Our nonprofit WordPress site design with Big Brothers Big Sisters – Focusing on audience & impact

As a nonprofit, you can probably relate to the following case study. Big Brothers Big Sisters Twin Cities came to us with a tight budget, hefty goals and an outdated site. The site they had was hard to navigate, a pain to update and included unused content that was slowing them down. Most importantly, it wasn’t drawing in volunteers, donors and those that needed their services to the extent to which they knew a new site could. They wanted a site that could speak to their audience and convey the power of their cause.

Where did ArcStone come in?

To start:

Our team of digital strategists reviewed the current standing of the BBBS website through a website audit, content review and audience interviews:

• Client’s qualms with the site: It was tied to BBBS National’s template, making it not very customized the BBBS Twin Cities’ community
• First impressions: The initial homepage didn’t stand out from other sites as far as drawing in their audience and communicating their causes’ impact
• User experience observations: The user paths and site navigation was not as effective as it could be at driving each audience to the right information
• Site audit: There was several broken links and unused content. Some of the site was slow and not where it could be in terms of SEO
• Audience interviews: When we interviewed BBBS’ audience, we found they weren’t using the site much – they didn’t find it that helpful or interesting

Our goals:

• Communicate to their audience & encourage action: We felt the greatest need for BBBS was to understand their four main audiences and design a site that could drive these users to see how great their impact could be.
• Pare down content & focus on what was working: We wanted the messaging to be clear and engaging. We also wanted to remove the broken links and unvisited pages.
• Create a powerful design: To pull the user in right off the bat, we decided on a homepage video, a focus on their bright color palatte and strong CTA’s.
• Build an easy-to-use site: In order to allow BBBS the autonomy necessary to keep their site updated and usable long term, we chose WordPress as their platform. This allows for plenty of customization with endless plugins and features – giving them an advanced site without a huge cost down the road.
• Work with their team and what materials they already had: Knowing that we were working with a nonprofit and being familar with what this entails budget-wise, we wanted to make the most of the content they already had and their team’s skillset.
• Meet project timeline and stay under budget: A major goal was making this affordable to their nonprofit with both time and money.

The results:

In the end, we met these goals. Our project manager was able to keep the team functioning collobaratively and efficiently through to the end. The designers collaborated to match the BBBS style guide and incorporate local imagery. Our strategists worked with their copywriter to establish powerful and concise messaging. Our video producer used content that BBBS already had and crafted the homepage video. We helped to guide BBBS through content entry to ensure they kept what was working and transported the content efficiently. Finally our developers and IT team developed and launched the site.

Their site is now mobile-friendly, it’s easy-to-use and update, and most importantly, it speaks to each audience member in a powerful way, calling them to take action.

After launch:

“Thanks for all your help – including all the above-and-beyond work with the board presentation and project scope changes along the way. It’s truly a delight working with you and the whole Arcstone team.” – Gail Vold Greco

Now that the site is seeing results:

We are SO PROUD of the new site. You make us look good – Gail Vold Greco