Website Factory: NGO has all the ingredients to help you create a functional, clean, responsive, and accessible website. The only thing that Website Factory: NGO cannot do is select the relevant information and organize it to fit the needs of each organization best. This is entirely up to you.
Before you start creating your website, remember that the primary function of a website is to communicate and communication is mutual meaning-making. It is not just about you and your organization, but more about the ways you can create better connections with your audience.
THINK
WHY do you need a website?
As you answer this question, you will identify the goals of the website and have a more clear understanding of the focus of the website.
WHO are you addressing?
The starting point of any efficient communication is understanding the target audience. By knowing your audience, you can adopt a more appropriate tone of voice and present the relevant information.
WHAT do you want to communicate?
Decide what is your core message and what are the supporting points.
PLAN
Imagine opening a door and entering a huge space that has everything you would need in a house, but all the furniture is placed without any consideration for function. The sink is next to the bed, the bathtub is under the kitchen table, the books are in the fridge, the armchair is upside down and the sofa faces a wall. You would probably be shocked by a place like this, consider it more of a storage rather than a living space, you would not know where to find anything and you would want to leave.
Now imagine you open another door and you enter an apartment. From the hallway, you can immediately spot the guest bathroom. As you walk to the living room, on the left there is a fully functional kitchen that opens to a balcony. On the right, another hallway opens and takes you to the bedrooms. The furniture is the same as in the space presented before, but this time, everything is arranged according to functionality, creating different spaces, for different needs.
The same applies to websites. In order to be user-friendly and therefore useful, a website needs to follow a logical path and make sense for anyone that lands on it for the first time. Keeping this in mind, start to work on the site map of your website.
If you don’t know where to begin, start by browsing several websites of other organizations - you can get inspired, find good-practice examples, and perhaps, also counter-examples.
You can create the site map in an online platform like Lucidchart, Draw IO, Gliffy or simply by using Post-Its. This way it would be easy to rearrange the pages and subpages until you reach your perfect site map.
TIPS
Keep in mind the WHY, WHO, and WHAT as you create the site map
Start with the main menu and add submenu pages as needed
Begin by creating a simple site map outlining the main categories and subcategories of your website navigation. For example, under “Our Work”, you may have “Pillar 1”, “Pillar 2”, and “Pillar 3” listed. Just like in this example:
Once this broad structure is in place, you can populate each category with specific information, replacing placeholders like “Pillar 1” with the actual names of the organizational pillars. Just like in this example:
Remember: Do not bury the information too deep and create too many subsections. No one likes to search through all the cabinets to find a spoon
ORGANIZE
Imagine you want to cook for the first time a festive dish. How would you proceed? Would you start cooking, thinking that you have everything in the house, and then, as you read the recipe run over to the grocery store, every time you realize there is another ingredient missing? Or would you first make a shopping list, do the shopping and then start cooking?
Each of us has our unique methods, nevertheless, it is proven that if you have all the ingredients at hand, your work is more efficient, regardless if you’re cooking, doing a DIY project, or building a website.
Using the sitemap you just created, start gathering the information and elements you need for your website - texts, images, videos, links, logos, and social media accounts. Once you have all this, you can start building your website. The next steps will guide you through the setting up of the general details of the website, and the creation of every page, and also include TIPS and examples. You’ll be ready to launch the website in just a couple of days.