How to attract donors to give on your website.

I am often asked questions about donation catchment pages for non-profit websites.

The questions range from: How can I make my donation catchment page on my website more appealing to donors?  How can I get donors to take action once they are there?  What are some best-case practices that I can use when designing my non-profits donation page on our site?

Here is what I recommend.

Tell your donor who you are and what you will do with their “investment” in you.

Donors want to know first and foremost who you are as a non-profit organization.  In fact, donors today go to your website first before even making a donation.  So clearly stating who you are including your mission, goals and objectives is critical.  After that, they want to know that the organization they are considering making a donation to will use their money wisely and will have the greatest impact.

So, be sure you tell your organizations story and how donors will make a huge difference by giving to you.

There is much to be found around the topic of donor best-case practice in terms of telling your story in a way that emotionally captivates them.  Learn this best-case practice to design content that is not only appealing but compelling.  Taking a donor from inaction to investment in one key stroke.

Make sure your organization’s website is “usable.”

The thing that will turn a donor off the most is the fact that they just cannot navigate your site, especially your donation page.  So ensure that your website is designed according to donor best-case practice and that a donor can easily find where and how to make a donation.  I would even recommend that you have a donate now button on each and every page of your overall website.  And, call it donate, not, “giving!”

Furthermore, don’t use jargon and technical language.  You want your website easy to read and understand by everyone who visits it, not, just a selected few.  Be careful of the reading level of your site and ensure that it is simple, easy to read, and clear.

Also, ensure that your design is crisp and clear and that it is most of all consistent.  Branding is important and you want to be sure that everyone who visits your webpage knows exactly who you are on each and every page including your donation catchment page.  Consistency is the key world and branding is the ultimate goal.

It has been found that fixing some of these problems even the very minor ones can increase donations by 10% alone.  This defiantely warrants a little expense and time to fix the bugs.

Bottom line:  tell donors who you are, what you will do with their “investment,” answer their questions and speak plainly and the donations will start pouring in.  Fail to do these things, and your webpage will sit idle!