It’s a suite of web tools made specifically for Jewish non-profits, designed to fit into your existing (or new) website, with little or no upfront cost, and only small monthly fees.  No more settling for open-source, mismatched calendars and bland, generic paypal links for donations.

Tools 4 Shuls includes:

• Jewish calendar with rsvp and payments – includes all hebrew dates, local candle lighting times, torah portions, holidays.  take online RSVPs and credit card/paypal payments for unlimited events
  
• announcements – post to any page on your site, remove automatically at a specified date and time.
• donations — easily create new categories and funds.  pre-set or dynamic donation amounts for each.  optional tribute information. pay with credit card or paypal.
• archive – upload audio, video, word docs, pdfs, etc.  play audio right on the page with our flash player.  great for sermons, newsletters, educational documents, flyers…
• photo gallery — create unlimited categories, galleries and upload unlimited pictures.  automatically display links to new galleries or categories on any page of your site.

Do your organization and yourself a favor… Splurge on the small monthly fee to set yourself up with quality web tools created specifically for YOU!

My Jewish Portal, the newest Jewish site to hit web 2.0 is looking to utilize its cutting-edge interface to bring Jews online, together in person. How could that be?  The Jewish Community Calendar of My Jewish Portal contains a growing list of events from communities throughout the country.  Users are encouraged to vote for the events they recommend most (ala digg.com), in an attempt to increase attendance at real events… in person… where you actually speak with others.

One of the truly unique features of My Jewish Portal is its interaction with Inspired Multimedia’s Tools 4 Shuls applications.  Synagogues and Jewish non-profits who use Tools4Shuls’ calendar application on their website can have their events automatically posted to the community calendar on My Jewish Portal.  There is no longer a need to post several times to have the same information on your site and on others’.

Visit www.myjewishportal.com to see what’s new in the Jewish community, and visit www.tools4shuls.com to learn about the innovative and inspired products available for Jewish non-profits.

Just like your nonprofit organization’s mission statement, your website should have a mission statement as well.  The primary objective of your website is to support your organization, and this should come through in every piece of information on your site.

What else do you want your website to do for you?  Is it a method of communication? Is it a promotional tool?  Is it a resource about you? About the community? For your members? For your non-members?

Whenever we design websites, the first question we ask clients is “who is your target audience?”  Figure out who will be using your site, and make sure you address all of the needs that you can for each of those target audiences.  If you aren’t doing that, you need to figure out what you’re missing.  If you have information on your site that is irrelevant to your target audiences, consider removing it to cut down on the clutter.

If you have any questions about your nonprofit website design, we’re inspired multimedia, and we’re here to help.

You need to find that line between being professional and having enough personality to draw in the reader and make them feel the same way you do about your cause.

Story-telling is a great way to do both.  You can write something of a very personal nature, but do so in a professional way.  You can be objective while invoking emotion.  Your site shouldn’t be all stories and no hard facts, but it might be a good idea to include an excerpt from a story on each page with a link to read more.  You might also want to include an image, either of the actual person the story is about, or a stock photo to represent the person.

Stories are also great for blogs and newsletters.  People are much more likely to be drawn in by a short story that they might be able to relate to, compared to an article about a grant you recently applied for or a recap of a small event you had.  And which is more likely to draw in a volunteer or donation… a story about someone you helped, or an article about a grant you received?

If you need any help with your nonprofit website, or want a little free advice, Inspired Multimedia is here to help.

They have successfully turned their website into one big marketing campaign that actually works.  They didnt just place a banner along the top of the page or change the text in the body of the homepage.  They changed their domain name to match their campaign, and they changed their entire site to fit in with it.  And their site is not only beautiful, but very well designed.

As we think about our websites and our campaigns, we should look to United Way’s site for guidance (and no, we didnt design their site, and we have nothing to do with them… we just appreciate good work).

• Their site is very responsive — when you move your mouse over different pieces, if gives you feedback (but in a classy, modern way).
• Their three main goals — give, advocate and volunteer — are clearly defined and stand out.
• Their overall goal, to get us involved, is front and center.
• They have a lot going on — more than 40 different links on their homepage — but because it is so well organized, and contains enough empty space to make it not see cluttered, it is effective.
• Their logo is not a primary focus.  Their campaign — live united, is what stands out.
• Subsequent pages follow the same structure as the homepage, making it easy to find your way around without getting lost.

Think about these things and take a look at united way’s website.  Then take a look at your website.  What do they have in common? What would you change about your own? What would you change about United Way’s site?  Even small, inexpensive changes to your site can make a world of difference.

If you want to chat or need a little free advice about nonprofit website design, we’re Inspired Multimedia, and we’re here to help.

It’s actually quite simple.  You’re getting your organization’s name out there by contributing on other websites and blogs.  Think about how many people are visiting some of the larger websites and blogs.  All of those people could be exposed to your blog post and a link to your site.  It’s free advertising! All you need to do is spend a few minutes writing an article.

It’s not easy finding places to guest-blog.  You may need to be an authority or specialist to get your foot in the door, and you will need to find sites that focus on the specific niche that your nonprofit organization caters to.  Most high-profile blogs and article websites will have standards, and you will need to meet them.  But don’t let that deter you.  If you are selected to guest-blog, it can be a big boost to your website, both in visitors, search engine ranking and overall public opinion.

For more helpful tips and free advice for your nonprofit website, visit www.inspiredonline.com.  We’re Inspired Multimedia, and we’re here to help.

Google and Youtube make it easy to put your video on your website.  All you need to do is create an account with one of them (your gmail account will work with all Google tools), upload your video through their website or upload tool, and give your webmaster the embed code.  Your webmaster can then place this piece of code on an existing page on your site (or create a new page), and the video, with all of its controls, will be displayed on your site.  It’s that easy!

Doing this has numerous benefits.

1. People like to watch videos.  Having one on your website might keep potential donors or clients there longer, increasing the likelihood of their future involvement in your organization.
2. Hosting your video through Google or Youtube means you don’t need to worry about having enough storage space and bandwidth on your web hosting account.  Nor do you need to worry about technical issues associated with having video on your site.
3. Uploading your video to Youtube or Google automatically opens the video to the public, on sites that receive millions of visitors each day.  It is very possible that a random person might accidentally view your video and end up becoming involved in your organization as a result of it.

So, go ahead and post your video on your website. You have no reason not to.

For more helpful hints and free advice when it comes to nonprofit website design, visit www.inspiredonline.com — we’re inspired multimedia, Inc. We’re here to help.

Each month you usually visit 59 domains, view 1,050 pages allocating 45 seconds for each page and spend about 25 hours doing all this net activity! Each surfing session lasts 51 minutes.*

45 seconds… What will your visitors find out in 45 seconds?  Will they find useful information? Will they be intrigued to click around and view more than just your homepage?

You don’t have much time with your website visitors.  People have very little patience for long paragraphs of text or long page load times.  Make everything as concise as possible, and do what you can to make your page load in a few seconds.

One of the most useful and critical statistics you will find out is your bounce rate.  The bounce rate is the percentage of people that come to your site and leave without clicking a single link.  If your bounce rate is high, figure out why and what you can do to remedy the situation.

If you want more information, or a little free advice to keep your visitors on your site for more than 45 seconds, visit inspiredonline.com — we’re Inspired Multimedia, and we’re here to help.

*from bizwaremagic.com

• At the top of every page you should have a link to a contact page (which should contain a form for users to fill out, your mailing address and phone number).
• At the footer of every page you should put one line that has your general contact email address, phone number and mailing address.
• At the end of every article on your website, there should be a line that reads “For more information, please contact…”

Contact information is one of those things that people should not need to search for.   Check your site right now… Make sure it’s so in-your-face that even an average visitor can find it.

For more free advice about your nonprofit website, we’re Inspired Multimedia, and we’re here to help.

• Add a sign-up box to your website
  It should be on every page, and should be as minimal as possible.  Only ask for their email address.  If people need to fill out a list of personal information just to get your newsletter, then simply won’t do it.
• Add a “forward to a friend” link on your newsletter
  It’s good to encourage people to forward your messages to their friends, but providing this link is important because most listserv programs can track who is forwarding messages, and gives you the ability to add more names to your list.
• Ask for emails during donations and event registrations
  Bring a clipboard to your next event and ask everyone to sign in with their name and email address, or have them leave their business cards.  Make the email address a necessary form field on your online registration, and take note of their email addresses when they make online donations.
• Send to your list
  This one seems obvious, but it’s important.  Get in the habit of sending a newsletter at least once a month — even if it is just one paragraph.  It’s important to keep your members thinking about your organization.  But even more important than that, make sure your content is worth reading.  You dont want people unsubscribing!

If you have any questions, or want a little free advice about your nonprofit websites, visit inspiredonline.com.  we’re Inspired Multimedia, and we’re here to help!