Our new Blackbaud NetCommunity eLearning Library is a collection of online software lessons that take you step by step through key concepts and tasks in the software. You can take the lessons whenever you need them, at your own pace. Lessons include:
- Logging in and Navigation
- Content Management
- Layouts and Templates
- Parts
- Raiser's Edge Integration
The Blackbaud NetCommunity eLearning Library is a subscription-based service, but, through the end of 2009, it is available to everyone at no cost. To view the Blackbaud NetCommunity eLearning Library, select Training from the Services menu, and then click Subscriber Login under eLearning Library for Blackbaud NetCommunity. Send us feedback by emailing elearninglibrary@blackbaud.com or by clicking Tell Us at the bottom of the lesson menu.
Blackbaud NetCommunity continues to expand its feature set and integration with The Raiser's Edge, Blackbaud Enterprise CRM, and our educational software.
This week we are going to focus on three of the new features:
- Adding metadata descriptions and keywords to both templates and pages
- Comparing content performance for testing purposes using the Content Comparison part
- eReceipt data now available in The Raiser's Edge
Metadata
In version 5.6 when you create web pages and templates, you can now include metadata. This information is used by search engines to categorize and rank your site. On the New Page and New Template screens, two new fields allow you to embed metadata in the HTML coding. We currently allow two metadata fields to be manually entered.
In the Metadata Description field, enter a description to appear with the link when search engines include a page in search results.
In the Metadata Keywords field, enter keywords for search engines to include in online searches. For example, you can use keywords to describe pages with little text or to include terms that are not on the page but are likely to appear in search criteria. In addition, you can have the option to automatically include the keywords from the template, if specified, allowing you to further define the content without needing to reenter all of the keywords for every page.
Note: The page's or template's HTML coding also includes metadata for the last date the page was modified. This date reflects the most recent change to the page or to a part on the page. However, it does not include changes to parts that are stored within parts on the page. For example, editing a Formatted Text and Image part within a Targeted Content part would not cause this value to update.
For more information on how to add Metadata fields to your pages and templates please see BB599030.
Content Comparison
With the new Content Comparison part, you can measure the effectiveness of different appeals to your website users. For example, you create different Formatted Text and Image parts to promote an event or to solicit donations. On the Content Comparison part, you then add up to six of these Formatted Text and Image parts and select a target page with an Event Registration Form part or Donation Form part. When you place the Content Comparison part on a page, it randomly displays the different Formatted Text and Image parts to website users and tracks the click-through rate to the target page.
The comparison measures the effectiveness of the Formatted Text and Image parts by the click-through rate to the target page, so the parts must include links to the target page. The comparison also measures the conversion rate if the target page includes Donation Form, Membership Form, Event Registration Form, Payment, Survey, or User Login parts. For example, if the target page includes an Event Registration Form, the comparison tracks how many users register for the event. If the target page includes a Donation Form, the comparison also tracks the amount donated.
The comparison continues until enough users click through to the target page for the Content Comparison part to achieve statistical significance. The number of Formatted Text and Image parts in the comparison determines the threshold to reach statistical significance, but you can also override this with your own threshold. After the comparison reaches statistical significance, the Content Comparison part displays only the most effective Formatted Text and Image part. However, you can override the selection to use a different Formatted Text and Image part.
For more information on how to create Content Comparison parts please see BB599031.
eReceipts
In Blackbaud NetCommunity 5.5 we added the ability to send eReceipts out to end users that made a donation on your website. In version 5.6 we expanded that functionality. If you select the Mark gift as receipted in The Raiser's Edge checkbox, the receipt stack and receipt number from Blackbaud NetCommunity will now populate the Receipt Stack and Receipt no. fields on the gift record in The Raiser's Edge. Also, the URL for the eReceipt PDF is added as a Gift Attribute. If the donor was logged in during the donation the link can be accessed by the donor and any user with supervisor rights in Blackbaud NetCommunity. If the donor was not logged in the link can be accessed by anyone who knows the link.
For more information on how to collect this information in The Raiser's Edge please see BB598682.
For the full list of features added to Blackbaud NetCommunity 5.6 please see our Update and New Features Guide.
We are aware of what’s happening in our economy. As personal incomes shrink, communicating your organization’s mission and raising funds for your causes becomes even more important. You may have seen the article, Study Shows First-Time Online Donors Often Do Not Return, about online donor loyalty in The New York Times. Professional Services can help increase your donor loyalty through innovative service offerings targeted to get your organization’s online presence more visible and more appealing. Here are some of the services we offer:
- Website assessment and analysis – We research and analyze your current web presence and targeted audience to help you understand the fundamentals of a successful website, identify areas of your website content and/or navigation that are performing well and those with opportunities for improvement, evaluate industry websites or examples to demonstrate real-world application of best practices, and leave you with tangible recommendations for improving your site in line with the current trends and best practices.
- Website usability testing – We conduct an in-depth usability analysis on your current website to determine opportunities for improvement, including planned target audience analysis, develop up to ten (10) targeted tasks to be performed on your current website, conduct usability analysis with actual audience members observing facial reactions, time taken, number of clicks via a sophisticated video camera and screen activity capture system.
- Website analytics – We introduce you to Web Analytics, assist with the installation of Google Analytics, and set up quarterly metrics reviews to help you get the most out of your analytics investment and your valuable web presence.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – We review SEO best practices with you, make recommendations on how to refine your targeted keywords, and set up quarterly 1:1 SEO monitoring along with keyword and content strategy updates.
- Email Marketing – We review email trends and best practices with you, review your subscription process, assist with custom email design and help you utilize these items with the development of a 12 month campaign communications plan with quarterly wellness checks to ensure maximum success.
- Content Management for Successful Websites – We review your current content management practices to assist you with ongoing recommendations for ensuring your content and forms are formatted and styled appropriately, provide hands-on visual content edits and updates, ongoing development of additional CSS styles to support content formatting needs, ongoing development of additional HTML layouts for the contracted website to support content formatting needs and ensuring content is formatted for the best possible visual impact and flow.
In addition to the above solutions, we have services focused on Information Architecture and Wireframes. Have other questions or ideas on how shore up your online presence? Our Strategy Services can help you out. Contact your Account Manager for more information on any of our professional services offerings.