Is This Thing On? A website checkup · Violet Crown Analytics

Can people find you and give?

The stuff a visitor decides in the first ten seconds.

1The five-second test.Hand your phone to someone who’s never seen your site and open your homepage. Can they find a way to give in five seconds?

Yes, right away They found it, but they had to hunt They didn’t find it

2Monthly giving.Open your donation page. Can someone choose to give every month?

Yes, and it’s easy to spot It’s there, but you have to look for it No

3The stranger test.Look at your homepage without scrolling or clicking. Could a stranger tell what you do and who you do it for?

Yes It’s in there, but you have to read for it No

4The 2009 test.Find the newest date anywhere on your site: a news post, an event, a photo caption, the copyright year in the footer. How old is it?

Within the last few months Sometime in the past year Older than that There’s an “upcoming” event that already happened

Who holds the keys?

The section nobody else asks about, and the one that locks organizations out of their own sites.

5Your domain.Find the last renewal email for your web address (yourname.org). Whose inbox did it go to?

An organization email that two or more current people can get into One current person’s personal email Someone who’s no longer around (former staff, a volunteer, an old vendor) We couldn’t find it

6Website logins.How many current people can log in to your website with full access?

Two or more Just one Only our vendor or developer, and we could get access if we asked Nobody we can reach

7The security codes.When someone logs in and gets a verification code, where does it go?

A password manager or authenticator the organization controls One person’s personal phone We don’t know

8The contact form.Fill out your own contact form right now. Did it arrive?

Yes, in an inbox someone checks Yes, but somewhere nobody checks It never showed up

Does it work for everyone?

Phones, slow connections, and people who don’t use a mouse.

9Speed.Run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile Performance score.

90 or higher 50 to 89 Under 50

10Your phone.Open your site on your phone. Can you read everything without zooming and tap the menu without missing?

Yes Mostly, with a few rough spots No

11No mouse.Put the mouse away. Using only the Tab and Enter keys on your homepage, can you always see where you are, and can you reach the donate button?

Yes, both I lost track of where I was I couldn’t reach the donate button

Does the money land in the right place?

Where a gift goes after someone clicks Give.

12Follow a gift.Make a small test gift, or ask whoever handles donations to find the last online one. Where did it end up?

In our donor database, automatically Someone types it in from an email or a processor report We’re not sure it ends up anywhere but the bank

13Where it came from.When a gift lands, can you tell which campaign it came from: GivingTuesday, the year-end letter, the golf tournament?

Yes, every gift is coded We can usually piece it together from the date or a note No