3 Ways a Squarespace Website Design Boosts Your Environmental Organization.
1.) Professional branding.
It’s important that any kind of venture even if it’s a non-profit has branding that represents the organization’s unique value proposition often called a UVP.
What makes your non-profit unique is what will create an emotional connection with your audience and inspire them to act.
It’s tempting to go on Fiver or Upwork and answer a few questions and get an instant logo, but that’s not going to fly because a brand is more than a logo.
A brand is your messaging, it’s your brand values, it’s everything holistically designed wrapped up altogether to create a succinct brand that will resonate with your audience.
I’m not against DIY branding, It’s totally fine to DIY your org. if you don’t have the budget, most non-profits have a budget but choose to DIY to save money.
Marketing is an essential part of a business budget, so branding and website design fall into that category, so It’s important to set up your non-profit organization correctly from the start, so it’s set up to accomplish Its goals.
When you create a connection with your audience through branding it sparks emotion and creates a relationship, and people buy from organizations, brands, and businesses that they know, like, and trust.
Your brand identity is what is going to get your audience to take action. Not something that’s haphazardly put together. It’s just more internet noise that will get a quick read and then NEXT. It does nothing to help you with your business goals.
By taking the extra steps to work with a brand designer, you’ll have laid the groundwork for your brand and will actually accomplish your business goals, like getting more subscribers, more donations, booking consultations, etc.
I see a lot of businesses doing it the other way around and slapping together a logo and a website that actually doesn’t do anything to attract your target audience.
2.) The words on your website matter.
The words on your website are probably the most important part of your overall branding.
Didn’t know that the words, what you say and how you say it, and the way you speak to your audience are a part of branding? Yep, it is and it all goes together.
I’ve seen many non-profit websites set up with their messaging all over the place. When you land on the website you have to sift through heavy paragraphs to get to your website's main point.
People don’t read anymore they scan, so If you have a lot to say instead of putting it on your homepage….. designate a blog page to talk about your non-profit.
When people land on your website it should be said in a few sentences what you do and who you serve.
The customer journey (how a person moves around your website) is a part of messaging too.
It’s important that your potential customers follow a clear path to get them to do what it is you want them to do that will bring in revenue for your business.
Let’s say the main goal of your website is to get people to donate to the organization. There has to be a clear path to do that, and it needs to be done in a strategic way.
It’s not a good idea to ask right up front to donate without them getting to know a little bit about your business first………so that’s where taking your customers on a journey throughout your website to get them to the end goal is so important.
If your website is like a maze for your customers and they don’t know where to go next and you are not including calls to action, like learn more, and sign up here and donate here. There’s no point in even having a website because it doesn’t have a specific goal.
A website at the end of the day is a marketing tool. The website is not the product or end goal.
It’s more of a tool businesses use to sell more of their stuff, whether that’s services, products, donations, etc. understanding this is important!
3.) SEO & Blogging
Blogging for your non-profit does wonders. It gets you found online, gets more traffic to your website, and establishes you as an authority in your niche.
There are 2 parts to SEO……….onsite optimization and offsite.
Onsite optimization is when all the proper SEO settings are filled out on your website and on the back end of your website (the part that the public doesn’t see).
Squarespace is excellent for SEO and you can find the SEO settings easily and fill them out.
It’s not very cut and dry for someone who is DIYing their site, but if you work with a web designer who is also an SEO specialist you can rest assured that all of the settings will be filled out, so you're all set up and your website is optimized for search engines.
Off-site SEO is up to the client, most web designers don’t blog for businesses. The business either blogs for itself or hires a copywriter to do it for them.
The web designer CAN get your blog all set up. Squarespace has an excellent blogging platform that is installed super easily, so you can start with your blogging efforts right away.
I know all these things seem obvious, but spending more time, in the beginning, getting your website set up properly and not DIYing it will save you time and help you get the revenue you need to sustain your environmental non-profit.
It’s super common for everyone to DIY their branding and website these days, and there is a time and place for that.
If it’s not getting you the results you need and you want to scale your business then working with a brand and web designer will help you get concrete results.
I love designing websites for environmental non-profits and other kinds of sustainable organizations.
Have questions or would like to learn more? Get in touch!
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