Web Site Volunteer

Are you wondering if your organization needs a web site volunteer? Unless you have a staff member who is able to handle all aspects of setting up and maintaining your web site, it's certainly a good idea to look for one or more volunteers to help with this important resource for your organization.

Working with Volunteers

It's a fact that having an online presence can be a valuable marketing and outreach tool for any charitable organization. A charitable organization's web site plays an important role in establishing the entity's image in the community. Your web site can help recruit and maintain donors and volunteers, as well as serve as a way for the consumers you serve to find out about what your organization stands for and what you have to offer.

Web sites are not all created equally. Simply having a site isn't sufficient – you need a solid site that the right people can find. For your organization to benefit from your web site, it must be well designed and easy to navigate. It must also be hosted on a reliable platform that won't bombard visitors with pop-up advertisements or spyware. Additionally, your site must also be properly optimized so that people who are looking for the types of services or opportunities that your organization has to offer can find it when conducting relevant online searches.

Maintaining an effective online presence is something that must be done on a regular basis. Getting an effective web site designed and published is only the beginning. You can't simply put up a site and consider the task done. Web sites must be updated on a regular basis so that the information published on the site is current and timely. This is one of the reasons why having web site volunteers is so important.

Designing a web site is not something that everyone can do. It requires an eye for graphic design and a solid understanding of how users interact with web sites. If your organization doesn't have a web site, or needs a new one, it's a good idea to see if you can find a volunteer with the type of expertise necessary to come up with what the look and feel of your site can be.

Keep in mind that this is not something that everyone can do. If you put people without design skills on a web site design committee, you're likely to end up with a lot of ideas that seem great at first glance but that will not work in reality. If you don't have access to a knowledgeable volunteer, it may be worth paying to have your site designed by a professional designer. You may be able to solicit a sponsor to defray the cost or locate a relatively new designer who will offer a reduced rate or partial in-kind contribution to your nonprofit organization.

Once you have the design established for your web site, it will be time to move on to the development phase. As with site design, development requires specialized knowledge and skills. Developing an effective web site requires programming skills and a solid understanding of the principles of search engine optimization. Many times, web designers also provide web development services. When looking for a volunteer or a professional to handle designing your site, it's probably in your best interest to select someone who can also handle development.

Once your website is designed and developed, keeping it updated will need to become your focus. Since it's likely that you'll need to change the content on your website regularly, it's a good idea to assign a web site volunteer to be in charge of keeping your site updated on an ongoing basis. As the developer to set up the site with user rights that will allow your volunteers to set up events, update content, add attachments, and make other changes that are likely to need to be made frequently. It's also a good idea to ask the developer to train one or more staff members and volunteers to work with your site's content management system.

Once you decide which web site tasks you'd like to assign to volunteers, you'll need to create documentation that specifies the responsibilities that need to be handled, the skills necessary to fill the role, and what type of training will be available. Having a clear job description for this role will help people make an informed decision providing volunteer web site assistance to your organization.

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