Landing pages for nonprofits are something I get extremely excited about—most organizations don’t think about them very often, but they’re crucial to your website’s success. The truth is, a landing page is perhaps the most important tool on your website and in your entire online strategy for getting people to do something. And that’s what you’re all about—getting people to take action on your issue or cause.
I want to quickly go through the “who, what and whys” of landing pages for nonprofits and make sure that we understand why they’re so important.
What is a landing page?
First of all, to be clear, a landing page is a page on your website where the end user enters your website. People don’t always land on your homepage. In fact, it’s often more effective if they don’t—landing pages typically get people closer to what they’re looking for.
Why are landing pages important?
Return on investment. It’s not about website traffic; it’s about conversion. It doesn’t matter if you get a million unique visitors to your website in a month if only one of those people actually does something. Landing pages for nonprofits are all about getting your website visitors to do what they came to do—give money, register for an event, sign up to volunteer or some other action.
Where should visitors go?
Traffic should always be directed to the specific pages that get people exactly where they want to be. Don’t make users take the long route. For example, if someone clicks on a blog post that you promoted on Twitter or Facebook, they should land right on the page where your blog resides. They shouldn’t have to land on your homepage and then search for your blog.
Who is connecting with landing pages?
Hopefully everyone. You, your donors, your volunteers, your constituents—anyone that wants to find the valuable content that you provide on your website. When someone searches online for information related to your cause, the goal is to take that user directly from search results to the landing page where you provide what they’re looking for. You might think of your homepage as the main entry point to your site, but hopefully it’s not—we want your landing pages to do the heavy lifting in getting users right to where they want to go.
When should you take them to a landing page?
When they’re ready to act. Whether they want to make a donation, find information, subscribe to your newsletter, volunteer—anything. If they want to connect with your organization in any possible way, they should be directed to a page that allows them to do so.
How does a good landing page create conversions?
This is a whole other blog post—at least—so we’ll go into more detail later, but the most important aspect of any particular landing page is focus. Each landing page on your website should focus on just one thing. Just one. We see far too many people attempt to create landing pages for nonprofits that include everything, but that renders them ineffective and scattered.
My best advice here: Focus on one thing, be concise and make it easy for your visitors to connect with you. The easier it is for users to take action, the more conversions you’ll see, and the more effective your website will be for everyone involved.
Need assistance in creating pages that get the job done? You’ve “landed” in the right spot—let’s connect here where you can drop some details about how we can help.
