Learning from our experience: Tips for a smooth website project

Since launching our new website about three months ago, we’ve re-examined the web development process a handful of times, reflecting on our experience and its implication for the way we approach future web work with clients. I recently sat down with our Director of Community Engagement, Peg Giffels, to write a case study about our project and the impact our new site has had on our organization. We realized through the course of our discussion that we’d learned a lot of things that would be helpful to pass along to anyone considering a website development project.

Failing to plan is planning to fail: Our project had a tight timeline as we were planning to unveil the new site at our annual fundraising event – the timing of which was set in stone. We never would’ve been able to execute if it were not for careful planning, the development of a detailed timeline with clear benchmarks, and a project manager that kept us accountable (thanks, Kate!)

Know your audience (and what you want to say to them): NPower’s web development followed a strategic planning process, which meant that we were clear on our communications objectives and who we perceived our online target audience to be. We also had a detailed messaging framework that provided a foundation for the way we wanted to talk about ourselves and our services. These tools made it simpler to develop a framework for the website and come up with the content that would fill each page. As the primary writer for our website copy, I could not have done it without having such clear guidelines, especially since I was relatively new to the organization when the web work began!

Get everyone on the boat before you set sail: By getting executive level buy-in (meaning the support of both leadership staff and the board), we were able to bypass several potential road-blocks. Having decision-makers engaged early on meant that the web and community engagement teams were clear on their expectations and could make well-informed decisions, preventing us from forging paths that would ultimately lead nowhere. Your ED and board don’t have to be consulted on every little decision, but getting their input on high level goals, functional requirements, and basic site architecture will save you a lot of potential headaches.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention how much we learned about working with the NPower Northwest web team. It was fun to engage with our colleagues in a new way and sit on the “other side of the table,” so to speak. But, being able to see first-hand our web team’s patience, thoughtful approach, and nonprofit expertise was invaluable. We know we’re biased, but we think our team is the best around.

For more information on NPower’s web consulting work, check out…

Our Web Consulting services page for an overview of the services we provide,

The Website Portfolio, including screen shots and tech specs for ten of our recent web project, and/or

Web-related case studies detailing in-depth the challenges our clients faced, the work we did, and how our project has positively impacted their organization: Catalyst Kitchens, Cancer Lifeline, I-TECH, and, of course, NPower Northwest.

- Mandi Moshay