Section 16. Creating a Website

• What is a website?

• Why should you consider creating a website for your organization?

• When is a good time to create a website?

• How do you create and use a website?

People increasingly rely on websites and other digital channels to find information, learn about services and events, and understand community issues. Because of this, creating and maintaining a useful website for your organization or initiative can greatly improve your ability to communicate with the public. This section discusses when and why to set up a website, how to create one, and how to help ensure that your website is effective, accessible, trustworthy, and easy to use.

What is a website?

A website is a collection of one or more connected web pages and other online content available through a web address. For example, the Community Tool Box is a website, while the document you're viewing right now is one of the many web pages available at this website. Some web pages are very short, with only a few lines of text, while others contain extensive information, images, forms, videos, interactive tools, or other resources.

Businesses, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, government agencies, community groups, and individuals all use websites to distribute information and provide services. Websites vary widely in purpose, complexity, design, accessibility, and the amount of information they contain. Some organizations need only a simple site with basic information and contact details; others may need online registration, donations, resource libraries, multilingual information, searchable databases, or other functions.

Why should you consider creating a website for your organization?

There are many good reasons to consider creating a website. Here are a few, and you may find that you can think up even more on your own:

• Having a clear, current, professional website can strengthen your organization's credibility and make it easier for people to verify who you are, what you do, and how to contact you.
• Many people routinely look online first when searching for organizations, services, events, jobs, volunteer opportunities, and community information. A website gives them a dependable place to find information about your organization, although websites should complement rather than automatically replace other communication methods needed by people with different access or preferences.
• You can put a large amount of useful information on a website -- far more than can fit into a single brochure, advertisement, or public service announcement. You can include your website address or a QR code in brochures, advertisements, presentations, social media, and other communication materials to help people find additional information.
• Information on your website can be available at any time, allowing people to look for services, directions, eligibility information, event details, resources, or contact information when it is convenient for them.
• Your website can be part of an overall communications strategy and can help establish a clear, consistent public identity for your initiative or organization.
• The web can improve access for people who have difficulty obtaining information in person because of transportation, mobility, scheduling, geographic, health, or other barriers. It can also allow people to look for sensitive information more privately. At the same time, not everyone has reliable internet access or the same level of digital access, so important information may need to be available through other channels as well.
• A well-designed website can make it easier for people who are unfamiliar with your organization to explore your work on their own and decide whether your programs, resources, or opportunities are relevant to them.
• A website can help people discover your organization when they search online for services, programs, information, or organizations related to your work. Clear page titles, useful content, accurate location and contact information, and links from other credible organizations can all make your site easier to find.
• Corrections, additions, or revisions to your website can usually be made much faster than changes to printed materials. This is particularly useful for information such as schedules, eligibility requirements, phone numbers, application instructions, and event details that may change.
• Websites can make it easier for members, volunteers, supporters, and community members to take action by providing clear links to registration, volunteer opportunities, donations, public meetings, advocacy information, or other next steps.
• A website is an effective way to share information quickly when conditions are changing. For example, you can update information about an upcoming event, changing service hours, a public issue, an emergency, or a fundraising campaign without waiting for a new printed publication.
• A website can provide easy ways for people to contact your organization through email, phone, contact forms, service-request forms, or other appropriate methods.

When is a good time to create a website?

A website can be useful at almost any stage of an organization's development. Building one early can help establish a consistent source of public information from the beginning, while creating or improving a website later can strengthen communication for an established organization. The important question is not simply how quickly you can put a site online, but whether you can keep the information accurate, secure, accessible, and reasonably up to date.

If people are likely to search online for the services, programs, resources, or issues connected with your work, having a reliable web presence is especially useful. At the same time, a website should be part of a broader communication plan rather than the only way people can find or reach you.

How do you create and use a website?

Decide who will actually create the site, whether that's you, a member or volunteer of your agency or organization, or some outside party.

There are many ways to build and maintain a website. You might use a content-management system, a hosted website builder, a web developer or agency, an institutional web platform, or a custom site created with technologies such as HTML and CSS. The right option depends on your budget, technical needs, staff capacity, accessibility requirements, and the amount of control you need. Whatever approach you choose, make sure someone is clearly responsible for maintaining the site, updating information, managing access, responding to technical problems, and keeping important software and services current.

It may be tempting to let someone you know create a site under an account or web address that they personally control, but that can create long-term problems. Your organization should retain appropriate control over its domain name, hosting or publishing account, administrative credentials, content, and important files. If one individual leaves the organization or becomes unavailable, someone else should still be able to maintain or move the site. Establish ownership, access, responsibilities, and account-recovery procedures from the beginning.

So you see, it's very important to choose a reliable person, team, vendor, or platform if you're going to entrust website responsibilities to someone else. Smaller organizations or initiatives may be able to maintain a straightforward site themselves, while more complex sites may benefit from professional technical support.

You don't necessarily have to know HTML or CSS to manage a website. Modern content-management systems and website-building platforms can allow people to write, edit, upload images, create pages, and make routine updates through visual editing tools. Technical knowledge is still valuable, especially for troubleshooting, customization, accessibility, security, and more complex features, but organizations have many options that don't require building every page from code.

Decide roughly how much you can afford to spend.

The cost of creating and maintaining a website varies widely depending on the platform, domain registration, hosting, design, development, accessibility work, security, technical support, storage, online forms, payment processing, and other services you need. Some organizations can operate a simple website at relatively low cost, while complex sites require significant ongoing investment. Before selecting a platform or provider, estimate both startup and continuing costs and consider the staff time needed to keep the site current.

Select a web hosting service.

Many websites require a hosting service or platform that stores and delivers the site's content. In other cases, hosting is included as part of a website builder, content-management service, institutional platform, or other subscription. Your organization may also already have web services available through a university, government agency, parent organization, or other institution.

Search for hosting or website-building options that fit your needs and compare them carefully. Consider reliability, security, backups, accessibility, customer support, storage, performance, privacy, data ownership, ease of moving your content elsewhere, and whether the service supports the functions you expect to need.

Free or very inexpensive services can be useful for some small projects, but understand their limitations before committing to them. Some may restrict design, storage, features, custom domains, analytics, advertising, accessibility options, or control over your data. A low initial price may also increase later as you add necessary services.

The key thing to remember in selecting a hosting or website platform is shop around! Compare several options and ask questions about both current and future needs. A service that is easy to start with may not necessarily be the best option as your organization grows.

It's also a good idea to talk with comparable organizations about the systems they use, what works well for them, what problems they've encountered, and what ongoing staffing or technical support their sites require.

Decide whether you want to register a domain name.

A domain name is the human-readable name people use to reach a website. Look at the URL for this page. You'll see ctb.ku.edu at the beginning. This is part of the Community Tool Box's web address.

Domain names are managed through the Domain Name System and can be connected with websites and other internet services. Domains contain parts separated by dots and may end in extensions such as .org, .com, .edu, .gov, or many others. Some extensions have eligibility restrictions, while others are widely available. Choose a domain that is easy to recognize, type, remember, and clearly associate with your organization.

Domain registration generally involves an ongoing fee, which varies by registrar and domain extension. Your domain may be purchased separately or included with another web service. Make sure the domain is registered under an account the organization controls, that renewal information is current, and that more than one appropriate person can recover access if needed.

Decide what information you want to include on your website.

Your website can be fairly minimal if that meets your needs, or it can contain extensive information and interactive services. More content isn't automatically better. Prioritize information that helps people understand your organization and accomplish the tasks they came to the site to complete.

Basic information you should have on your website:

• Your group's mission and purpose. These should appear fairly prominently on the main page or be easy to reach from it. Good examples of how organizations have displayed their mission statements can be found at the site of Gilda's Club of Detroit and Covenant House of New Orleans. You may decide to go into further detail and list your organization's goals and objectives elsewhere on the site.
• Contact information. Make the organization's main contact methods easy to find. Depending on your work, this might include an organizational phone number, email address, physical or mailing address, service hours, contact form, or program-specific contacts. Avoid publishing unnecessary personal information about staff or volunteers. A good example of how to display your contact information can be found at the site of the Kid's Council in North Dakota.
• Information on your services or programs, including relevant eligibility requirements, costs if any, accessibility information, and how to apply, register, make an appointment, or find out more. A good example of this sort of page can be found at the site of San Francisco Suicide Prevention.
• "How you can help." Be sure to have information on how interested parties can volunteer or make donations. You might have an online volunteer application form, information about current opportunities, or another clear way for people to get involved.
• News/Calendar/Upcoming Events. Keep time-sensitive information current. Do you have an important fundraiser coming up? Make information about it available on your website. Do you sponsor regular meetings of support or discussion groups? Have current information about those available as well. An example of how to show your upcoming events can be seen at the site of the American Lung Association of Hawaii or the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, North Carolina.
• Resources and links for further information. It's often useful to direct visitors to other credible sources where they can learn more about topics related to your organization's purpose. For example, if you are a local adolescent pregnancy prevention coalition, you could provide links to informational sites like the Alan Guttmacher Institute's adolescent pregnancy information page, to larger regional or national organizations like the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, or to online resource sites like the Resource Center for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. Review external links periodically so that you aren't directing people to outdated or unavailable information.
• Information on and links to your organization's sponsors, partners, and collaborators, when appropriate, like at the sites of the Peace Learning Center of Indianapolis and the Center for Rural Development in Somerset, Kentucky. This can show appreciation, help visitors understand your partnerships, and support transparency about significant funding or sponsorship relationships.

Other considerations for your site:

• A site map or strong navigation system can be helpful if your site is large or extensive. A site map lists or organizes important sections of the site so visitors and search systems can understand how content is structured. A good example of a site map can be found at the site for the Philadelphia Geriatric Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• A Frequently Asked Questions page or section (also known as an FAQ). This is a place where you can answer questions people ask most often about your organization, activities, or services. A useful FAQ can save staff time and help visitors find answers quickly.
• A listing of your staff members, board members, or volunteers when that information is useful and appropriate, like the Pensacola, Florida chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Consider privacy and safety before publishing personal biographies, photographs, email addresses, or other identifying details.
• A feedback or contact section so people can ask questions, report problems, request information, or offer comments. You can use a contact form like the Chicago Asthma Consortium uses, or provide appropriate organizational contact information like the American Red Cross St. Louis Bi-State Chapter uses. If you collect information through online forms, collect only what you need and explain how submitted information will be handled.
• Important statistics about your membership, services, reach, or outcomes, such as the Junior League of Salt Lake City's statistics page. Make sure figures are accurate, current, understandable, and accompanied by enough context for readers to interpret them appropriately.
• A resource library section with informational materials related to your organization's focus or cause, such as the one at the site of the Platte River Endangered Species Partnership in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Organize resources so that people can search or browse them without having to work through an overwhelming list.
• Your organization's history. This includes how your group started, important milestones in your past, challenges and accomplishments along the way, and the general state of things now. This can be in the form of a narrative, like that of Headquarters Counseling Center in Lawrence, Kansas, or it can be presented as a timeline.
• An online gallery. This could include photos, artwork, videos, or personal experiences, like those at the site of the Joy Junction Homeless Shelter in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If your organization works with survivors of violence, children, people receiving services, or others whose privacy may be especially important, use their stories, artwork, images, or identifying information only with appropriate informed consent and safeguards. Consider whether anonymous or de-identified participation is more appropriate. An online gallery can help people understand the work while respecting the dignity and choices of those represented.
• A listing of job opportunities and openings with your project, like that at the site of the Heifer International in Little Rock, Arkansas.
• Action alerts with information on how people who visit your website can take action on an issue related to your organization. You can see some action alert pages at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals site. Clearly explain what action is being requested, provide accurate background information, and make participation voluntary.
• Privacy-conscious website analytics can help you understand which pages people visit, how they arrive at the site, what devices they use, and whether they complete important actions. Use analytics that are appropriate to your needs, interpret the numbers carefully, and consider privacy when deciding what visitor information to collect or retain.

As you can see from the above lists, there's almost no limit to what sort of information you can put on your website. That doesn't mean you should put everything online. Focus on information that serves your audience and organizational goals, keep important content current, and remove or archive information that is no longer useful.

If you're not sure what to include, start with the information people most need: who you are, what you do, how to access your services or activities, and how to contact you. You can add additional sections as you learn what visitors need and as your organization's capacity grows.

Work with your web hosting company and your webmaster to build the actual site.

Depending on how extensive you want your site to be, building it can be one of the longer parts of the process. You may work with a web developer, designer, communications staff member, content manager, vendor, or internal team. Stay involved enough to make sure the finished site accurately reflects your organization and that staff understand how routine updates will be handled after launch.

It is at this point in the process that you will make many decisions about the site's design, navigation, content, forms, images, and interactive features. Attractive design can help, but usability and accessibility should be built into the site from the beginning rather than added at the end. Use clear headings, keyboard-accessible controls, sufficient color contrast, descriptive link text, alternative text for meaningful images, captions or transcripts for relevant multimedia, understandable forms and error messages, and layouts that work at different screen sizes and levels of zoom. Following current web accessibility guidance can make your site easier to use for people with a wide range of disabilities and often improves usability for everyone.

Get feedback from others and make any necessary changes.

Once your site is available for testing, have people who aren't closely involved in building it try to use it and give you feedback on what works and what doesn't. It is especially helpful to include people similar to those you hope will use the site -- potential participants, volunteers, donors, community members, partners, media representatives, and people with disabilities or different access needs. Give them realistic tasks, such as finding service eligibility information, registering for an event, making a donation, or locating a phone number, and observe where they encounter difficulty.

Here are some questions you should take into consideration when looking for feedback on your site:

• Does your site load quickly and work reliably on common phones, tablets, computers, browsers, and internet connections? Large images, video, third-party scripts, and other features can slow pages down or consume substantial mobile data, so use them thoughtfully.
• Is information arranged in a logical, easy-to-find manner, and can people navigate the site using both a mouse or touchscreen and a keyboard?
• Is the site attractive, readable, accessible, and comfortable to use at different screen sizes and zoom levels?
• Does the information on the site make sense, and can visitors tell what to do next?

Publicize your site address.

• Announce your site through the communication channels your intended audiences already use, such as email newsletters, social media, messaging platforms, community networks, partner organizations, meetings, events, and other relevant channels.
• Help search engines discover and understand your site by publishing useful, accessible content; using clear page titles and headings; maintaining working internal links; and making important public pages available for indexing. Search tools and practices change, so use current guidance rather than relying on older directory-submission methods.
• Let relevant local community guides, resource directories, government agencies, partner organizations, and other trusted websites know about the site and ask whether they can include a link when appropriate.
• Let other groups and professionals in your area know about your site, particularly when it contains resources their audiences may find useful.
• Find out which agencies or organizations maintain community or social service directories and request that your current website information be included.
• Include your site's URL or an appropriate QR code in your regular media campaigns -- posters and flyers, press releases, public service announcements, paid advertisements, your organization's next print newsletter, email newsletters, presentations, and social media.
• Use accurate page titles, headings, descriptive text, and useful page descriptions where appropriate so people and search systems can understand what each page is about. Don't rely on lists of hidden or repeated keywords to improve search visibility; focus on clear, useful content that addresses what visitors are actually looking for.
• Consider paid search, social media, digital display, or other advertising when it fits your communications goals and budget. Paid promotion can help people find a particular service, event, campaign, or resource, but it should complement rather than substitute for useful website content and trusted community outreach.

In Summary

A website can be a vital part of communication for community initiatives, nonprofit organizations, and other groups, but simply having a site isn't enough. An effective website should provide accurate and useful information, work well on current devices, protect appropriate organizational and visitor information, be accessible to people with disabilities, and be maintained over time. Start with the needs of the people who will use the site, choose technology your organization can realistically support, test the site with real users, and connect it with the rest of your communication strategy.