New Year’s Resolutions

Maybe it’s a little late to start thinking about resolutions since we’re already 18 days into 2011 but better to make them late than not at all, right? Here are some ideas for resolutions for your online marketing strategy this year. Resolve to…

• Listen to your users by conducting periodic reviews of your analytics data and/or surveying them about what works and what doesn’t work on your website.
• Define your audiences, build consensus internally around them and create communications (online and offline) specific for each group.
• Conduct a competitive analysis of some of your favorite sites. Make a list of recommendations for your own site based on your review of your peers.
• Try something new on your site and test it out. Run an A/B test on different donation forms or landing page layouts.
• Update your homepage and key entry pages at least once a week.
• Incorporate social media more thoroughly into your site by encouraging social sharing, displaying dynamic feeds and promoting your social media presences.
• Evaluate traffic to your website from mobile devices and start thinking about if and when you should plan to develop mobile-friendly content.

All year around, we should be paying attention to trends and new technology developments to tweak and enhance online marketing, but the beginning of the year is a great time to take a step back and assess, creating some real, attainable goals for the year. What resolutions have you made or will you make for 2011?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lacey Kruger

Lacey Kruger, principal information architect for Blackbaud, designs online properties for nonprofits that delight and inspire. Whether a full scale website, a campaign site or a peer to peer fundraising site, Lacey guides clients through a research-based and user-centered approach to design. In her 12+ years at Blackbaud, she has developed a deep understanding of nonprofit web presences. That knowledge, along with her years of experience in information design, have established her as an industry expert.

Lacey has written a Blackbaud eBook, “A Guide to the Nonprofit Web Design Process” and her article, “Designing Nonprofit Experiences: Building a UX Toolkit” was published in User Experience magazine. She has presented at industry conferences including bbcon, IA Summit and BIG Design.