How to make sure your charity website shines this holiday season

• Prioritise your call to action

Money. Volunteering. In-kind donations. Fundraisers are great at asking, but with so many options it can be easy to overload your website and leave your traffic lost and confused. How to prioritise? First you need to list your different audience groups. Then you need to write down the actions you want them to take. Don’t worry if the list is a little long! It is important to get your ideas on paper. The next step is to group your actions by nature and type. The bigger the group, the higher the priority. Cross reference this with your Christmas campaign indicators, and use this to create your headline ask (and sub-asks, if necessary). Be sure to keep your message clean and simple. A good campaign - and website - will leave people in no doubt as to what they need to do next.

It is important that your ask echoes across the core pages of your charity website. You will also need to…

• Create a great campaign landing page

Festive giving is big business, and a strong fundraising campaign won’t be side-lined. It will be at the heart of your seasonal communications. Make sure your key message and ask is visible throughout your website, and that cross-channel links take people to a carefully crafted campaign landing page.

Of course, if you are going to go to all this effort, you need people to see it. So take this chance to get creative and…

• Generate some scroll-stopping content

Don’t just write articles and features that pop in your head. Plan strategically. Go back to your list of audience groupings. Think about their reasons for giving, the stories that capture their imagination, and the type of information or content they will be searching for. When you have a longlist, choose the content that best supports your campaign message. Remember, before you start writing, you need to have clear answers to each of the following questions:

• Who is the article for?
• Why would they click on it?
• What do I want them to feel?
• Is the content well written and presented?
• Is there a clear call to action?

Not all content has to be written. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then why not…

• Make and host a Christmas video

It might sound daunting, but adding a video to your charity website is a great idea any time of the year – but especially in December. Did you know that 57% of people who watch a video from a charity or non-profit go on to make a donation? It’s true. What’s more, appeals and crowd funders supported by video features generate up to 150% more money than those that do not. You don’t need an Oscar-winning team to produce a blockbuster. ‘Love is a Gift’ cost just £50 to make and was watched by  millions of people worldwide. There is value in authenticity. So grab your smartphone and have a go at recording your own action.

Still not generating enough traffic? If organic reach is plateauing, now is a really great time to…

• Get to grips with free Google ads for charities

If you are a not for profit you can apply for a Google ad grant worth over £90,000 a year to pay for these advertisements. No, it isn’t a winter special, it’s an offer Google have made available every day of the year. Why not use December’s budget to design a festive ad campaign? The process might take a little time to learn (we’ve got a webinar to help!) but with some charities doubling their website traffic and tripling campaign income, this is one move you should put some time aside to make.

Congratulations, your website is really starting to shine brightly! But before you click publish, give is one last run through and invite people to…

• Test your user journey

Unlike businesses, charities have to appeal to a lot of different audiences. From service users, to individual givers, volunteers, donors and even corporates it can be hard to juggle so many different journeys. That’s why testing is so important. You might find a new path you haven’t thought of. And if your test subjects get lost, you can guarantee others will too!

Phew. We’re almost there. There is just one more point on our list. Your donate page. If you do nothing else this festive season…

• Make it REALLY easy to give a Christmas gift

One in five people donate using a website or app. One in two don’t make it to the end of your donate page. Christmas is a time for giving, and your website needs to be ready to receive. That doesn’t just mean making sure it’s mobile optimised. If you cannot accept donations online your conversion rate is going to suffer. This festive season why not treat your organisation and supporters to an in-house online payment solution. Be sure to keep it simple, savvy and secure – and make sure your call to action is as clear as Rudolph’s nose on a foggy day.

Remember, people don’t just have to give gifts! Christmas is the perfect time to give your shop a festive makeover. Lots of charities stock Christmas cards, virtual and actual gifts that make for some great ethical giving.

And of course, it’s perfectly okay to have a little fun. It is the season to be jolly, after all. So why not add some festive sparkle to your website? Online advent calendars, themed social media walls, a Christmas shop and bit of winter branding are all great ways to catch your supporter’s eyes and deliver donations to your site.  

Access Charity Websites is more than just a beautiful website, it is a digital solution for fundraising, supporter engagement and data collection, that grows and develops with your organisation.

Request a demo from our team of not for profit experts to find out more.