The nonprofit website tools & integrations you need to install
Before you press “GO” on that brand new gorgeous nonprofit website, you’ll want to install some of these tools and integrations. The services I’ve listed below are all FREE to use and provide unique functionality or more information about your website users.
Learn about your website users
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is the king of website analytics for good reason. It’s free, it’s an industry standard used by a majority of Fortune 500 companies, and it’s incredibly easy to set up. If you don’t have access to Google Analytics for your website, or it isn’t set up, visit google.com/analytics to get started.
Most content management systems make it very easy to add the Google Analytics tracking code to your website by copying and pasting the code that looks like this: UA-XXXXX-Y into the <head> tag of each page. Squarespace has a simple form to add the code everywhere to your site.
Hotjar
Hotjar creates heat maps that show how users browse your website. This is extremely valuable when you want to know whether the design, layout or copy of your site is driving visitors to action.
For example, if the majority of website visitors browse past your donate button, you may decide to change the button’s placement or color to help it stand out more. The service is free for up to 2,000 page views per day, with more detailed analytics available on paid plans.
Online advertising
Facebook Pixel
Even if you don’t plan to use Facebook Ads to send traffic to your website, I strongly recommend installing the pixel from day one. As visitors browse your website, the pixel will start creating a database of Facebook users that you can target later with ads or helpful content. If you don’t have the pixel installed, Facebook can’t use its audience insights to help you reach more donors or people who care about your mission.
engage with your audience
Facebook Comments
You can embed a snippet of code on your site that allows visitors to comment on the page using their Facebook account. This is extremely powerful underneath inspiring or educational videos, live casts, webinars, and other rich media.
Your visitors will see their Facebook profile next to the comment box and a chronological string of other visitors’ comments. When they post, their friends will see that they’ve commented on your content, driving organic reach.
Disqus
Another free service that helps drive engagement on your website is Disqus. Its rich commenting features are great for blog posts. Users can log in via their favorite social media account like Facebook or Twitter with a single click and post rich comments with reactions, GIFs, photos, and more. For website owners, Disqus offers automatic spam filtering and great moderation tools. The service is free (and ad-free) for small, non-commercial sites such as those for nonprofits.
Check links on your site
Nothing is more frustrating for a website visitor than clicking a link and finding that it is broken. My favorite Chrome Extension will zip through your webpage quickly highlighting good links green and bad links red. Learn more about how to check your website for links on my nonprofit website pre-launch checklist.
If you’re looking for even more helpful strategies to improve your existing site, don’t miss my FREE guide, “Six Smart Strategies for an Effective Nonprofit Website” which will give you the confidence you need to create a website that wows your donors and volunteers.