The idea of owning your own website and having complete control of it has been my core message since I founded One Nine Design. My underlying goal of this entire business is to empower nonprofits to own their digital homes and equip them to make a great first impression online. Now, more than ever, that message is critical. 

If you, like many others, kicked into high gear when COVID-19 was about to upend our lives, our businesses, and our nonprofits, you might have had one of these thoughts:

• How am I going to let people know how we’re adapting?

• How am I going to notify all these people that the XYZ event is now postponed?

• Are my social media posts going to reach the right people? And quick enough? 

For many who have access to log in and update their own website, this was not as much of a concern. For those who have cultivated email lists with subscribers tagged and sorted, they didn’t panic. For many others, though, the response was very different (I know this because my phone started ringing with questions!)

If you could not access your own website to add your own message, wherever you wanted on the entire site, this post is for you. If you could not confidently email your people (the right people) quickly and efficiently, this post is for you. 

What do I mean by access to your website?

Let me go back a step. By access to your website, I mean that you can log in to your website, from any location, and enter new text, photos, or links wherever you’d like on the page. I used to exclude that last caveat (“wherever you’d like on the page) but I’ve started including that as well because of a few new clients that I’ve discovered are trapped into a website template that only allows updates in certain areas of the page. More on that in a minute. 

If you cannot log in to your website, I recommend you take action ASAP to change this. You should have a specific login to your website that is unique to you. This will allow you to track your own changes and know when the changes are made. This eliminates the need to ask someone else for that help and be at the mercy of another business that may or may not be available when you need them. You paid for a website, right? Shouldn’t that include the ability to use it as you need to on your own terms?

If you do not have that level of access, please advocate for yourself. You can use this free resource for sample language on how to ask for the information from the person who holds the access. If they refuse to give you access or require you to pay them for updates, this is a red flag. 

If they tell you that they can’t give you access because they used shared accounts with other clients and so on, this is a red flag. If they say you won’t understand or know how to update it, ask for documentation. Ask for free training or for resources from the website platform itself (i.e. a Wordpress user guide or Squarespace support guide).

Now, if you can log in to your website but your access to edit the website is limited in terms of what information you can add and where you can add it, this is also a potential issue. For example, if you want to place a big, eye-catching announcement at the top of your website and your template does not allow that, your message may not be as visible as needed. Or, if you are limited to updating only specific sections of your home page that are not <h1> tags (meaning Google can easily pick up that text), your content is not going to be as SEO friendly as needed. You also may be missing out on critical analytics by not being able to install Google Analytics on your own site because that requires you to verify you own the site and many times, developers do not give you access to do that.

If you have access but that access is limited, request more access to your site. Again, if you receive push back, this is a red flag. 

Another quick note on the level of access -- the ability to use third-party tools along with your website is very important. For example, if you cannot add code to your website yourself, you are not able to use very helpful tools like Hello Bar for announcements or Sumo tools for pop-ups. These sites walk you through, step-by-step, to add a small piece of code to make the tool work. If you do not have access to add that code, however, this puts you at a disadvantage. 

This also goes for adding video. Many nonprofits have expressed interest in recording a short video message for their audience and adding that to their website, only to find out that they cannot add an embed code on their website. I realize these are questions no one told you to ask when you hired a website designer or developer but they are critical to using your website for maximum effectiveness.

There are lots of great IT firms out there like cyberjaz.net that can help you understand all these terms and work with you to maintain control of your digital assets.

What changes when you have complete access to your website?

When you have the ability to login to your website and access every area of the site, you are empowered to share the message you want, when you want, and how you want. It is a gamechanger. It means that on your own timeline and without additional cost to your nonprofit, you can reach your audience when it matters. 

Here’s what to do next

If you do not have full access to your website, grab this free resource with sample language and reach out to the person who does have access and make the request. If necessary, get your board chair involved. 

If you do have access, use it. This is the time to show that your nonprofit is on top of the situation, adapting as needed, and reassuring donors that you are equipped to fulfill your mission, crisis or not. 

Craft specific fundraising language that is sensitive to people’s own health and situations but that also conveys your specific needs. Ask for what you need and provide multiple ways to help while also acknowledging that not everyone will be able to give right now. If you have had to cancel an event, considering asking ticket holders to donate their ticket purchase to help with operating costs. I have linked many resources for responding in a crisis situation over in the Nonprofit Library so take a look at those, as well. 

Remember, you know your nonprofit better than anyone else. You know what message needs to be sent and when it needs to be delivered. You would never let an outside vendor write your direct mail appeal or decide when to update your brochure. Why are you letting them dictate what happens on your very best marketing tool - your website?  

Until next time, be well and keep making a great first impression online. 

Andrea

P.S. I created a guide to help you understand exactly what information you need to know about your nonprofit’s tech and a place to keep it all recorded. While this post centers around access to your website, you should also be in control of your domain and website hosting account. You can use this PDF to help you understand the six key areas of information you need to have on hand at all times, especially in a crisis.

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