This is a guest blog.
Your nonprofit’s website is the center of its online presence. It’s the go-to place for people to learn more about your mission, register for events, sign up to volunteer, and, of course, donate.
You’ve likely had your website since your organization’s inception. As your nonprofit grows and changes, so should your website. However, it can be difficult to recognize when your website needs a revamp amid your nonprofit’s many other activities.

That’s why we’ve created this guide—to help you pinpoint warning signs that your nonprofit’s website needs a facelift and steps you can take to quickly turn things around. That way, you can ensure your website stays relevant and useful for users. Let’s get started!
1. Low Website Traffic
While a small dip in traffic may be seasonal or coincidental, long periods of decreased website traffic may indicate that users are having trouble finding your website or don’t feel the need to revisit once they’ve seen it. In either case, you could miss out on connecting interested supporters with engagement opportunities that further your mission.
How to Fix This Website Issue
Integrate your website with social media. Create a clear pathway from your social media accounts to your website so prospective supporters who stumble upon your posts can easily learn more. Include links to your website in your bio and relevant posts to drive traffic.
Optimize your website for SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the practice of enhancing your website’s visibility in search engine results. The higher your website appears in search results for relevant queries, the more people will click through and explore your site. Consider implementing a WordPress plugin like Yoast SEO to ensure key website pages follow SEO best practices, such as keyword optimization, meta titles and meta descriptions of the right length, and sufficient internal links.
Create engaging content. Once visitors navigate to your website, you’ll want them to stick around and feel compelled to revisit it. Develop and regularly update a blog with relevant, engaging content that supporters can enjoy. This content may include deep dives into topics related to your mission, event recaps, stories about specific beneficiaries, and industry-relevant news.
2. Poor User Experience
Let’s say a staff member tries to find a specific page on your site to highlight for the rest of the team and realizes they can’t easily locate it. If your own staff is having trouble finding the content they need, then your visitors likely are, too.
If your site has a low engagement rate or users frequently ask questions about navigating your site, then it’s probably providing a poor user experience that you’ll need to rectify to increase engagement and conversions.
How to Fix This Website Issue
Provide clear navigation. Use simple, intuitive navigation that guides users to your site’s most important pages and sections. Feature your main menu prominently in the top navigation bar so it’s easy to find. Additionally, implement sticky menus that make key pages easily accessible and leverage breadcrumb navigation so users can work backward to previous pages or sections.
Prioritize accessibility. All users should be able to easily interact with your site and content, regardless of any disabilities or impairments they may have. Make your website accessible by including alternative text for images, adding closed captions for videos, ensuring all visual elements have sufficient color contrast, and using bold, large text.
Streamline the donation process. Your donation page is arguably the most important page on your site. If it’s difficult to use and navigate, you may miss out on valuable funds for your cause and may have trouble acquiring and retaining donors. Streamline this page by keeping your donation form short and simple, offering multiple payment methods, and eliminating distractions like pop-up messages or auto-playing videos.
3. Lack of Mobile Optimization
These days, many people rely on their phones to complete daily tasks, and learning about your organization is no different. As Double the Donation’s nonprofit fundraising statistics guide explains, 57% of nonprofit website traffic comes from mobile devices. If your website isn’t equipped to serve mobile users, then they may quickly abandon your site and miss out on relevant opportunities.
How to Fix This Website Issue
Size tap targets appropriately. Your calls to action (CTAs) are essential to drive conversions on your site. Make sure they’re large enough in mobile view for users to tap, and display them above the fold when possible so users don’t have to scroll to find them.
Use responsive web design. Even better, implement a responsive website theme that automatically adjusts to different screen sizes. That way, users can have a seamless experience, regardless of the devices they use to access your site. WordPress themes like OceanWP and Avada can help ensure mobile responsiveness.
Test your site on your own device. What better way to see if your website works well on mobile than by testing it out yourself? Have several team members navigate your website on their phones, making sure they can easily perform tasks like donating, registering for events, and finding relevant content.
4. Slow Load Speed
According to Cornershop Creative’s best nonprofit websites guide, “47% of website visitors expect web pages to load in two seconds or less.” Slow load speeds can cause users to become impatient and deter them from accessing important information on your website.
How to Fix This Website Issue
Compress images. Although images add personal flair and a more engaging experience to your website, they can also slow down page load speed. Combat this issue using tools like TinyPNG to reduce file sizes while maintaining high image quality.
Use lazy loading. Lazy loading pauses the loading of images or videos until users scroll down to them, speeding up loading times. You can implement lazy loading using the HTML attribute loading=“lazy” or a WordPress plugin like a3Lazy Load.
Remove unused plugins. Speaking of plugins, unused ones can bog down your website and cause it to load more slowly. Take the time to review which plugins are necessary and remove ones that no longer serve your site.
5. Outdated Design
If you haven’t updated your website's overall look and feel in a while, it might be time to refresh its design. Outdated design can make your website look unprofessional and untrustworthy, as it may not align with your current branding and priorities.
How to Fix This Website Issue
Update your site’s branding. If you’ve changed your branding since the last time you updated your web design, make sure your site aligns with your new brand guidelines, including your logo, brand colors, image style, and messaging. If you haven’t revamped your branding in a while, this may be a good opportunity to reflect on whether your current branding still feels fresh and, if not, launch a rebrand.
Incorporate real photos and videos. Photos and videos can bring your mission to life, but only if they’re authentic. Avoid stock images and overly posed photos in favor of real shots of your staff, donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries in action. Remember to ask permission before featuring people’s faces or real names on your site.
Leave white space. With web design, sometimes less is more. Choose a layout with enough white space to make your content stand out and avoid overwhelming users. If you need help developing an aesthetically pleasing theme, reach out to a nonprofit web designer.
Refreshing your website is a small step in the overarching journey of fulfilling your mission. When your website is better suited for users, people will stay on it longer and revisit it more often, allowing them to deepen their connection with your organization and get more involved. To ensure your site reflects users’ preferences, survey users about your website relaunch and store insights in your donor database for future reference.