How to Launch a Charity Site for Your Foundation
The internet has quickly changed the way non-profit organizations, charities and global causes are getting attention and spreading awareness with others. And just like how it’s become a lot easier for anyone to start a campaign or charity for a cause or those in need, it’s also become quite simple to launch a charitable website to help in this process.
Thanks to the power of WordPress, there is no longer a need to hire a design team or learn how to code and create sites from scratch. Now, it’s simply a matter of walking through a few steps and making sure you put everything together in a timely manner.
With all of this in mind, today we are going to highlight a few steps in this process, while also providing you with a few examples of different organizations that are doing this right.
Let’s get started in the process!
Secure Your Domain Name, Hosting and CMS
First thing first, you will need to secure your domain name, set up web hosting and also decide what CMS you are using.
When it comes time to registering a domain name, it’s a good idea to try and get the same domain name as the name of your charity or organization. It’s also a good idea to try and make it as short as possible, while also being easy to remember.
A perfect example of this can be seen with WeCharity, which has the great domain name of WE.ORG.
For your hosting and CMS, these two go hand in hand. Most web hosting solutions offer WordPress as their CMS, which is the solution you are likely going to want to use. It’s free and super easy to learn.
If you know how to send an email and use Microsoft Word, you should have no problems mastering site design and content creation with WordPress.
Create Content Pages for Your Charity Site
Once your domain name and hosting is in place, it’s then time to start creating content for your site.
The most important pages you are going to want to focus your efforts on are:
- Homepage
- About Us
- Contact Page
- Blog
Each of these will be important in terms of sharing content and information to your audience, and if you want to see a great example of how this is all set up on a live site, just take a look at WWF and how they have all of their top pages laid out at the top of all pages in their navigation area.
Take the Time to Integrate Social Media
Just as important as the content on your site, is the way it’s being shared and promoted to others through social media. With a few billion users now spread across the top social networking platforms on the internet today, it’s important to make sure that not only your charitable organization has a presence, but that it’s also sharing some great content as well.
The most important social platforms include:
And once again, to see an example of how to do this correctly, take a look at Water Charity on Twitter.
Focus on Video Content to Bring Your Message to Life
In addition to social media, video is now playing a massive role in how people consume and find content on the internet today.
With more people focusing their attention on Facebook and YouTube, while also using their mobile devices, this is one of the most important factors on why video content is now in demand like never before.
The good news for charities and non-profit organizations, is that they can start taking full advantage of online video to help create better content for all audiences.
A great example of this can be seen below in a video from Craig Kielburger on his charitable efforts and helping to increase awareness of the cause.
Add Important Information and Donation Options
Last but not least, there are also going to be several areas of your site that audiences will be looking for. These might consist of more information, pictures and videos in reference to what charitable work is being done, financial history and any progress that is being made on the promises offered by the foundation.
All of these can be placed throughout your site, but it’s important to make sure the more important ones are easier to find.
A great example of this can be seen above with the example from WWE Wildlife, as they have a header loaded with all of their main pages, and a quick and easy link to their donation page.
The best way to see what improvements can be made to your site, is to visit other charitable foundation sites and seeing how their layouts are. You can then implement such changes and features onto your own site.
How to Launch a Successful Charity Site from Day One
At the end of the day, your charitable organization is only as good as it’s value and reach. And through the use of the internet, there is no reason why you can’t reach more audiences and have people donating and contributing to your cause on a daily basis.
It’s not just about making sure you have an organization and cause in place, but also making sure other people continually find out about it as well.
Be sure to plan out and implement each of these working methods to grow your charity through the power of the internet.
