Free advice from NCVO web partner

It's easy to create a website and then forget all about it, simply assuming it's doing its job. But the truth is many sites are failing their owners. NVisage, the development partner behind NCVO's new site, has created a fact sheet especially for voluntary sector organisations.

Do you need a new site? – Five quick checks

If any of these ring true, you need to seriously look at ways of improving or replacing your website:

1. You can't update the content easily in-house.
2. You can't find your website in the major search engines.
3. You get complaints from users that they can't access your content through audio or other accessibility-based browsers.
4. Your site only gives out information, there is no interactivity, no feedback mechanisms and no way of finding out if you are meeting your visitors' needs.
5. Site stats paint a gloomy picture (if you haven't got access to these, that's number 6), for instance, perhaps people don't stay long on the site, they never return or they don't visit many pages.

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Need a new site? – What to ask of your web agency

Too many sites are designed by graphic designers or programmers, who are good at what they do, but do not have an awareness of all the aspects that make up a good website. If your new website is going to meet the needs of your intended audience, check that your developer is able to deliver in each of the areas below.

Accessibility: Not just a slavish adherence to a list of standards, but an understanding of how to make your website available to as wide an audience as possible.

Usability: Often plays second fiddle to accessibility, but is just as important. NCVO incorporated AA standards from W3C (the web standards authority) in its recent website which is a level lower than its previous website's AAA standard. This is because although more ‘accessible', it actually restricted the user in what they could get from the site. So by making it slightly less ‘accessible', it was possible to increase what users could gain from the site.

Search engine visibility: What is the point of a site if no one knows you are there? If you are disseminating information, looking for funds or volunteers, or lobbying stakeholders, you need to get your site in front of those people, whether they are actively looking for it or not.

Content control: It is very important for a site to have current content that is easy to control and amend internally. You may wish to centralise this with a specific person or delegate parts of the site to different staff members. The easiest way to undertake this is for site to be built around a content management system which separates the design and programming from the content. This allows you to safely edit and add to the content in real time without any technical or design skills.

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No budget this year? Some quick fixes to get more from your existing website

1. Make your copy clear and concise to get your message across as quickly as possible. People tend to read two-thirds less on-line than they would off-line. Bullet information so it can be easily scanned. Ensure the most important copy is at the top of the page.
2. Keep navigation simple, easy to understand and consistent. A visitor should instantly know where they are within your site, and how to get to any other page.
3. Remove unnecessary graphics and programming gimmicks that distract from content. Make sure any graphics are an essential component of the page and as small a file size as you can get away with. Remove animation – most people find it annoying.
4. Link effectively throughout your site, both between internal pages and to relevant external sites. Users and search engines like links. BUT only link where it adds value to your site – avoid trivial links. Also make sure you maintain them – dead links are a sure way to lose visitors.
5. Follow conventions. People are not interested in learning how to use your site, they spend 99% of their time on other people's. If you have a search facility keep it in a consistent place, preferably in the top right of your page. Use the horizontal banner at the top of your page or the left hand column for navigation
6. Keep navigation buttons simple. Visitors and search engines prefer HTML text buttons to navigate rather than graphics or dynamic navigation. Graphic designers are the only people these appeal to, they are not user-friendly especially to the mobility impaired, and often impede search engines.
7. Optimise your site for search engines using appropriate key phrases in the title tag on each page and supporting terms in the meta data.

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How well optimised is your site?

To find out for yourself, create a list of phrases that best describe what you provide, based on how you would enter these phrases into a search engine. Then enter these phrases into a major search engine such as Yahoo, MSN or Google and see where you appear. If you do well for several of your key phrases, well done. But do you know if these are the phrases that your audience use? There are always variations on the phrases people enter to search for the same information. These can be both subtle and obvious.

To optimise your site effectively, you first need to understand how your audience looks for the types of services and information you offer. There are various online tools you can use, such as Google Adwords and Overture, to determine the most popular as well as the niche phrases for your sector. You then need to effectively incorporate these into your site, by optimising individual pages for specific phrases. Make sure each page's title tag incorporates that page's key phrases. These should be unique for each page. Make sure phrases are included within the copy of the appropriate pages. Obtaining links from relevant sites is also highly beneficial in obtaining good search engine rankings.

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Five new things your website could do for you

1. Communicate with your audience in a pro-active way. Why not have an opt in newsletter with choices over the types of content visitors can receive?
2. Improve your PR. Have a journalists' area where they can find spokespeople's contact details, downloadable photographs and archived press releases.
3. Raise your profile. Use the site to publish pertinent articles, research, fact sheets and advice.
4. Make it easier for your audience to transact with you. E-commerce can be used to book events online as well as for buying reports, products etc.
5. Gauge the temperature of your audience. Why not use the site to poll your audience on key issues in your sector?

About NVisage

NVisage is a dedicated full service web agency that has been creating public and not for profit sector websites that conform to best practice for the past nine years. For recent examples of our work visit our clients page.

Free website audit for NCVO members

If you suspect your website is not performing as well it could, give Clinton Porter a call on 01273 384287 for a free independent audit.