(And we're not even getting into other barriers to adding good content to a website like challenges using the site, poor design, content getting "buried", etc.)

My Approach

When I'm getting into this topic with clients, I break the challenge down by asking two more specific questions:

1. "What is your target audience looking for when they visit your website?"
2. "What do you need to include so that visitors understand what your organization does?"

Think about the website you're responsible for. Let's dig into these questions ...

First question: what visitors want

The first question is focused on the visitor's needs. Get out of your head. Stop thinking about your needs. If someone finds their way to your website (don't worry about how they found it for now), what are they looking for?

You can probably write a short list of things visitors might be looking for. Three things. Five things. Make sure your website gives visitors what they're looking for!

• If they're looking for information about a topic, create some resources! Articles, downloads, videos.
• If they want to support an organization doing _______, explain how you work, the impact you have, and let them give you money!
• If they need help with __________ give them clear, easy instructions on how to fill that need.

Second question: what you want to communicate

The second question is focused on you, your mission, and your work. It's your website, so you also need to build your brand and explain what makes your organization unique.

There might be some overlap here with answers to the first question: things that you want to share AND that visitors might be looking for. Great! Definitely include those things.

Examples might include:

• Details about what your organization does. Programs, services.
• Information about how people can get involved or support your organization.
• Staff information. Visitors often want to see the faces and bios of the people doing the work.

Visitors are often looking for these details, AND it benefits your organization to share them.

But there's more. There's information that your organization wants to communicate that visitors might not be actively looking for.

For example, I'm working with a client that delivers leadership training to professionals in a specific field. This org has their own take on defining leadership, and their philosophy around leadership development shapes their work. This org wants to encourage visitors to think about leadership in this way too, especially if they might join a training or use download their resources. So as we build the website, I'm looking for opportunities to get this "leadership philosophy" message in front of visitors, even though it's not something they came to the website looking for.

More examples of content you might want to include:

• Information that builds your organization's credibility: testimonials, reviews, seals of approval.
• Your theory of change: an explanation of why and how the work that you do will lead to the future described in your vision.
• Opportunities to deepen engagement, through volunteering, joining an email list, or becoming a recurring donor.

That last example is the key. When your website is really working for you, it is successfully engaging visitors by providing something they were looking for (first question), and then catching them with something unique to your organization (second question), and having them TAKE ACTION in a way that creates or deepens their relationship with your organization.

• They complete a volunteer application
• They download a resource
• They join your email list
• They make a donation
• They become a member

If your website offers a user journey like this, you're on the right track 🙂

If you want to keep reading, there's more detailed, feature-specific information about what to include on a nonprofit website in this article on my website.

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Do you have a website project coming up this year that you want to discuss?

I offer free consultations for nonprofit org staff considering a website rebuild or redesign, or who need help answering questions like these.

I'm currently booking new projects to start in April and beyond.

If you want to chat, use this link to find a time for us to talk.

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