Following our post entitled, 3 Free or Low Cost Ways to Build an App for Your Shul or Organization, we want to continue to focus on helping you advance your online presence—particularly at the mobile level. After all, ignoring this aspect of your online presence is a grave mistake. Studies show (see here) that 90% of nonprofits’ supporters and donors now access the internet on multiple devices every day. Mobile browsing—and even donating—is no longer the way of the future. It is something that people expect in 2013 (see the infographic at the bottom of this blog post).
And so, we present you a checklist of eleven things every nonprofit mobile website must have. We encourage you to make sure that your site is up to date so that you can best reach and retain people who are searching for Judaism in your city.
1) Keep Design and Navigation Very Simple: Mobile users like things simple and can be overwhelmed by a multilayered mobile website.
2) Be sure to feature a “Home” link prominently.
3) Require only up and down scrolling, never left to right.
4) The content background should be white with black text: Want to add some color? You can enhance your site by adding color through navigation bars and images.
5) Provide a link to your “desktop” version: This is a nice option in case the user has a tablet and not a smartphone and wants to browse your “real” website.
6) Limit the Use of Images.
7) Feature Fresh Content Prominently: People on mobile devices are searching for fresh content, news, and programs. A mobile website should not be modeled after your desktop site. The two have completely different purposes.
8) Limit Your “About Us” Content to One Page: Create a short mobile version of all of your “About Us” pages. People aren’t going to scroll and click on the picture of every faculty team as they would on a personal computer.
9) Feature Group Text Alerts and E-newsletter “Subscribe” Functionality: This will allow you to build up a contemporary way to reach donors. Good online fundraisers know that you must build your lists at every opportunity, and sending someone a text message may just be the most effective and immediate way to get their attention and have them give money to your cause.
10) Feature a “Donate Now” Page That Is Optimized for Mobile Use: Make sure that a person can actually make a donation on your mobile website and that it is not something that strictly works on a desktop. If your credit card processing requires flash, you are not going to be able to receive any donations from someone who has an iPhone or an iPad—and that’s a problem.
11) Feature “Text-to-Give Now” Functionality, if Applicable: If you are utilizing text-to-give technology, include “Text-to-Give Now” mobile pages. Donors can simply enter their phone number to make a donation. If you dont’ have this feature, you may want to consider adding it to your mobile site after you read this article.
We hope that this post was informative. If you are looking for more timely tips on this topic, checkout this book.
