“Feel The Burn: How your site can go from not to hot”
April 15, 2006NonProfit Times
The NonProfit Times turned to Big Duck for practical ways nonprofits can make their website stand out above the rest and become an effective fundraising, awareness-raising and advocacy tool. Read an excerpt below, or find the full article at www.nptimes.com.
“Online it can be even harder to capture and retain someone’s attention,” explained Sarah Durham, principal at Big Duck in New York City. “After all, you’re never more than two clicks away from captivating distractions, like that watch you’re bidding on at eBay, free podcasts, movies, music, etc. So if you’ve successfully brought me to your website, you’ll have to start showing me content that makes me want to hang around, and better yet, get involved by donating or opting in somehow.”
Durham suggested that standing out above the clutter involves speaking the language of the visitor rather than posting organization-speak. For instance, Durham posed, a novice hiker may visit the website of a nonprofit they just joined to access information regarding group hikes, downloadable trail maps, and how to use their member’s discount to buy new socks. During that visit, a well-designed and well-written website might draw that person to sign a petition, make a donation, or learn more about a new program.
Another factor that helps a website emerge from the pack is an excellent design that surprises and delights its visitors, without breaking the rules so extremely that the visitor doesn’t know how to navigate it or accomplish what they intended by visiting the site, Durham said.
“Because ‘great design’ is subjective, what makes a nonprofit’s website stand out comes back, again, to the viewpoint of the visitor,” Durham explained. “A website with tiny white type on a bright magenta background and oddly cropped images might be a terrible design for a senior center, but it might be perfect for a nonprofit offering services to teenagers.”
Presenting clearly organized information via both design and navigation makes a website stand out above the rest, said Ksenia Lobanova, senior designer at Big Duck.
“Going to a website with no hierarchy in design or navigation is like going to a city you’ve never visited before without a map or point of reference,” Lobanova suggested. “You may have heard that there are great things to see and do in the city, but have no idea where to start, why these things are so great or how to get to them. Or, at least, it’ll take you longer to get them… if you don’t get frustrated in the process and ditch the city all together.”
Effective websites provide a “hierarchy compass” on their home page, Lobanova added. Through design and navigation, they clearly answer the questions: What place is this? What is it here for? Why do I care? What’s in it for me?
Websites can contain a seemingly infinite amount of information, as well as page after page of design opportunities. Great websites strike a balance between giving a visitor enough information without overwhelming them. They present content and design elements in a way that are pleasing to a visitor’s eyes and brain, Lobanova said.
Go to www.nptimes.com to find this entire article, as well as another story ("Hot Nonprofit Web Sites") in the April 16th issue, featuring a nonprofit website built by Big Duck.