Is your website working for you?
One of the more surprising activities Services in Action has taken on is website development.
It’s surprising because it was never an area we actively pursued. However, in helping people organize a program, realize an idea, or communicate a mission, a website is an essential component. So evaluating and (re)designing websites became a natural part of our work.
Many times, our website work hasn’t even been for a nonprofit, but for someone on a tight budget. Here are a few examples of our recent work
If this email has you thinking about your own website, or lack thereof, here are six questions to ask your website:
- Is your website telling your story? Does your website reflect your brand, your mission, your work? Is it easy to know what your organization does on the first page?
- Do you feel good about your website? Frequently this is the first impression someone has of your organization
- How old is your website? Yes, websites have a shelf life. It depends greatly on your industry and functionality of the website, but just think where we were ten years ago in terms of technology. Things change quickly.
- How easy is it for a novice to navigate through your website? An out-of-date feature of websites is to have a deep hierarchy. This means many pages that lead to many more pages. Losing yourself in a website is not fun and leaves users frustrated. Your website should be easy to navigate on the first visit.
- How fresh is the content? This matters greatly for a couple of reasons. First, it lets users know how relevant you are. Ever gone to a website that you felt you needed to blow the dust off of and wondered if the company was still even in business? Second, new content is seen favorably by search engines. Websites are not a one-and-done thing, they need to be kept alive.
- Is your website accessible? This matters so much to many people, for many reasons. Check the WCAG guidelines to know where your website stands < https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/>
If you’d like a (free) review of your website for any of the above reasons or just because it is always beneficial for an outsider to review your work, please send us a message.