Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants

This week, it is my pleasure to host the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants. This week, I asked the question: What is the biggest mistake a nonprofit can make with their website. I got some interesting answers:

• Ken, at the Nonprofit Consulting Blog, talks about transparency, and how it’s a big mistake not to be transparent. He has some good ideas and suggestions about how to be transparent as an organization through the website.
• Kivi in her Nonprofit Communication’s blog suggests that a website needs to be about the visitor and not about the organization: “The biggest mistake that a nonprofit can make with its website is to use it as an old-fashioned brochure, where you immediately hit the visitor with your long, jargon-filled mission statement, right at the top or smack in the middle of the home page, followed by bulleted lists of ‘projects’ or ’services.’” She gives some great suggestions and examples
• Joanne Fritz talks about three big mistakes – outdated information, insufficient contact information, and outdated design. She makes some great points, and gives good tips to make changes.
• The Hack Artist suggests that it’s important to marry direct mail efforts and a web presence.
• James Young, on the Connection Cafe, suggests that we think about constituent empowerment when we think about organizational websites.
• And, since I’m the host, I get to add a couple of bonus mistakes. I think one of the biggest mistakes that an organization can make with its website is to promise more than it can deliver – make sure that the resources to create that blog, or podcast, or photo gallery, or whatever bells and whistles that you promise on your website, are there when the website goes live.
• I do think the biggest mistake an organization can make in the re/creation of its website is to go with the vendor with the lowest bid. It’s a lot more than price – it’s quality of work, whether you like their previous work, their overall reputation, as well as their fit with you as an organization.