Your Website

You know the saying about a tree falling in a forest and if nobody is there to hear it...? Well, that axiom can be applied to website development. If you don't design and promote your website properly, then you may end up with a website that goes unnoticed or unused.

dot org Web Works will get you noticed with a web presence that truly reflects the essence of your organization's services, programs and mission. We'll also construct the site to be as SEO friendly as possible, assuring better-than-average organic positioning within the big search engines.

But before we're ready to showcase you to the world, we have some basic questions that will need to be answered: // Who is your audience? // What is the purpose of the website? and // What content should be in the website?

The Starting Point

The best place to begin is to establish the site's primary target audience? Are they donors, members, clients, volunteers, professional peers, event goers, the general public—or are they something else? Next, we determine what the primary purpose of the website will be. (Which the above question will help answer.) Is it to raise funds or awareness, to inform, to steer people to events—or for another purpose? (Fortunately, we'll help you with that with a questionnaire as part of our proposal process.)

Once your core audience and purpose is identified, we then begin the process of building your website. Key components include:

• Creating the web site organizational structure.
• Customizing your design. Each web site is created to reflect the service and personality of your organization.
• Building the web site (HTML/DHTML/CSS coding and/or Flash).
• Testing your site to confirm that it is cross-browser friendly.
• Submitting your new web site to the major search engines.
• Helping you select and link to the appropriate host/server.
• Re-designing your logo.
• Maintaining and upgrading your site as needed.

Initial Planning

Preparing the content for your web site requires proper planning, not just for what should be included now, but for what may be added later. The decisions you make now will lay the foundation for a long-term, consistently effective web presence.

Format

The format for an organization's first web site is often like a dynamic brochure, with the content often actually gleaned from existing publications. Once this initial phase is completed, you'll be able to build upon it quickly. Our philosophy is to plan for the second phase now by laying down some of the key components of a more dynamic web site, thus creating the comprehensive outreach and development tool you envision.

Website Options

As touched on above, there are essential items for any nonprofit website, and optional items to consider for your custom website. Let's begin with the essential items.

To view our options, please visit the following:

essential Website Items list
Website Items to Consider

What a Good Nonprofit Website Should Be

// Easy to locate, starting with an intuitive web address and ending with the site being SEO friendly. // Quick to load, by avoiding unnecessary applications and streamlining the coding (which is why we prefer CSS). // Neat and intuitive: get to the core of the message and avoid visual distractions. The navigation should be logical and consistent. // Mindful to the sensibilities of the viewer: Marketing for nonprofits is different, just as providing HIV services or advocating the needs of the underserved is unlike that of selling widgets on-line.