Thoughts on the Web for Small Organizations

I decided to write a post about the web for small organizations. In essence we are a small org working in a big and intimidating world. The main goal of a humanitarian organization is to raise awareness/funds and create change. A video is only profitable if hundreds, thousands and sometimes millions view it. Not only view it, but also send it to their friends to view as well. The web has been woven into the thread of our everyday relationships and style of living. More people regularly use the web than ever before. Check out this short video I found a few days ago (on a friends blog).

The video really illustrates well how we get our information. How are we to compete with CNN, Al-Jazeera, BBC and Google to be a reputable source of information? Or what about showcasing yourself as a worthy location to donate hard earned funds? You can’t just expect people to ignore their first impression of your organization if your site looks like it was built by a 13 year old myspace whiz.

Well, I am not a programming genius but I have learned enough code to make me dangerous. I’ve leaned on free web applications to produce a product that is attractive and functional. Our site was free because I built it myself. Expect to pay anywhere from $100-$3000 dollars for a site depending on how customized you want it.

To Begin:
Every non-profit is essentially a business and needs some sort of marketing plan. The sad part of working in the humanitarian world is that often times, it’s a competition for money. Only the well-known orgs with quality design really get ahead. By having a quality web presence, simple design and by utilizing free web applications like, Vimeo, Twitter, Youtube, MailChimp, Google Analytics and WordPress you can do a lot of damage.

There is a slight learning curve in achieving these goals but here’s how we are using them. If you’re a small organization looking for some better solutions, check these out.

WordPress
You’ve probably heard this term often and are wondering what it is. Basically it’s a blog. As a web programmer myself, wordpress is so much more than a blog. It was designed to give users flexibility in design and functions. For example, look at my friend Cole Nesmith’s site. He is a writer and has a unique style to site which is really just a blog. You can sign up for free on their site or for more flexibility, you can down load the open source (meaning free) code and files and install it on your own server. The only step is to create a database and connect it. After that is done, you can select from thousands of themes to fit your needs and change out pictures when you need to. When you update posts, the process is as easy as using Microsoft Word or my favorite, Apple Pages.

As I said, there is a bit of a learning curve the more you want customized you want it. You can also buy themes which tend to offer more applications and flexibility. It’s very easy to steal themes and not be ethical about it, people work hard to make the web a better place, make sure you pay them for their hard work.

The power of WordPress is it’s integration with other web applications.

Some of you we’re on Twitter when you received an update from eleho saying there’s a new blog up. No one on our team actually posted that update. In fact, wordpress did it all by itself. When I hit publish it posts to our site in the proper categories and then sends to Twitter using it’s robust API (basically a key/password allowing you to access your Twitter account) to update the site and then all of you.

For all of you who were wondering what the big fuss is with Twitter, well this is one of the man reasons! The fact that we can update our 1,000+ followers instantly and with a short message is insane! We can embed Vimeo or Youtube videos into a post and then with one click send it out to everyone interested.

Mail Chimp
Though Twitter is great, you have only 140 characters (including spaces) to write a message. For email campaigns of greater importance I introduce to you, Mail Chimp. I’ve found it’s the easiest and least expensive way to send massive amounts of emails. Not only that, their templates, tutorials, statistical analysis and presentation of data is by far the best I’ve used.

We don’t use mass emailing much because of it isn’t the best way to get people to your site. Most people, if they even open the email, won’t click ANY links. Several reasons for that would be the content of the email. The best way to design and communicate via email is to assign ONE link and use it for event based or emergency communication purposes. Find a graphic design to make an image and a huge “CLICK HERE” button on it.

Google Analytics
This is the most amazing free web application out there. It’s so intense I don’t even know where to begin. The only way to know if you’re reaching your intended audience is to analyze who’s visiting. GA will take of this for you. You can look at a map of the entire world and what countries people are visiting from and what specific cities as well. You can see what screen size, what screen colors, how long they are on your site, what pages they visit most and so much more.

Comparing this month Jun 4, 2009 – Jul 4, 2009 with last month May 4, 2009 – Jun 3, 2009, eleho has had a 257.06% increase in visitors.  The average time on our site is 3 minutes 37 seconds. Visitors that come to one page and leave (also known as bounce rate) is 60.96%. There are an average of 2.55 pages per visit and 56.51% of our visitors are brand new (meaning they’re on an IP address that hasn’t yet been logged by Google. The analytics also tell us where we receive the most traffic from. As of now, Twitter and Facebook are currently the top two referring sites by far.

Design v. Content
There’s a timeless debate about what’s more important, design or content. Most of the time, a programmer can’t design, doesn’t like to and wouldn’t touch Photoshop with a ten-foot pole. Most designers want a tool or button that tell the server in laymen’s terms, “make button turn into this color when user presses it. ” They want the easiest solution saving as much time as possible. The undeniable truth is that both work together hand in hand.

Good design makes the user happy and do what they need to do quickly. A good designer creates an environment that’s balanced and easy to follow for any user. I use Facebook as an example. The code behind that site is ridiculous and if typed out in Times New Roman, 12pt font, in one long line it would most likely wrap it’s self around the world endlessly. The code to make a post on a wall without taking you to another page is for the user’s experience. The information design of where the buttons are placed, the text box, the unifying elements that make it “Facebook” can also make the user feel at ease as well.

Conclusion
There is so much more to the web than meets the eye. There is NO simple way around the web. There isn’t a “button” that makes things look cool. Sure Apple’s iWeb is great but it has several flaws and problems with itself also. A friend said once that “content is king” in the world of web and while that may be true, my response was, “then design is queen.”

• Present your content well with quality design and really good branding.
• Create brand standards and FOLLOW THEM.
• Utilize free web applications appropriately.
• Create a marketing plan.
• Expect quality but not at the price of your lone media staff member.
• Be realistic.
• Seek help from professionals and ask questions (we like to display our knowledge).

Okay, I’m done now. I’m gonna go have a Pineapple shake and take my motorbike around Chiang Mai for a bit. It’s rained for almost 48 hours now and I’m loving it. I apologize to those looking for a post about Burma. This is more for organizations in search for some better solutions to their design and web needs. Have a rad day/night wherever ya’ll are in the world!

Addendum:
Lance Armstrong just tweeted this article about fundraising using Twitter.