What is your urgent
message
mission
cause
?
Awareness Websites
5 key components not to miss.
Powerful Introducion
with strong (hook) first sentence
clear cause and effect
moving/dramatic prime image
Call to Action
e.g.: petition, attend an event,
volunteering, info sign-up form
First Steps
offer 3 to 4 initial steps
for viewer to get started
Showcase Statistics
also known as “numbers”
which a simple plugin can manage
Case Profiles
putting a human face
behind the cause or mission
Donate Masks Campaign
(Example Awareness Campaign)
Your powerful topic introduction is essential to raising immediate interest in the web page’s topic and/or organization’s mission. Like when driving by a road sigh at high speed: if you can’t capture the message in a couple of seconds, then you may have lost your first best opportunity.
Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example (since it is very much a cause of global concern at the moment), the “hook” might be:
More than 400 thousand Americans have already died from COVID-19. 1 mask per person could have mitigated that.
Choose your topic image judiciously. Multiple images tend to dilute the main message more than a single, powerful, full image. And be careful not to go negative with the image unless your message really requires it. (Optimism tends to work better than pessimism in most awareness campaigns.)
Your call to action is the glue to involvement. Even if your urgent issue has been well stated with a powerful “hook” opening statement, without offering a decisive way for the viewer to involve themselves, you may have not yet created a possible solution. You have their attention now; tell them what they can do about it.
Taking the above awareness topic as an example, what might be a good call to action? An example might be:
Join Moms 4 Masks right now!
(via pop-up form). Or,
Join Portland March* for Masks!
which might call for people to march (*individually, away from others, but as part of a coordinated campaign) through their town with homemade signs.
First Steps (which expands the call to action) might look like:
Showcase statistics (or corresponding numbers) to generate greater passion for the mission.
328.2m
Americans
415k
Dead from Virus
1
People
Case Profiles (also called “client profiles”). Put a human face to the problem and show how their life has benefited from the support of the organization.
A sample profile of an at-home single parent:
Sam Mendez relied on a childcare service to watch over her three children while working in a small Los Angeles publishing office. Concerned that she would contract the virus and then pass it on to her children, one of which has respiratory issues, she asked that she work at home. The employer arranged for her to work at home four days a week but come to the office once a week.
Moms 4 Masks provided Sam and her three children with a supply of well-fitting masks. And with the Protecting Yourself against the Virus info packet she received, she and her children remain virus-free (and have never spent so much time together).
Why do I only assist nonprofits? The simple truth is that, as the operator of Dot Org Web Works, I can’t imagine working for any other entity. I’ve been a nonprofit professional in one capacity or another since the early 80s. And for 20 years, I have led DOWW in developing websites for dozens of great organizations that do meaningful work. DOWW is a labor of love, and I count myself quite lucky to be a part of positive change through so many committed people–from Los Angeles to Portland and all over the United States.
The design and development of an awareness website can be a real challenge if not downright intimidating. There’s the branding to pinpoint, the levels of priorities to establish (program intensive versus donor-focused), the user experience, and then the design. But the best part is, is that your new customized website will be done with great care, with your viewerships in mind, as promised, and you’ll be shepherded through the process like a parent to child.
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