There are plenty of reasons to redesign your website, whether it be to begin fundraising online, enhance accessibility to comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), strengthen security, improve mobile responsiveness, enable new capabilities, or simply because it looks like it was designed during the days of dial-up internet.
No matter your reason, your website is most often the first impression you make on potential clients, donors, partners and others. Here are four ways to make it count.
Messaging
Have you recently updated your messaging or embarked on a new strategic plan? Your website is one of your most important communications assets, so it’s essential its content closely echos your strategic plan. The Barefoot PR team starts every website design project with a Listening and Learning session to make sure we understand your key audiences and what you want to say to them. Once you have defined your who and what, the next step is to create a thoughtful sitemap to make sure your users can find what they need when they need it. It will also help guide the design that will make your story come to life.
Design
Good design extends beyond your logo and brand colors. It integrates your brand seamlessly into your website in a mobile responsive way. We believe it is important to create hierarchy both visually and within your website’s code so your message is easy for users to navigate.
While tools like Canva make design easy for non-designers, it can come across as cookie-cutter. By investing a little more into your project, your organization can get a unique, modern and professional design that reflects your brand’s purpose and personality.
Functionality
Is your website providing users with the information they need? This is the first question we ask at the start of our Listening and Learning process – and we encourage you to ask yourself that too! It is important to explore how you can tailor your website’s functionality to the needs of your users. This might include building out a custom resource library, adding fundraising capabilities, or simply integrating forms with your email provider of choice. Make sure your website is easy to use and easy to update.
Accessibility
Make sure your website is not a barrier no matter a user’s hardware, software, language, location, or ability. Through a partnership with Access Gallery, Barefoot works with an accessibility engineer to make sure the sites we work on are accessible for a range of people’s hearing, movement, sight, or cognitive needs. You can also find accessibility resources here.
As we approach year-end, website redesign projects are often top of mind. Let’s start a conversation to see how we can help you start the new year with a new website designed to connect with your audiences and better engage them in your organization.