1. Features to look for

The best nonprofit website builders will have everything you need to easily create a fully functional and beautiful site, regardless of how much you know about design and coding. It’s critical then that your builder have both all the functionality that is essential for nonprofits, such as donations, events, peer-to-peer fundraising and campaigns, as well as a user-friendly content editor so you can manage your website internally.

It’s helpful to have a list of features to look out for when comparing when comparing your options:

• Professionally-designed website templates
• User friendly content editor
• Easy uploads for images and other resources
• The ability to easily incorporate your nonprofit’s visual brand
• Built-in donation pages and buttons
• Membership management tools
• Event management tools
• Mobile responsiveness
• Online store

The best website builders for nonprofits will also seamlessly integrate with a contact management system where you can easily manage and communicate with your community - something generic website builders can’t do.

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2. Continue to update your resources and content

Your community is coming to your website for the latest information and resources, so keeping everything up to date is essential to giving them the best experience possible!

A key aspect of this is your news and blog page.

A nonprofits blog page is a valuable resource for your community and an equally valuable tool for you to boost your online presence. Blogs can range in style and content, varying from industry updates to informational resources and impact stories. 

Blogs are a great way of driving traffic to a nonprofits website and act as a powerful search engine optimisation (SEO) tool to drive people to your website organically.  While your main website provides the basic information for your mission and goals, your blog should explore topics that potential supporters might search for on Google. When your blog consistently posts valuable content it will become a go-to resource that ranks highly on search engine result pages and attracts new prospects.

Blogs work in a variety of ways to;

• Promote your brand. A nonprofit blog is essentially free advertising. Spread the word about your nonprofit’s impact through engaging content.
• Provide regular updates to your audience. Blogs allow nonprofits to easily publish content with updates about accomplishments, campaigns, and events.
• Share your content and mission across platforms. The more content you have on the web, the more likely it is that someone will come across your mission and take action.
• Establish your authority. Show potential donors that you’re an expert in the field by using your blog to discuss topics related to your mission.

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3. Optimise for mobile

Ensuring your website can be viewed properly on all kinds of devices. In 2022, 92% of internet users had accessed the web on their phone, meaning optimising your website experience for mobile users is more important than ever. The primarily benefit of responsive web design is that sites load quickly without any distortions, so users don't need to manually resize anything to view content, which may lead to high bounce rates which effect your nonprofits effectiveness.

With some nonprofit website builders, you’ll have to do this manually, whereas with others this is automatically adjusted. Make sure you know what your platform offers in terms of mobile responsiveness before you start designing. 

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4. Make your site donor friendly

More supporters are donating online than ever before. It’s never been more important for nonprofits to have systems in place to facilitate online giving.

A good rule of thumb is to ensure your visitors are never more than one click away from your donation page. This is easily done by including a call to action in your website header.

Fundraising is at the core of any nonprofit, so make it easy for your donors to donate from your website.

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5. Make your site easy to navigate

Your navigation is a highway to the information your visitors need. Make their journey easy for them.

Not being able to find the information you’re after can be frustrating - often to the degree that visitors are likely to exit your site if they can’t find what they’re looking for within a few seconds.

Clear navigation also establishes a content hierarchy. By directing visitors to certain pages, you’re emphasising pages on your site which you can use to direct traffic to your most important content or functionality.