When a person searches for a service your Australian Not-for-Profit offers, they almost always end up on a website or social media profile. This is your primary point of contact. It’s the bulletin board that describes what you do, how you help, and how they can engage with your services.
When you have an outdated website that takes forever to load and doesn’t utilise modern tools, people will look away. They might think you’re no longer in operation or wonder why you have accessibility issues when you serve a certain target community.
Not every NFP director’s board knows when it’s time to update a website or not. Here are some easy-to-follow tricks we hear from our web design and development clients that were the catalyst for that first phone call with our team.
#1 There’s No Clear Funnel for Visitors
When you have a sign on the side of the road for power washing cars, you need a contact number, your business name, and maybe an image or two that shows what you offer. The same basic idea applies to a new website design.
You want your NFP’s website to guide users through a conversion journey. You should have the basic information near the top, then make engaging content that “funnels” them downward to your Calls to Action (CTAs). That might mean signing up for an event, donating to your nonprofit, or volunteering.
A modern website will help you build a sales funnel that uses strategically placed CTAs, clean navigation, and target-audience-focused layouts.
#2 Your SEO Tactics and Content Are Outdated
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) drives 53% of all website traffic. It is the practice of using on-site and off-site tactics, such as keywords and valuable backlinks, to improve your website’s search engine rankings. That is how you are more discoverable, especially for local searches.
When you have outdated SEO using low-value keywords and tactics, you get lost in the mix. If your content is outdated as well, even when someone does find your NFP’s website, they’ll likely click away because the information isn’t relevant.
You need both modern SEO and visitor-driven content to maintain engagement, and that happens with an updated website design.
#3 Your CTR and Engagement Data Are Low
A modern website will use data analytics. The reason is to measure how well your website is performing with your audience. One of those measurements is the click-through rate (CTR). It directly measures how quickly someone will land on your site, then “click away” to a different web page.
Modern websites are easier to update and control for CTR. If you have a high bounce rate on one page, you can make a quick fix to encourage more engagement. Outdated websites often lack the updatable formats or layouts to implement these changes, let alone measure data as it flows through your online presence.
#4 Your Website Doesn’t Focus on Volunteers or Donations
You want your website to tell an emotionally engaging story about your clients and the value you bring to the local community. This is good for SEO and for pulling on the heartstrings of potential volunteers and donors.
The problem is that your outdated NFP’s website doesn’t have volunteer intake forms, donation pages, client testimonials, event registration, or transparent financial reporting.
The community you serve wants to trust that you are doing what you say you’re doing. A great way to build that trust is with extensions, plugins, forms, and other digital interactions designed for volunteers and donors.
#5 Your Site Isn’t Optimised for Mobile Users
More than half of all website traffic starts on a mobile device. If your NFP’s website is so old that it cannot be easily viewed on a smartphone or tablet, you’ve got a serious problem.
Australian users expect to be able to view your images, scroll through articles, view fundraising event details, and contact your NFP on your website. It must be fully optimised to adjust the website’s appearance regardless of the screen size.
#6 Your Website Has Security Vulnerabilities or Compliance Issues
Outdated websites, web applications, and form settings lead to digital vulnerabilities. Hackers and fraudsters love to exploit these vulnerabilities. They look for NFPs just like you so they can steal donor rolls and client medical information.
You must have a properly formatted, modern website to mitigate security risks. Otherwise, you’ll be left dealing with:
- Outdated plugins
- Unsupported themes
- Expired SSL certificates
- Weak security protections
- Accessibility barriers
There’s also the matter of compliance. If you’re using any NDIS funds for your website upgrade, you’ll need to meet WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards. There’s also GDPR and EAA compliance for anyone in the EU. Most modern websites use layouts and designs that fall into these standards. Outdated websites will not.
#7 Your Branding Has Changed, but Your Website Hasn’t
Branding is a great excuse to update your NFP website. When you change your logo, colour themes, or taglines, you may want a new website design that reflects those changes.
Users can tell when a website is outdated when the marketing doesn’t align with its visual appearance. How you use fonts in your content, or whether your gala campaign doesn’t match your online colours, sends a red flag to potential donors and clients.
#8 You Receive Frequent Complaints About the Website
The 100% easiest way to tell if you need to update your NFP’s website is if you’re receiving a lot of complaints from clients, donors, and volunteers. People will be quick to point out old visuals or broken page links, and you need to pay attention to those notes.
You never want your nonprofit to feel neglected. It should be a living, breathing organisation with a professional presentation that sets the tone for every engagement, from client interactions to business partnerships to media requests.
#9 There’s No CMS for Easy Updates
The vast majority of Australian nonprofits have small numbers of operating staff members. With the exception of hospitals or healthcare-related organisations, you can expect a team of 5-10 people running the entire show.
That means there’s not a great chance of someone on staff knowing how to design websites. When you have a volunteer handling your digital updates, you lose that capability if they stop helping.
The solution is to update your website so there is a simple, easy-to-use CMS (content management system) that anyone on your team can leverage for updates. That way, if you have new event information to promote or donation campaigns to market, anyone on your team can manage the site without years of training.
A Modern Website Helps Your NFP Grow
Working with an outdated website for your NFP makes life harder. It sends the wrong message about your goals because people will have a hard time accessing the information or feel that the organisation is outdated and no longer in operation.
A quick solution is to hire our team at Web 105. We’ve worked with NDIS-funded nonprofits, healthcare providers, businesses, government agencies, and more. Our team can help design and develop a modern, mobile-responsive website reflecting your branding and goals.
Give us a call today, and let’s start a conversation about how to update your current website into a fantastic online presence for your team.
FAQs
What are the benefits of updating your website?
You get to improve the user experience, boost SEO for greater online visibility, and present a more professional, easy-to-manage tone for the world to see.
What are the five golden rules of a website?
Keep things simple with a clean visual layout and mobile-first design that has fast load times, clear navigation, and strong CTAs.
What should every website include?
The correct contact information about your NFP, as well as a home, about, donor, service, and community engagement page. It needs strong visuals and content built on storytelling that reflect your mission and values.