A survey by Nancy E. Schwartz published on the Getting Attention blog highlights the difficulties not-for-profit organisations have in communicating their messages. 84% of the organisations surveyed said that their messages connected with their key audiences only somewhat or not at all, in spite of much hard work.

They reported that their messaging suffers from lack of inspiration (73%), poor targeting to audience wants and needs (70%), and difficult to remember (86%).

Among the underlying factors are a lack of clear organisational direction and goals, and a lack of consistency across platforms.

Lessons for your website

Your website is a powerful messaging tool for your audiences, so what lessons can we learn from these results? 

1. Starting from your organisational goals (and getting those clear in the first place) is key.
2. Your site has to be targeted at your audience's needs. Defining the people who will come to your site, and identifying what they need, want and expect to find there will help you to a much more effective web presence.
3. How quickly can someone work out your main message when they first come to your website? Try a test: sit someone who hasn't seen your site before down in front of it, and ask them to tell you as quickly as possible what they think your organisation is about. If the result isn't forthcoming in about two seconds, or it doesn't match you message, then there's work to be done.

When you're starting out as a charity or not-for-profit organisation, the choice of software on offer to manage your website can seem overwhelming, and there's no shortage of companies, large and small, who want to design, build and host your site. 

The problem is, there's no regulation of web developers to ensure they build sites which follow web standards, or that they use best practices for usability, accessibility and code development. Other professions have professional bodies or watchdog organisations, or require a certain minimum standard of training, but anyone can set themselves up to design and build websites, with often variable results.

Until (if) any regulation happens, you have to help yourself by becoming knowledgeable about the standards and best practices which exist, and asking the right questions. The more you know, the more likely you are to make better choices of tools and services.

Here are three ways to get started:

1. Understand how web pages work

You don't need to know every last detail, but understand the main components which make up a web page: title, headings, menus, images, alternate text, links, forms.

Look for books which explain web pages simply and clearly, or search for resources and videos online.

2. Understand web standards

Web pages are written in a language called HTML. If you select "View Source" for a page in your browser, you can see the HTML. There are formal standards which define different versions of the HTML language, published by an organisation called the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). 

To check whether a web page conforms to the standard, you can use the HTML validator on the W3C's site: just type in the URL and click the button. If a lot of errors are identified, then standard HTML isn't being used, and this has implications for accessibility and compatibility with different browsers.

3. Understand web usability

Usability describes the ease with which you can use something to accomplish a goal. It can cover everything from door handles to teapots to websites. A usable website is one which helps your users accomplish what they came there for as easily as possible, whether it's to find information, purchase something, watch a video, interact with friends, do online banking or anything else.

Next time you visit a website, think about how easy it was to find what you wanted. Did you have to try several links before you found the one you wanted? If you had to fill in a form, were all the mandatory fields marked, or did you get caught out when you clicked the button to continue? Apparently small things like this make a huge difference to the user's experience of your site. 

Still one of the best and funniest sites about web usability is Web Pages That Suck. The classic resource is Jakob Nielsen's useit.com, which has years' worth of good articles about usability, and lists of top ten mistakes.

Cone Inc. have released their 2009 consumer new media study, which has a very interesting section on how people use new media to support causes. 

You should be out there

Of the 587 respondents in the survey, nearly 80% believe that not-for-profits should be using technologies such as social media sites (Facebook, etc.), blogs, video-sharing sites (YouTube) and message boards, to raise money and awareness for their causes. 

64% said that supporting a cause through new media made them more likely to support it in traditional ways as well, such as making an offline donation or attending an event.

And 59% said they were more likely to support a cause if they could support it through new media.

Do everything you can to create trust

Among the factors which prevented people from supporting a cause using new media, rather sadly, were:

• 39% didn't trust that their effort would actually go to help the cause (the biggest factor)
• 27% didn't see any existing results or impacts

Moral: make your achievements to date crystal clear, whether it's on your web site or Facebook page; make it clear where my donation is going; tell me what effect it has had. Pull out all the stops to build my trust in what you do.

Motivation matters

On the positive side, the factors motivating people to support a cause on new media were:

• Emotionally compelling cause (77%)
• Quick and easy (76%)
• Incentives for involvement (72%)
• Demonstrated results (70%)
• Offline opportunities (66%)

While the first two factors might imply a certain emotional impulsiveness in new media use (see a tear-jerking video, click to become a Facebook fan), the others seem to indicate that people do hunger for closer involvement, that they want to become part of something, and know that their support has had an effect. 

Food for thought there when designing your new media strategy.

The report can be downloaded from Cone Inc.'s web site (PDF, registration required).

The John Muir Trust released their new home page last week. I worked on the concept and structure with them, and the graphics were done by their web hosting company. 

It still needs a few adjustments, but it's been getting a lot of compliments. I've found myself just sitting and watching the beautiful images change. 

We tried to achieve several things with the redesign:

• Align the text with the Trust's three main strands of work: Conserve, Campaign and Inspire.
• Make it quicker for users to figure out what the Trust is about.
• Add in buttons and links for the new social media sites, which needed a bit of restructuring of menus to fit them in.
• Add a form to subscribe to the email newsletter.
• Create obvious Join Us and Donate buttons which would be visible on every page.
• Showcase the wonderful landscapes and wildlife on the Trust's properties and add some visual movement, by adding the slideshow of panoramic images.

Old page:

New page:

 

Any John Muir experts spot the problem with one of the quotes?