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Does your non-profit needs WordPress training?
Your website is your face to the public. Donors, volunteers, clients, the media, and grant organizations evaluate doing business with you based on what they see. It’s a way to show them that they can give you their money, time, and trust. As such, it’s one of your most important assets.
Yet, due to time and budget constraints, GNO sites become neglected after launch. What should be one of the organization’s best investment becomes a burden. So content becomes outdated, sending the wrong messaging to your audience. Adding new time-saving tools like donations and newsletters are never completed. WordPress can have many moving parts, and no one in the organization has a good handle on them.
Insure your site reflects your organization’s efforts by hiring a professional WordPress trainer. How can a non-profit benefit from this sort of custom training? Here are 6 reasons your non-profit or NGO needs WordPress training now:
#1) That one person in the office that knows how to use the site could leave tomorrow
It’s great to have that go-to person in the office that’s the web whiz. They’re always ready to make the changes you need and know where everything is on the site. They are indispensable. But, what will happen if that person gets a new position, or leaves your organization? Even if there’s time to transition, will website-related tasks be passed on properly? Will they be able to leave you easy-to-follow documentation for the next person that comes in?
It’s good practice to document how your site operates well before this crunch time happens. It’s even better to have more than one person trained on how to make changes (and run backups).
#2) No one in the office knows how to use WordPress, so it sits neglected
This is often more the case with NGOs. A site was delivered by an agency or freelancer, but is there support now? You’re left with a site only a handful of team members know how to use. Where does one even start? Consider professional training if any of these situations ring true:
- Everyone is relying on piecemeal edit. The results? Strange formatting, duplicate content and broken links.
- There’s no documentation to refer to when things don’t work or someone new is asked to make changes to the site.
- Bad habits are being passed down between personal. Everyone knows enough to be dangerous, but not enough to be effective.
Consider hiring a professional to visit your office. They can watch team members in action, offering pointers and time-saving techniques.
#3) You finally have time to update content, but you don’t know where to start
You’ve landed a grant, hired a new employee or finally finished your busiest quarter. Now is the moment to block out time for site TLC with a WordPress professional. They can identify the health of your site, and train on the appropriate tasks that matter most:
- Content audits: find out what’s texts and pages are redundant or out of date. Then teach you how to edit it and audit in the future.
- Train staff on time-saving plugins: social media, blogging, and photo galleries. Either on ones already installed, or recommend more effective ones for your organization.
- Offer design feedback: you now have access to someone outside the organization. Get their professional guidance on how it is to interact with your site. As a volunteers, the media or other groups you want to reach.
- Site maintenance: backups, updates and other technical items you want to keep in-house. Save the costs of outsourcing!
#4) Pre-made tutorial videos don’t reflect your WordPress needs
No one wants to watch hours of WordPress tutorial videos, no matter how much free pizza is offered. It can be hard to decide what tasks are relevant to your WordPress site. While there’s many free online resources to watch, most are too generic for your needs. Or they are too technical in nature, and not designed to speak to the non-profit sector.
A solid training program will identify the tasked needed to be performed and how to handle them. Then, customized videos and PDFs are created to support the training. That way, education and site maintenance can continue long after the trainer has left. Forgetting to bookmark a YouTube video, or deciphering handwritten notes are no longer a problem.
#5) Outside training helps bridge inter-generational gaps in your organization
Often the structure of a non-profit is that of boomer-aged administrators and younger members growing into their roles. Admins may be intimidated by site tasks, or younger members feel obligated to handle them. Websites require tact in writing, social media, graphics and interaction. It’s easy to see site updates as daunting tasks.
The website is simply a tool to problem solve. It clarifies messaging, helps make donating smoother and promotes initiatives. A professional trainer bridges the gap between technological literacy and experience within the organization. The right training program engage everyone on the team. It insures different learning needs are met to achieve common goals.
#6) Because your organization is worth it
Your website reaches more people than any canvasser you can hire. It runs and tracks promotions better than any in-kind marketing campaign. Let’s not forget: your website tells your non-profit’s story when you’re not available. Technical needs aside, a WordPress training program provides many intangible benefits:
- Everyone improves transferable skills. Employees and volunteers learn important web, writing and content management tasks. Thus, they have added value to the organization.
- You strengthen the messaging of your cause. By monitoring and auditing your online content, your site reflects your mandates.
- Your organization will see the site as an investment, not a burden. Technology is only as good a tool as those that use it. By making smart decisions in how to maintain and grow the site, you save time. And money. And hair on your head!
With special thanks to Laura Shepherd of the Load Ladle and Michelle Frechette Ames of Give WordPress Plugin for their insights as I crafted this post.
