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How I work

The 8-step roadmap to an effective nonprofit website

This is a 8-step roadmap based on design thinking and user experience (UX) methodologies. With it, I consider the big picture of your entire digital communications, your organisation’s mission and culture, and look at the data.

Every step builds on top of the previous one to ensure nothing has to be redone and no valuable organisational resources are wasted, as well as to implement them in the right sequence.

1. Stakeholder interviews

We’ll go over the goals of your new website. I will talk to key team members of your organisation to get a better picture of your vision—and how the website can help you achieve it.
The questions I like to ask:
What do you think is working well on the current website?
How would you measure the success of your future website?
What are the most common questions people ask you offline?

2. Data interpretation

Most non-profits have Google Analytics installed, and this provides a good basis to gain insight into your existing audiences. The issue is simply knowing where to look inside the confusing GA reports.
Data might answer the following questions:
Do most people visit from mobile devices or desktop computers?
Which articles are the most popular?
Do people come to the site through Google or social media?

3. Product report

Based on the previous two blocks, I write up a short report recapping my findings and suggesting concrete solutions. This is an opportunity for us to check-in and to better define the challenges we’re addressing with your new website.
Real-life examples of suggestions are:
The newsletter form converts only 0.5% of traffic. Placing the form higher up on the page could result in better performance.
Articles A, B, and C have a lot of visitors but people seem to leave the website after reading them.
The website takes 5 seconds to load, causing people to close the site. Compressing the images will shave off some of this time.

4. Content plan

Content production is typically the biggest bottleneck in any web project. The communications department usually simply does not have the time to carry out this huge task on top of everything on their day-to-day to-do list.
Options to streamline content production:
I create an editorial plan and provide the training and management of your team—a large time commitment needed from your end.
I carry out interviews with your team that are later adapted to web content. You only need to review.

5. Wireframes

Think of wireframes as the blueprint for your website. It takes in everything we’ve learned from the previous blocks and connects it into a concrete layout.

The objective of the wireframes is to plan out where the content will be on each page and how the pages connect together (user flow). This makes it easy to separate the feedback on the general layout from the feedback on things like the font choice.

Examples of wireframes I did (click to enlarge):
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6. High-fidelity web design

Finally, it’s time for web design. After having planned out the layout, I can now focus on the branding, fonts, colours, graphics and the other little details that make websites look amazing.

The goal of this block is to provide you with a lifelike representation of what the website will feel like. It can even be made interactive with tools like Figma and InVision.

Examples of my web design (click to enlarge):

7. Development and QA

Once the web design has been finalised and confirmed, the developer is sent the source files from which they build the website.

After the first iteration has been finalised, I’ll provide detailed quality assurance (QA) to ensure a top-quality product that is SEO friendly and follows usability and accessibility guidelines.

We will also work together to produce the website’s statements (like privacy policy) and publish the content.

Examples of developer feedback:
On iOS iPhone 8, the icons on the home page footer are misplaced.
When a user signs up for an account, no feedback is displayed. Please show a short message confirming the sign up.
Image 1 doesn’t have defined alt text which is essential for screen readers used by people living with visual disabilities and search engine crawlers.

8. Launch

Once the website has been finalised, the fun begins. And by fun, I mean real work—because now, the website needs a proper promotional strategy.

A good promotional strategy will help you reach and engage new audiences while reinforcing your relationships with existing ones. The launch of a new website is the perfect opportunity to reestablish your organisation as the leader in your space.

Services after launch include:
Promotional strategy and help with execution
Editorial plan and style guide for the blog or subpages
Capacity development of team members on topics like WordPress publishing

@AskPun

Wondering what are the best apps, tools, and methods to make an impact in the fast-paced online world? Follow me @askpun on Instagram for short lessons on design, marketing, and technology for non-profits!
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