Tag Archives: blogs

It’s Not Just the Organization Web Site Anymore / Thoughts on the ‘Death’ of Email

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Managing an organization’s web presence no longer focuses only on the main web site, which many constituents may never visit.  An online presence consists of:

  • main web site
  • organizational blogs
  • Facebook cause / page
  • twitter posts
  • email marketing messages
  • AND what constituents are saying about organization in their own blogs, Facebook pages, twitter posts etc.

When I seek to learn more about a nonprofit that I’m not already familiar with, I use the main web site only as a starting point.  It’s usually much easier to get a feel for a nonprofit’s culture and philosophies by reading its blogs (if it has them!) and social networking sites.

But as many of my colleagues have noted, it’s vitally important to listen to what others are saying about your organization.  This will tell you much more than if you only rely on your web analytics to learn which pages on your web site are attracting the most traffic.  Even if you aren’t able to generate regular content on Facebook, Twitter etc., participating in conversations will show you how effective your outreach is and whether you need to tweak your marketing efforts.

Social networking may not be for everyone (yet), but keeping abreast of what others are saying should be part of every nonprofit’s strategy.  If you are able to maintain a presence on Facebook and Twitter, make sure the messaging is appropriate for each forum.  Simply replicating the same content everywhere isn’t the right approach.

Addendum 10/12/09 on the growing importance of social networking  – Why email no longer rules in online communications.   Blue State Digital disagrees.  I concur – it’s always best to use a combination of approaches and email clearly still deserves a prominent place at the table.

Addendum 10/29/09 – Many new thoughts on while email may be changing, email is not dead

Online Communications – More Important Than Ever

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A few nonprofit organizations I’ve spoken to recently have told me that in the light of the financial crisis, they are reconsidering the need for positions responsible for online communications, particularly the web site.  In a recent survey by the DMA Nonprofit Federation, respondents expressed an expectation for smaller gifts and fewer individual donors during the upcoming holiday season.

In my view, this is exactly the time to utilize online communications strategies to reach out to constituents, many who have demonstrated in the past will continue to support our causes even during tough economic times.  Below are some ideas to stimulate online fundraising and engagement:

  1. Give your web site a fresh look with new examples about how your organization has been effective.  Sharing a personal story is always more effective than a general appeal.
  2. As Seth Godin suggests in Flip the Funnel, appeal to your strongest supporters to spread the word about your work.  (Do you have a segment of these constituents already created that you can email to separately from your general email list?)
  3. Make sure to thank your supporters often and personalize the messages – don’t just use the default auto responders that come with your software.
  4. Find pictures and videos that tell your story, and make them available in places where your constituents are, not only on your web site.
  5. Examine your web site statistics to find out which parts of your web presence are receiving the most attention – then actively keep this content fresh and stimulating.
  6. Take the time to develop multiple email templates that can be used quickly by non-technical staff – and make sure the branding is consistent with other types of communications.
  7. Don’t be afraid to use newer technologies such as blogs and social media.  Not all constituents will respond to the same approach, so why not use many techniques, especially when they can be setup without much financial investment.

Is this the time to cut back?  No, more than ever, this is when online communications is critical to surviving until the financial situation improves.

Not-for-Profit Webmaster Roundtable

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This week I attended the quarterly meeting of Not-For-Profit Webmaster Roundtable, which has been run successfully by David Milner for several years.  We discussed the arrival of super fast Internet connectivity through services such as Verizon Fios and how this will affect how nonprofit web sites are developed,

At least one organization represented at the meeting, the Rainforest Alliance, is already taking steps towards adding video to its web site, although it has not yet allowed constituents to submit their own videos.  With the amazing popularity of YouTube and other video sharing sites, it seems that it is only a matter of time until videos are widely available on nonprofit sites.

We also discussed content management systems, an area which commonly comes up for debate.  I suggested that organizations first determine who is likely to handle content updates, and then select a product which matches these users’ expertise.  My preference is usually towards packages that are easy to use even if they lack all the bells and whistles of more advanced offerings.

Other topics: how to best implement organizational blogs (make sure they are updated frequently), web statistics (Google Analytics new version is reported to be very nice, and it’s still free) and the availability of tools such as Google Webmaster Central and Yahoo Site Explorer to find out what pages on your web site are currently indexed.

Report from Nonprofit Technology Conference & Penguin Day

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Spent most of last week joining over 1,000 nonprofit techies from across the US as well as other countries at the annual Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington DC.  I also spent the following day at Penguin Day, a celebration of open source software.

As usual, the educational sessions at NTC were great.  Despite the large crowd, the many sessions planned concurrently helped keep the crowd size small – but made it harder to select which session to attend.  Some takeaways:

  • much to my surprise, many sessions focused on the challenges of data integration and using APIs.  I have joined NTen’s affinity group to help further these efforts
  • an interesting summary of how web 2.0 tools (e.g. blogs, wikis, SecondLife etc.) have been ‘smuggled’ in to organizations that originally resisted them
  • a ‘nonprofit soapbox’ that allows nonprofits to take full advantage of open source content management with some technical assistance
  • importance of the IA (information architecture) in web project management
  • open source software has become more mature – and is even more of an attraction for nonprofits, although having a relationship with a consultant or other support network is essential.

I also moderated a session on online registration tools.  Thanks to Mark Becker (Event 360), Cary McQueen Morrow (Center for Arts Management & Technology) & Eric Leland (Leland Design) for joining the panel.