The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist for Non-Profits, Period!

picture of checklist with pen

This is a remix of a post that Stoney deGeyter published on Search Engine Guide. It was written back in September of 2008 so it has nothing about Twitter, but according to Guy Kawasaki, “it’s great nonetheless.” I’d have to agree.

Of the 400 items, I found that most also apply to non-profit social media marketing. To save you time, I’ve listed the “must check” items below:

Domain Name & URLs

  • Short and memorable
  • Uses Keywords
  • Multiple versions: .com, .org., .net
  • Misspellings
  • Brandnames

Site Logo

  • Displays company name clearly
  • Isn’t hidden among clutter
  • Links to home page

Site Design

  • Font size is adequate
  • Font type is friendly
  • Paragraphs not too wide
  • Good overall contrast
  • Non-busy background
  • Recognizable look and feel
  • Low usage of animated graphics
  • Instant site identification
  • Crisp, clean image quality
  • Clean, clutter-less design
  • Consistent colors and type
  • Whitespace usage
  • Minimal distractions
  • Targets intended audience
  • Easy to navigate
  • Descriptive links
  • Good on-page organization
  • Easy to find phone number
  • Don’t link screen captures
  • Skip option for flash
  • Consistent page formatting

Navigation

  • Located top or top-left
  • Consistent throughout site
  • Links to Home page
  • Links to Contact Us page
  • Links to About Us page
  • Simple to use
  • Indicates current page
  • Uses Alt attribute in images
  • Permalinks

Content

  • Grabs visitor attention
  • Exposes need
  • Demonstrates importance
  • Ties need to benefits
  • Justifies and calls to action
  • Gets to best stuff quickly
  • Reading level is appropriate
  • Customer focused
  • Benefits and features
  • Targets personas
  • Provides reassurances
  • Answers WIIFM
  • Consistent voice
  • Web version of PDF docs available

Content Appearance

Links and Buttons

  • Limit the number of links on a page
  • Avoid small buttons and tiny text for links
  • Leave space between links and buttons
  • Avoid using images as the only link

About Us Page

  • Adequately describes company
  • Shows team biographies
  • Shows mission statement
  • Up to date information
  • Note associations, certifications & awards
  • Links to support pages:
  • Contact page
  • Also see my post “27 Ways To Breath Life Into Your About Page“

Download a PDF version of The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist.

As I studied the checklist (over 400 items), I realized that your non-profit would get a valuable education just by going through the list. I know you guys are busy, but this is one task that will yield big returns.

Photo by numstead
Posted December 2, 2009
  • AprilTara
    Great checklist! One other thing I would recommend, although this specifically applies only to those using Word Press, is the "under the hood" part of the design and not having too many plugins. There have been a lot of times where I've gone in to redesign a client's WP site and they have way too many plugins, some that they don't need and some that do the same thing another plugin does. Having too many just creates more opportunity for errors, especially with WP constantly being upgraded and the plugins not being current when it comes to compatibility.
  • April. Good point! Hope you're well.
  • This is great John. Perfect timing since our company will be meeting with a non-profit later this week and we want to teach them what NOT to do online (you know, to prevent a marketing fail). But like Pamela said, this will apply to many other businesses as well it deserves a special place in my bookmarks. Thanks! --Paul
  • Great resource. Tons of great information about building and running an effective website. I think this will be useful to anyone who is interested in running an e-commerce site as well.
    Thanks for sharing it.
  • Pamela - thanks! The original post by Stoney is intended for any business, and yes, there is a huge e-commerce section in the download.
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