Prepping for your new nonprofit website launch? How to get the word out.
You’ve been stressing about this nonprofit website launch for months. There was so much time, money and energy spent, all in hopes that this website could have a major impact on your nonprofit. But you launched and nothing really seemed to change. In fact, your traffic has gone down!
First off, read about how this dip in traffic is totally normal and there are ways to help you minimize this tendency.
Secondly, it’s likely your frequent visitors have seen your redesign but didn’t have a way to tell you, so take comfort in that.
For the rest of the world, they need to be told about your nonprofit website redesign to take the time to come review it. How do you do this in a tasteful, effective manner?
8 ideas for getting your nonprofit website launch noticed
1. Tell the full story (well, at least most of it)
Launching a website is exciting from your perspective, but that’s because you’ve been part of the story behind why you needed a new site. If you could include your audience in on that narrative, they’ll likely feel more of an emotional pull towards the project. They could sympathize with your prior pains and be relieved to see them alleviated. As they navigate the site, they’ll be more curious about the various features as they see how problems were solved. You can explain this story via an email, blog post, infographic, video or a combination of the above.
2. Start with a soft launch
Everyone wants to feel like they’re a part of something exclusive. Your nonprofit is the same; gather a list of your biggest donors, most active volunteers and community members. Send out a note introducing your new site, stating that you’d like them to be the first to try it out. Walk them through why you made the strategic changes you did so they can feel like they’re included in they have insider information.
This will get you a good amount of visits right from the start and could make these supporters feel excited to share your site with friends and visit it more frequently.
3. Get the whole nonprofit involved
It’s not just your communications team’s job to get this site out there. It affects your entire nonprofit, so everyone should take part. To make it easier for them, give them ideas. Encourage them to share it on their social networks, via their emails, during their phone calls with donors / volunteers / the community, and in their email signatures. The last idea could look something like this:
Chloe Mark
Digital Marketing Strategist
ArcStone
P.S. Our website is launched!! We can’t wait to see its impact on our cause. Take a look at the transformation [link to website here]
4. Give something away
So all these ideas are great, but sometimes people need a little extra incentive. This could include tickets to an upcoming event, a free item donated by a local business, free nonprofit merchandise or a free resource like a webinar. In order to win, have them come to a landing page on your new site and fill out their contact info. Here’s some advice on how to request donations for nonprofit giveaways »
5. Never neglect the opportunity to talk about your nonprofit website launch
It may get tiring to constantly bring up your new website launch at all your meetings and during phone calls, but in doing so, we promise it makes a difference. When people hear someone talk about a project that has tangible results, they are more likely to check it out. People like to see others excited about their work.
Best of luck with your redesign! We hope these ideas help you to see an increase in traffic right after your launch. If you need help with post-website launch SEO, social media strategy, Google Analytics setup or the like, contact ArcStone »
