4. Limit Your “About Us” Content to One Page
Create one page that summarizes your “About Us” content. This is where you give shortened versions of your history, your programs, and important milestones you have achieved. You can have three or four small photos on this page to give it some color and make it more interesting, but in general, people are not interested in reading Web 1.0 content on a mobile website.
5. Link to Your Social Networking Profiles
This is a big one! Link to your Facebook Page, Twitter Profile, YouTube Channel, Flickr Photostream, etc. This allows your mobile visitors to like, follow, and subscribe easily, as well as browse status updates, tweets, and your most recent videos and photos. Download small social media icons and work them into the design so that they are visible on every page of your mobile website. Ideally, they should be featured at the top of your mobile website, since a lot of scrolling is required to view the bottom of pages on your mobile website. Also, be sure to link to your Facebook Places and Foursquare Pages for easy check-ins and participation.
6. Feature Group Text Alerts and E-newsletter “Subscribe” Functionality
Good online fundraisers know that you must build your lists at every opportunity. Be sure to feature the ability to subscribe to your e-newsletter and group text campaigns on every page of your mobile website. This can either be worked into the navigation of your mobile website or added to the “Take Action” or “Get Involved” page. There are also e-newsletter and text icons available through most icon portals, like IconsPedia.com and IconDock.com, that can be placed next to your social networking icons. The number of people who regularly check their e-mail on mobile devices is rising steadily, so subscribing to an e-newsletter on a mobile website is definitely within the realm of possibility.
7. Feature a “Donate Now” Page That Is Optimized for Mobile Use
It’s highly unlikely that a donor will take the time and effort to fill out a donation form that is formatted for desktop viewing. Until online giving portals offer mobile “Donate Now” pages in addition to desktop “Donate Now” pages, you will have to hard-code this page or use PayPal or Google Checkout. It’s likely that many vendors will begin to offer “Donate Now” pages and other tools optimized for mobile browsing in the coming years. As more become available, these will become easier and more affordable.
8. Feature “Text-to-Give Now” Functionality, if Applicable
If your nonprofit is utilizing text-to-give technology, you should include “Text-to-Give Now” mobile pages that allow donors to simply enter their phone number to make a donation. You will have to either hard-code this page yourself or use a text-to-give vendor that offers the service.
9. Feature E-advocacy Campaigns
Signing petitions and participating in e-mail action alerts on mobile websites has a bright future. Currently, they have to be hard-coded, but it’s just a matter of time until services like Change.org and Care2 offer mobile optimized advocacy tools. It’s also likely that new vendors specializing in mobile e-advocacy will be launched in the coming years, as well as Convio, Blackbaud, and Democracy In Action building upon the e-advocacy services that they already offer. When these tools become available and affordable, you’ll want to feature your e-advocacy campaigns on your mobile website so that people can easily “Take Action.” This is a trend to monitor closely. A Canadian nonprofit called the Big Wild pioneered mobile e-advocacy through the use of a QR code. After people scanned the code, they were sent to a mobile petition to “Keep the Restigouche Watershed Wild” that could be easily signed and sent to government officials.
10. Incorporate Video into Your Mobile Website
Like all things mobile, mobile video consumption is soaring. That said, take screenshots of your best videos and incorporate them into your “About Us” or “Get Involved” page on your mobile website. They should be shrunk to 320 pixels in width and link directly to the mobile version of the video on YouTube.
11. Promote Your Mobile Website in Print Materials, on Your Website and Your Blog, and in Your Social Networking Communities
As with any other Web-based campaign, you need to promote your mobile website. Write a short blurb about your new mobile website and ask supporters to “Bookmark Your Mobile Browser!” Publish the blurb in your print newsletter, link to it on your website and on your blog, and mention it to your social networking communities. Initially, most of your mobile website traffic will come from links in text alerts and QR codes, but as mobile browsing continues to soar, much of it will come across your mobile website the old-fashioned way—through Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Opera Mini, and Safari searches conducted on smartphones.
Create one page that summarizes your “About Us” content. This is where you give shortened versions of your history, your programs, and important milestones you have achieved. You can have three or four small photos on this page to give it some color and make it more interesting, but in general, people are not interested in reading Web 1.0 content on a mobile website.
5. Link to Your Social Networking Profiles
This is a big one! Link to your Facebook Page, Twitter Profile, YouTube Channel, Flickr Photostream, etc. This allows your mobile visitors to like, follow, and subscribe easily, as well as browse status updates, tweets, and your most recent videos and photos. Download small social media icons and work them into the design so that they are visible on every page of your mobile website. Ideally, they should be featured at the top of your mobile website, since a lot of scrolling is required to view the bottom of pages on your mobile website. Also, be sure to link to your Facebook Places and Foursquare Pages for easy check-ins and participation.
6. Feature Group Text Alerts and E-newsletter “Subscribe” Functionality
Good online fundraisers know that you must build your lists at every opportunity. Be sure to feature the ability to subscribe to your e-newsletter and group text campaigns on every page of your mobile website. This can either be worked into the navigation of your mobile website or added to the “Take Action” or “Get Involved” page. There are also e-newsletter and text icons available through most icon portals, like IconsPedia.com and IconDock.com, that can be placed next to your social networking icons. The number of people who regularly check their e-mail on mobile devices is rising steadily, so subscribing to an e-newsletter on a mobile website is definitely within the realm of possibility.
7. Feature a “Donate Now” Page That Is Optimized for Mobile Use
It’s highly unlikely that a donor will take the time and effort to fill out a donation form that is formatted for desktop viewing. Until online giving portals offer mobile “Donate Now” pages in addition to desktop “Donate Now” pages, you will have to hard-code this page or use PayPal or Google Checkout. It’s likely that many vendors will begin to offer “Donate Now” pages and other tools optimized for mobile browsing in the coming years. As more become available, these will become easier and more affordable.
8. Feature “Text-to-Give Now” Functionality, if Applicable
If your nonprofit is utilizing text-to-give technology, you should include “Text-to-Give Now” mobile pages that allow donors to simply enter their phone number to make a donation. You will have to either hard-code this page yourself or use a text-to-give vendor that offers the service.
9. Feature E-advocacy Campaigns
Signing petitions and participating in e-mail action alerts on mobile websites has a bright future. Currently, they have to be hard-coded, but it’s just a matter of time until services like Change.org and Care2 offer mobile optimized advocacy tools. It’s also likely that new vendors specializing in mobile e-advocacy will be launched in the coming years, as well as Convio, Blackbaud, and Democracy In Action building upon the e-advocacy services that they already offer. When these tools become available and affordable, you’ll want to feature your e-advocacy campaigns on your mobile website so that people can easily “Take Action.” This is a trend to monitor closely. A Canadian nonprofit called the Big Wild pioneered mobile e-advocacy through the use of a QR code. After people scanned the code, they were sent to a mobile petition to “Keep the Restigouche Watershed Wild” that could be easily signed and sent to government officials.
10. Incorporate Video into Your Mobile Website
Like all things mobile, mobile video consumption is soaring. That said, take screenshots of your best videos and incorporate them into your “About Us” or “Get Involved” page on your mobile website. They should be shrunk to 320 pixels in width and link directly to the mobile version of the video on YouTube.
11. Promote Your Mobile Website in Print Materials, on Your Website and Your Blog, and in Your Social Networking Communities
As with any other Web-based campaign, you need to promote your mobile website. Write a short blurb about your new mobile website and ask supporters to “Bookmark Your Mobile Browser!” Publish the blurb in your print newsletter, link to it on your website and on your blog, and mention it to your social networking communities. Initially, most of your mobile website traffic will come from links in text alerts and QR codes, but as mobile browsing continues to soar, much of it will come across your mobile website the old-fashioned way—through Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Opera Mini, and Safari searches conducted on smartphones.
0 comments:
Post a Comment