Amnesty International

Heat-Map
A heat map can show where visitors are clicking on your landing page.

I’ve been doing a lot of work/research about improving landing pages on nonprofit websites.

What’s a landing page and why should you care?

A landing page is a page on your website where you want visitors to complete a specific transaction, such as donating money or joining an email list.

Obviously these are some of the most important pages on your website. In Seth Godin’s words, “Landing pages are the new direct marketing, and everyone with a website is a direct marketer.”

As you can imagine, this is always harder than it sounds. Bad design, uninspiring text, and slow load times are just a few challenges. Below are tips that can help you improve the results on your landing pages:

Before you create your landing pages

Know your audience. Understand that their motivations are often different from yours.
What’s your goal? Pick one, and only one.
Who’s your audience? It’s tempting to think that your landing page needs to engage all of your audiences. But if you try and create a message that speaks to everyone, all you’ll end up doing is inspiring no one.
What’s your story? Pick one.

Designing and writing landing pages

Maintain the same branding on all landing pages. On your Facebook custom tab and avatar, in your email newsletter template, and in your direct mail pieces.
Use white space to direct the eye. White space at the margins will tend to direct your visitor to the center of the page.

Use a paragraph break every two sentences. No one reads the text on landing pages, they scan it. Then, if they’re interested, they’ll read more closely.
Use bullet points and numbered items. Bullet points are extremely humble little creatures. But they subconsciously convey two powerful messages: “You will be getting several things here” and “These things are very specific.”
Use big fonts. A study conducted by Stamford University confirmed that font size influences trust. 16 is the new 14.
Use big buttons. Amnesty International found that bigger donation buttons help convert more donors. Continue reading →

At the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, one of thousands of causes on Causes.com.

Campaigns, timely updates, passionate supporters add up to move the needle

By Kim Bale
Socialbrite staff

Lots of nonprofits and social change organizations have used Causes (formerly Facebook Causes) to raise funds and amplify their efforts, but the vast majority of them haven’t moved the needle much. So we set out to discover: What makes a successful campaign on Causes?

Each week, people donate hundreds of thousands of dollars on Causes. But participating organizations often have goals beyond raising funds: Many are trying to recruit new supporters, raise awareness about issues, enlist people to attend events and so on. Organizations using Causes, a small unit within Facebook, often use Facebook apps and the viral power of friends of friends to generate attention in a way not possible in the days of stand-alone destination websites.

The really remarkable stories on Causes, though, involve the individual activists — not the nonprofits themselves — who launch a cause and generate interest in some of today’s most pressing issues. Some causes grow in membership by word of mouth, while others are part of a planned outreach campaign. Large or small, each cause showcases its top recruiters, donors and fundraisers in its Hall of Fame, prompting more people to participate.

While Causes has not lived up to everyone’s lofty expectations as a money machine, even small-scale causes — like the $3,400 donated to help wildlife hurt by the BP oil spill — can add up to make a difference.

There are many elements to creating a successful cause campaign — frequent updates, active supporters, playing off news headlines and joining larger fundraising efforts are four key factors — and lots of ways to measure success. Here are 10 of the best efforts we’ve seen on Causes. Have your own favorite? Add it in the comments below!

The Race To End Cancer

1With nearly 6 million members, The Race to End Cancer is the largest Facebook cause and has raised $74,105 for the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Started by 19-year-old Michelle Miles, the cause has become enormously successful as members recruit their friends in hopes of raising money and growing it to the next level. Incentives such as competing in America’s Giving Challenge (Causes is one of three sponsors) and helping the hospital win a playroom makeover sponsored by Xbox keep members donating and recruiting friends. Other successful cancer campaigns include Campaign for Cancer Prevention and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, among many others.

Overseas China Education Foundation (OCEF)

2The OCEF has more than 10,000 members and has donated more than $240,000 to improve school systems in rural China and help disadvantaged children get an education. Part of their success is due to tying in to larger campaigns, including the Facebook app for Chase Community Giving and America’s Giving Challenge; OCEF won the 2009 Giving Challenge, receiving over 13,000 of the 105,420 donations made.

Love Without Boundaries Foundation

3This small, volunteer-staffed nonprofit managed to pull ahead of larger organizations in the 2008 Causes Giving Challenge to raise an eye-poppnig $144,898 from just 4,115 donors. The secret to their success? Many of its staff members signed up for Facebook just to join the challenge and then used the organization’s heartfelt stories and touching photos to bring in thousands of new supporters who had never heard of them. Love Without Boundaries provides Chinese orphans with medical care in preparation for adoption. The organization allocated $50,000 of the prize money to save the lives of 10 babies through heart surgery. To date, the cause’s 30,000 members have generated $158,459, telling us that ginning up online support during the Giving Challenge was critical key to success.

The Nature Conservancy

4More than 230,000 supporters have chipped in $367,819 so far for The Nature Conservancy cause. The Facebook application (Lil) Green Patch has been especially helpful — people who use it have recruited 1,219 members and raised $210,000 to save the rainforests. The organization is providing updates about the Gulf oil spill, generating additional interest and contributions.

Continue reading →