Don't Miss These 5 Musts for Potential Volunteers Visiting Your Website
Make your volunteer webpage work for your organization! A few simple, key elements are all it takes to turn visits into volunteers, here's what you should have your volunteer webpage right now:
1. Social Channels: Clearly and visibly post links to your facebook, twitter, pinterest (instagram, Google+, Youtube) accounts so potential volunteers can easily join your social community! People typically look at the top or very bottom of your website for these widgets, so be intuitive with their placement and make them vibrant, eye catching and colorful. Volunteers taking the iniative to check out your website already have a piqued interest; capture them in your social spheres so you can continue to show up in their online world and remind them of availabile opportunities to help.
2. Volunteer Signups: Free online signups, linked right from your webpage don't only help get new volunteers signed up to participate with your organization quickly, but they also reflect on how organized and up-to-date your group is in the digital age. Let volunteers know they can click to sign up at their convenience and they'll receive automated reminders (no reply-all emails or last-minute phone calls), they'll love it!
3. Volunteer Impact: Illustrating your organization's impact in the community, right from your volunteer webpage, is key to 'selling' your cause. Whether it's an image, graph, or short colorful text block, sharing how many food backpacks your group filled this year, how many houses your volunteers helped build, or how many books for kids were collected shows that your group is making a positive impact in the community and is well worth the time.
4. Dates & Times of Upcoming Events: Nothing's worse than potential volunteers visiting your webpage and seeing nowhere where they may help, volunteer or lend a helping hand. Even if your next event is a month or two out, list it big and bold on your volunteer page under an "upcoming events" section. Your webpage will look regularly updated and your organization will still seem active in the community.
5. Volunteer Testimonials: Quotes, quick volunteer-written stories, pictures, videos - all of these simple additions to your webpage make your organization seem welcoming, alive and ready for more volunteers. Don't be shy to ask current volunteers if they can write a short paragraph about why they love working with your organization so you can share on your website; a brief testimonial can really ring true with other potential volunteers visiting your site, making all the difference for their participation.
