The Perfect Time for Web Site Research

Jay Love — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:35:00 GMT

No matter what your political persuasions are, you have to admit it is an ideal time for those of us in the charity world to do a little research into what is working in the online world of national political web sites. If your organization has a web site intended to extend the reach of your communications and thereby enlarge your constituency, then now is the time to see what some of the best web gurus are bringing to the table.

Take a moment to click through the two links below for just the two major political parties:

barackobama.com
johnmccain.com

Both sites are just loaded with ways to involve every visitor and bring about a call to action. Those actions range from outright donating, to volunteering, to registering, to voting, to giving your opinion. You can bet the list of constituents of both parties who ask to be included on the respective web sites grows substantially by the minute!

I was just amazed at how much alike these two opposing parties’ web sites are. Perhaps they are researching each others too...

Such perfect timing for research does not often come along. I personally liken it to such research related events as a solar eclipse or identical twins. Both items provide researchers somewhat rare opportunities to study a myriad of topics in isolated situations that are unique.

Now you can perform your own personal research on what you do and do not like about online communications and outreach. Those cutting edge practices in use on the political web sites may hold numerous ideas that can truly make a difference for your organization. We have slightly more than 2 months to follow the action.

Keep in mind “Best Practices” are just that and may be easily utilized just as they are or in a slightly modified manner. I encourage you to experiment. Try a $5 donation or some other involvement and watch how either party endeavors to build a relationship with you as rapidly as possible.

Now for the slight commercial. Yes, eTapestry, as well as Kintera and Blackbaud, have some superb talent to assist you with virtually any of your web site and online communication needs. Here at eTapestry, it is quite a group. They have a unique sense of humor as you can see below in their slightly touched up group shot. We all know talent comes in many forms...

Give them a try sometime if the need arises. A few of their web sites are listed below.

anoisewithin.org
sanjuandiegohs.org
omahawomensfund.org
cacesl.org
latinamericancoalition.org

The Jay Love Blog : politics

The Perfect Time for Web Site Research