Are you reading this post on a desktop? If so, then you’re in the minority. In fact, mobile usage was higher than desktop usage beginning in 2014, and the gap between mobile-only and desktop-only internet usage is growing by the year.
Therefore, it’s essential that you prepare your nonprofit’s website for a mobile audience.
To ensure that your nonprofit has a mobile-friendly fundraising website, there are a few important steps that you need to take.
Let’s examine those steps in detail, and provide a few examples of nonprofit mobile websites that are doing it right.
You have a few options when it comes to creating a mobile-friendly website.
Nonprofits and charities often work with a limited budget, which is one of the reasons why responsive design is the mobile-friendly design option used by most organizations in the nonprofit field.
Mobile users want simplicity, which is why website content viewed on a mobile device should be kept to a minimum.
Give your mobile users the information they need from your mobile site by doing the following:
For a great example of simplified and mobile-optimized content, check out these screen shots comparing Heifer International’s mobile site to the desktop site. Note how the information is prioritized on the mobile site.
Nonprofits tend to ask for a good deal of information from website visitors, especially those that are interested in giving a donation or signing up for something like a newsletter. What you want to avoid is having your audience fill out an extremely long online form on their mobile device.
Follow these tips to simplify your online forms:
Compare the mobile donation page for American Red Cross to their website’s donation page and notice the difference.
Remember that you can always gather more information about your audience over time through email, surveys, and subsequent donations.
Because mobile users aren’t likely to stay on your site for very long if they have to “work” at it, it is imperative that the sizing of everything from your images to call to action buttons are optimized for mobile devices.
Do the following to make viewing your site easy for your mobile audience:
The difference between the sizes of the social media icons of World Bicycle Relief’s mobile site and the Spina Bifida Association, both shown below, are significant.
Images and videos are a great way to share your nonprofit’s message without cluttering a site with lengthy written content. However, you don’t want to slow down your page speed by overloading your mobile site with too many features. You’re bound to lose visitors if this happens!
Optimize your images for mobile viewing by
Optimize your videos by using HTML5.
A great mobile-friendly website, like this one from World Help, will play videos and show images seamlessly on any device.
Oddly, it’s just as important to focus on the things you shouldn’t be doing then the things you should be doing when creating a mobile-friendly website.
So, avoid the following to give your users the best possible mobile experience:
When all’s said and done, it’s time to test, test, and test again. Have everyone in your office take out their mobile devices and attempt to access your website. Note any issues and resolve promptly.
There are other tests available online that will grade the mobile-friendliness of your website and offer suggestions. For example, you can ensure that your website is up-to-snuff, by doing Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
Do you have any other suggestions for making a mobile-friendly fundraising website? Let us know below.
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