As your nonprofit starts to build a new website, you may immediately run into questions or roadblocks. How should your website be structured? What content do you want to display up front? How should you customize each page?
Website design is important, and leveraging the right web development features will help you navigate many of these questions. Customizing your website will enable you to effectively tell your nonprofit’s story, so be sure to use a website builder that allows for some creativity and flexibility.
This all comes down to your content management system (CMS). Your CMS should provide you with the tools and functionality to build out the exact website you want, without any confusion or frustration. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the top features you should look for in a CMS when building your nonprofit website:
Making the most of the above features will help boost your online presence and make a great first impression for new site visitors. Let’s get started.
What if your team isn’t experienced in web design and needs a simple, straightforward way to present your content? Look for a CMS with simple customizable features so you can easily create and update your site without any coding experience required.
With a customizable CMS, you’ll be able to take advantage of tools like:
Customization features can help you portray your nonprofit exactly how you want. Make a positive first impression by creating a professional website that’s easily editable and looks how you envisioned it. From there, you’ll have a solid foundation for building it up.
Most people view websites on their smartphones these days, which means potential donors who visit your website may be viewing it on a smaller screen. That means optimizing your website for mobile is incredibly important, and you need a CMS with mobile-responsive functionality to make it happen.
Here are the top mobile-related features you should look for as you build your website:
Optimizing for mobile users is a good strategy for boosting donations and giving your web visitors a positive experience. Even more, you’ll reach a lot more people, and fewer people will leave due to a negative experience.
Your website is already a powerful fundraising tool because it houses all of the information individuals need to learn about your nonprofit and get involved with your cause. For that reason, pick a CMS that makes it easy to engage your supporters and raise funds.
Your CMS should offer:
One of the most important functions of your nonprofit’s website is to fundraise for your cause. You can do this through an on-site donation page or an online store. Your website should also make it easy to register and purchase tickets for your events. From there, follow tips like these to keep your momentum going.
You’ve probably heard the term search engine optimization (SEO), but do you know how to implement it into your nonprofit’s website? SEO involves optimizing content on your website to help it prominently rank in popular search engines, like Google.
If you’re new to web design, chances are you don’t have a lot of experience in SEO, either. According to Morweb’s guide to nonprofit web development, you should pick a CMS with SEO tools that can help you improve your site’s content and rank better on search engines.
These tools include:
When your CMS allows you to customize content with key SEO elements, your nonprofit’s website will have a higher chance of ranking on search engines and getting more attention from web users. Make sure your CMS offers these features so you can maximize your online presence.
Will you be posting blog articles on your website? Blogs are an impactful way for nonprofits to communicate the good they’re doing and keep their supporters updated on their progress. But running a blog takes organization, especially when you want it to drive your supporters to take action.
Blogging tools are an important feature that should be part of your CMS. With the right toolkit, you can easily craft your posts and share your content to other channels. These features include:
Nonprofit web design takes a lot of planning and organization. Make sure your CMS offers you the tools you need to stay on top of your blog content and communicate exactly what you need to your audience. Keeping your website content current is one of the most essential parts of great web design, and this can set your site up for success.
Building your nonprofit website doesn’t have to be a daunting task. If you focus on the features that your organization will need, you should end up with the right tools to help you put together a professional and intuitive web design.
Looking for some more guidance? Check out Morweb’s guide to nonprofit web design for some of the top best practices.
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1 Comment
Thank you for sharing . Articles that have meaningful and insightful comments are more enjoyable. It’s very interesting to read the best non-profit web design blogs. Everything you have mentioned in this article, Social Media, SEO and marketing, Technology, and the most important is fundraising. Thank you for this informative list of blogs.