Is your nonprofit website ready for Giving Tuesday? The countdown to this big day is on and it is important to ensure your website is ready to handle the increased traffic that comes with this important day.
Remember though, Giving Tuesday isn’t just about raising funds. It’s also about building lasting relationships with your donors. So, make sure your website offers a positive user experience to keep donors coming back even after Giving Tuesday.
Here are several areas of your website that should be checked prior to Giving Tuesday to ensure that it is running smoothly and able to complete all transactions.
Load Time
With more traffic comes increased loading times. On average, a user will not wait longer than 3 seconds for a page to load. Don’t let potential donors bounce off your site! Prepare for increased traffic by updating your host, adding a Content Delivery Network to your site, and making sure that your site is up to date. This should include plugins and platform updates to ensure that your site is loading quickly enough to keep donors on the page. Conduct a thorough test to ensure your website can handle a significant increase in visitor traffic.
Optimize Donation Process
Simplify the donation process to maximize contributions. Clearly highlight your call-to-action buttons and provide multiple payment options to accommodate different donor preferences. Reduce the number of form fields required, making it quick and easy for visitors to donate. Regularly test and optimize the donation process to eliminate any potential obstacles.
Create Engaging Landing Pages
Design compelling landing pages dedicated to Giving Tuesday, which effectively communicate your organization’s mission and impact. Use persuasive language, impactful visuals, and success stories to emotionally connect with visitors and encourage them to become donors. Ensure your donation options are easily accessible on these landing pages to further streamline the giving process.
Mobile Responsive
An ever-increasing percentage of website traffic comes from mobile devices, so make sure your website is mobile-responsive. Optimize the layout, font sizes, and navigation to ensure a smooth and visually appealing experience across all devices. Test your website on various mobile devices to guarantee it functions optimally.
Security
Unfortunately, organizations that are out doing good in the world have to worry about the security of their site – hackers don’t discriminate. Keep your site safe from being corrupted and your donors’ information safe from being stolen! Be sure that your security certificate is up to date – if you’re unsure, check your URL. If there is no “s” in “https” or you have a broken padlock in the address bar, then your site isn’t secure. Check with your hosting company to get an SSL certificate added. Next, be sure that your platform and plugins are up to date. Plugins, themes, and the version of WordPress on which your site runs all require regular updates in order to be secure.
*Added bonus – a secure site is great for boosting your SEO!
Testing
It may seem silly, but one of the easiest ways to know if your forms work or how your site looks on a mobile device is to test it out! Go to your website as if you were a visitor. Do you see all of the essential aspects? Fill out the form(s) on your site – do the notifications go to the correct email address or are they ending up in your spam folder? Is the correct confirmation message popping up after submitting? Even go as far as making a test donation to perform an end-to-end test of the donation form, ensuring that the donation processes completely.
Content
Before Giving Tuesday is the best time to take a close look at your content. Have you had any staffing changes that need to be updated? Is your mission and purpose clear to potential donors? Do you have any updated images that can be added? Is your website accessible to users with disabilities? These are just examples of places to start really examining how the content on your site looks. And it might be the perfect time to start that blog! Blogs are a great way to share stories, images or videos, and updates about your organization.
Need Help Preparing for Giving Tuesday?
Do you need help ensuring your website is ready for Giving Tuesday? We have extensive experience managing nonprofit websites and can manage these updates through our website maintenance packages. Schedule a complimentary consultation and let’s talk about your nonprofit website and how Hammersmith Support can help make this Giving Tuesday one of the most successful yet!