Web Content: make it work for you

Web content: make it work for you Social Media Exchange Express September 2010 Madeleine Sugden Content Manager www.knowhownonprofit.org

Introduction Using screenshots from real charity websites to illustrate good web content. Examples are intended as constructive criticism. We can all learn from each other.

What is web content for? Proof of existence – about us, who we are, contact us Resources / information - help people do something Inspire - encourage action / change behaviour / entertain

5 questions Five things to think about to help you make the most out of your content….

1. Audience - why Your website is for your audience. Do you know who they are and what they want?

1. Audience - how Will they get beyond your homepage? Who are you talking to? Are you using the right language? Are you current? How do you know what the audience wants?

West Hackney Parochial Charity First impressions….? Very busy, too much to read, hard to know where to start. You only have a few seconds to inspire someone to read on or click deeper into your site. Don’t make them work to find information or understand what you’re about.

CHASE Welcoming, warm, friendly. Explains what they do – for new visitors. Has changing content (news / events) for regular visitors. Inspiring pictures.

St John Ambulance Using the space well – eye-catching campaign in centre. Thought about how people use the site ‘I want to…’ links. Understand their audience.

Alzheimer Scotland Written clearly for the audience. Using appropriate language and tone.

KIND Not very new news. If you don’t have much news, don’t make a news page.

Working with Men Questionnaire asks the site users what they want. Probably backed up with off-line research too.

Friends of the Earth Sharing results of their feedback survey with users. Important to build engagement with supporters, show them you are listening. Great tone of voice.

2. Presentation - why Presentation is the key to everything. Not just about design but how to present the content: - how you help people find information - how you display it on the page. Knowing how people read online is useful.

2. Presentation - how Are you helping skim reading? Are you writing for the web? Is information easy to find? How much information are you giving? How are you using images? Is your content accessible? Will people read on?

Birmingham Settlement Lots of information here. Not easy to skim read. Simple to improve by adding headings to each section.

British Heart Foundation Really well presented. Good, clear headings. Short bulleted lists. Short sentences (10-20 words). Images to bring to life. Written for the audience. Written for the web.

The Prostate Cancer Charity About Us page – very detailed and in depth. Links help to break it up. Headings and bulleted lists would help to make it easier to skim read.

Railway Children About us – intro paragraph followed by ‘activities’ and video. Much more engaging. Could have done more to encourage visitors to watch the video. Donate button clearly presented.

Arthritis Research Campaign Very detailed information of their activities. Good to have pie chart but what does it all mean (£1.2m spent on education)? Paragraphs are complicated and long. What was the impact on people?

Break Shows the impact on people. Bullet points make it easier to read. Could have enhanced further with stories about real people .

The Blue Cross Too much navigation (4 types!) Links list in centre of page not well organised (are cat people interested in ‘muzzles why bother?’)? Better to organise by animal – use headings to structure.

Cats Protection Much easier to find information. Clear labelling.

WISH (this is the homepage) Confusing image – what is going on? Big story from 2007!

Kids Company Very strong image. Engaging.

Age Concern Birmingham ‘Click here’ for links is inelegant and on its own not accessible. Simple, meaningful links work best.

Kensington and Chelsea Social Council Well presented links using meaningful text But links to download files should be labelled within the link - eg hallmarks of an effective charity (PDF, 5M) Ideally file size included too Ideally Word equivalent for PDFs

3. Medium - why Content isn’t just printed words. Content should be engaging.

3. Medium - how Are you using the best format to bring the content to life? Are you using audio / video? How do you encourage people to click ‘play’? Is it interesting / fun / useful?

RNIB Long case study to read. No pictures/audio/video to bring it to life. Written about ‘W’ rather than by him. May be hard to record William. Could instead record the helpline or other relevant people talking. Think about how to give context.

Action for Prisoners’ Families Audio story. Do the words introducing Nancy’s story make you want to listen? Have to work to listen to it as the play button is somewhere else on the page. You have to work to bring people in and not expect them to work to engage.

Sightsavers Not sure what the image is. Needs more to bring the podcast to life. No indication of length. No transcript given. It is good practice to provide a written alternative for people who can’t access the audio.

Families on Trail Great images to give context. Quotes bring the headlines to life and encourage people to click ‘play’. Easy to see how long each clip is. Ideal length 3-4 minutes.

Macmillan Cancer Support Karen telling her own story. Quite a long clip but very engaging. Quote and content on the same page brings it to life.

KnowHow – Millcaster Tales Good practice for accessibility. Audio and text alternatives to video given. Clear indication of length. Summary at the top of the page.

British Heart Foundation Fun way of presenting content about healthy eating. Very engaging.

RNID Mix of video and content. Strong way of demonstrating their impact (annual review).

4. Marketing - why Once you’ve put effort into making your site wonderful, how will people know it is there? Who are you marketing your site to? You need to help to people find you. It’s a competitive market.

4. Marketing - how Search engines, links, promotion. Use all channels available. Integrate on and offline activities.

Google search for ‘depression’ Search finds no charities in top10 (in 09). Mental health charities could to change this (eg pay for keywords, use the word depression on their sites, include the word in metadata, encourage people to link to them using this word) What words do people use to find you?

Kent Wildlife Trust – on Facebook Small charities are on Facebook. Great way of being where your supporters are.

Porchlight 1974 – on Flickr Sharing photos. Might not want this content on their site, but nice to show who they are and what they do.

For Ethiopia – on Flickr Sharing photos of a project in action. Can use up as much space here as they want.

National Blind Children’s Society – on YouTube Sharing video. Healthy number of views. Helps to build their community.

Epilepsy Action - on Twitter Using Twitter to keep in touch with their followers. Share news / updates. Can also follow others to find out what’s new. Much better than having to go to their website regularly to keep in touch.

Epilepsy Action Great promotion of their Twitter on their site. Don’t forget to tell people what your Twitter address is somewhere on your website. Promote your URL, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn accounts everywhere (posters / emails / business cards).

Action for Children Great example of how they consistently presented their new brand. Also consistent with print and TV ads.

5. Influence - why Use your site to build your community. Increase the numbers of your repeat visitors / supporters.

5. Influence - how There are many ways people interact on your site: donate sign up to newsletter sign up to a course / event support a campaign follow you on Twitter become a member / volunteer apply for a job download a report

5. Influence - how From passive users - to active users - to super active users… Make it easy to interact / take action. Take advantage of influence windows.

RSPB – Big Garden Birdwatch Engaging text explaining why you should get involved It’s fun!

Islamic Relief Using a video to get the message across. Strong pull-out facts at the top of the page. Clear placing of ‘donate’. Would you click ‘play’ and/or donate?

Dig Toilets Not Graves How your money can help is clearly linked to donate now. Short fun video turns serious to get the message across. Just the right amount of text. Excellent, simple title.

For Darfur They’ve made it so easy to send this email. Clear presentation. Inspiring images.

Breast Cancer Care Clear presentation of why register. Reassuring people at a difficult time.

Basingstoke Voluntary Services Very un-engaging. Most recent at the bottom of a very long page. No indication of what is in each newsletter – why should I read? Link from ‘here’ bad practice for accessibility.

Friends of the Earth Very simple sign up form. Testimonials from people saying why it’s great to receive the tips. Link to previous tips so you can see what you’ll get.

Doncaster CVS Screen seen once signed up to Newsletter – doesn’t engage. Am now part of their community and might be willing to do other things. Missed opportunity to promote other ways of staying in touch / supporting .

Plain Stupid People want to engage – don’t apologise for it! Once they have engaged (in this case signed up for newsletter) tell them about other things they can do. Make them feel part of your work .

Oxfam Great idea to add a donation when buying something. Much more likely to add donation at this point. Oxfam are making it easy. Taking advantage of ‘influence windows’.

5 questions - PAMMI P resentation A udience M edium M arketing I nfluence

Madeleine Sugden Content Manager KnowHow NonProfit www.knowhownonprofit.org @knowhownonprof @millcaster

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