During this week's blog posts, I’m going to introduce you to five overarching principles and many practical tips for developing and maintaining a website with exceptional website design that maximizes your ministry outreach for non profit marketing and fund raising. That’s a whole lot better than the alternative, which would be a website that gives you innumerable headaches.

Migraine headaches.  I know from experience that those are really lousy to live with. My wife, Carmel, will celebrate 22 years of marriage this coming September.  Those have been two really good decades together.  We’ve had our share of challenges too though.

For example, ever since Carmel gave birth to our first child, Caitlyn, nearly 15 years ago, she has suffered with headaches: low-grade everyday annoying headaches you keep 100 tab bottles of Excedrin around the house to deal with… to life-stopping, head-pounding, full-blown migraine headaches you get needle shots of Toradol to deal with, but always feel helpless and hopeless around.

For years, she has endured the pain. When they were small ones, they made our lives miserable. But when they were big ones they brought everything to an immediate, grinding standstill.

I confess I’ve never felt more helpless than when Carmel would experience migraine headaches – she would have to retreat to the darkest room in the house, huddled up in pain, begging for the elimination of any noise, nauseated, while I watched her suffer in pain and distress, wondering “What could I do?” or “What should I do?”

Thank goodness for exceptional doctors like Dr. Merle Diamond at the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, who also suffers from migraines, and was immediately compassionate toward Carmel, when we finally entered her offices after attempting for years to get help from numerous other sources.

Over time, Dr. Merle helped Carmel gain control of this debilitating problem, and established a reasonable ability to manage and control her headaches.

To do that, it meant new routines -- managing her diet, avoiding a stress-filled lifestyle, exercising regularly, and finally, just learning to deal with the genetic makeup she had acquired in life that made headache predisposed.

Headaches.  Some of us suffer from them physically. Some of us some suffer from them emotionally. Some of us suffer from them professionally – all too often, through our websites.

Which brings me back to my subject material – Non Profit Website Design.

So let’s follow along with headaches as our backdrop for covering this subject. In a nutshell for today’s post, learning the basics of good website design will save you numerous headaches, while also enhancing your ministry, expanding its outreach and increasing its online fund raising.

Let me repeat that so you can write it down:

Learning the basics of good non profit website design will save you numerous headaches, while also enhancing your ministry, expanding its outreach. and increasing its online fund raising.

Good traffic conversion and online fund raising systems

The websites I've highlighted below are strategically designed to convert website traffic into the collection of strategic marketing assets: email addresses, first names, mailing addresses, telephones, etc. This information, once collected, can be leveraged to begin ongoing relationships that ultimately raise online fundraising dollars. 

Generally, the first step in this process is to ask for initial consumer information (first name and email address) in exchange for a series of downloadable incentives.  The second step is to offer free welcome gifts by mail in exchange for complete information such as, full name mailing address and telephone number.

Non profit marketing results can be significant.  Most of my client cases result in the following data: for every 100 emails we accumulate via downloadable incentives, 65% of them will also convert into full name and snail mail addresses for a Welcome Kit offer. 

The value of this type of info is obvious to non profit fundraising. First names and email addresses are sufficient to begin email communication and email fundraising, whereas the collection of snail mail addresses enable you to begin your direct mail welcome series and puruse traditional nonprofit fundraising efforts. 

Plus, this relationship process all starts off with you providing beneficial resources/ideas/news/etc from the very start of your relationship, thereby banking you goodwill at the front edge or your new acquaintance.   Over time many new friends may become annual donors, monthly givers or even major benefactors. 

Here's some examples of websites that are using good Traffic Conversion practices:

http://jvmi.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/SignUpToday
http://sermon-series.com/newsletter_signup.html
http://www.cylbookstore.com/signupnew.htm
http://www.presidentialprayerteam.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pptnn_memsig_ppt
http://changinglives.org/signupnew.htm

  Most companies don't know how to start building their email lists. While there are numerous methods you can use, both online and offline, you're best to grow your email lists by addressing your website traffic conversion plan first, which is generally an overlooked subject.  I personally prefer incentive-based email sign-up offers, which I'll explain later.

  Much of the focus I hear about is on generating visitors to your website, rather than converting the visitors you'll get.  (Many charities have channels to generate traffic -- namely broadcast television, radio, magazines, events, direct mail).  Generating traffic to your website without having a plan to convert the traffic into non profit marketing assets is the equivalent of having a billboard on the highway--you do get brand awareness because of the traffic that sees your ad, but you don't get many tangible assets to work with after your ad ends.  

  Alternatively, a non profit website design strategy that concentrates on traffic conversion, will add people onto your email list with whom you can later communicate.  Using this method you collect as many names as possible that you can convert into gifts or sales today, plus names that are likely to convert in the weeks and months to come through online fundraising.

  Most companies will dedicate zero real estate, or very little online real estate, to traffic conversion efforts. In my next blog I'll feature websites that illustrate good traffic conversion systems as well as those that don't.  Installing a good one will increase the size of your email lists, and eventually lead to the significant results many companies are getting out of email fundraising.