Picture this: a prospective supporter navigates onto your agency’s website, hoping to learn more about your values and mission. However, when they land on your site, they’re greeted with a generic page that looks like it could belong to any organization. They’re not sure if your website is credible and are struggling to learn more about your agency’s purpose. As a result, they click off of your site.

To avoid missing out on key support for your organization, you need a branded digital presence. Branding can help your organization differentiate itself from other agencies that may serve similar purposes and make it easy for visitors to learn about what your organization stands for. 

A branded website can help your organization in the following key ways: 

• Establish your mission and values
• Boost your credibility
• Grow your reach

To help incorporate your branding elements, work with an agency-specific website builder. A builder that comes equipped with a full suite of user-friendly tools and drag-and-drop editing will streamline the entire web design process, giving your organization more time to focus on creating high-quality web content. Let’s dive into the various benefits branding can bring to your agency so you can achieve your long-term goals. 

Establish Your Mission and Values

Branding your website can help reinforce your organization’s identity and show prospective supporters the great work you’ve accomplished so far. This can help them feel more connected to your organization’s purpose and more inclined to become a part of your agency’s journey. 

Use these tips to effectively get your mission and values across on your website:

• Create a robust “About Us” page. Give site visitors context into why your agency was created and what projects you have worked on. You’ll also want to create a straightforward mission statement that sums up your agency’s goals and core values. For example, a parks and recreation agency might highlight its focus on community partnerships, conservation and health and wellness. 
• Use video storytelling. Storytelling is an incredibly effective way to humanize your agency by showing the people behind it as well as showcase the impactful work you’ve already completed. According to Tectonic Video, your video should take viewers on a journey with a complete story arc and include a clear call-to-action at the end. This way, site visitors know exactly how to get involved to advance your mission forward. 
• Establish unified messaging and tone. As you share your mission and values, make sure to keep your messaging and tone consistent throughout the different pages on your website. If you carry a casual, friendly tone on your “About Us” page, this tone should carry over to other parts of your website and offsite marketing materials. Similarly, the way you describe your mission should be consistent to avoid any confusion for site visitors. 

To keep your team all on the same page, create a living brand style guide for your organization. This way, your marketing team members are up to date on your current brand guidelines and can ensure that all of your materials (both digital and print) align. 

Boost Your Credibility

A branded website is not only pleasing to the eye, but can also help your organization come across as reputable and trustworthy. This can encourage supporters and members to take the next step to get more involved in your agency’s programming, from donating to your cause to joining your next event. 

Work with a user-friendly CMS to add branded features like:

• Fonts. Choose a header and body font and stick to using them throughout your website to ensure consistency. Many organizations choose to use sans-serif fonts for their legibility. 
• Color scheme. Different colors emote different feelings and values, so create a color scheme that is visually appealing and relevant to your agency’s mission. For example, an environmental agency might include green and blue in their color scheme because of their close association to the earth. 
• Themes. With the help of an agency-specific CMS, you can upload your content into professional templates, saving your agency time. According to Morweb’s guide to website templates, you can customize these templates to your agency’s specific branding guidelines so supporters feel connected to your mission. Make sure to use the same template or related templates to create a unified feeling throughout your site. 
• Images. High-quality visuals can help site visitors see your agency as legitimate and understand your important work. For example, a parks and recreation agency could showcase photos of community members at their latest sustainability event. 

When site visitors see a website that looks trustworthy and professional, they’re more likely to explore its content rather than click away. Keep your audience in mind with a user-friendly and professional design so they’ll stay engaged with your digital content. 

Grow your Reach

A strong branded website is an important part of growing your online visibility. By increasing the public’s familiarity with your identity, you’ll be able to create a consistent digital audience that can turn into regular support, whether that’s through volunteering in your agency’s mentorship program or donating towards park renovations. 

While some site visitors might search for your agency directly and land on your website, others might find your website through an event landing page or donation form advertised by a friend on social media. To help new site visitors feel more comfortable and connected with your organization’s brand, consider these tips: 

• Feature your logo across your website. This way, site visitors will know that your different web pages belong to your agency. If you don’t have a logo design yet, create a simple yet memorable design that relates to your agency’s mission. Then, feature this logo in the same place on each page on your site—usually organizations choose the upper lefthand corner of the page.  
• Develop a blogroll with a branded title. A blog is a great way to bring new audience members to your website and introduce them to your organization. Consider giving your blogroll a catchy and relevant title so new site visitors can familiarize themselves with your agency. 
• Add custom touches to your donation form. If your agency collects donations, make sure your donation page contains your branded elements, such as your fonts and color scheme. This will help unite your donation page with the rest of your digital presence. You can also highlight the impact of specific donations so supporters understand where their contributions are going and how they’re making a difference. 

By incorporating elements of your brand throughout your site, site visitors that land on any of your pages will know it’s attached to your agency and mission.

The Gist

The best nonprofit websites, association websites and agency websites all have a strong branding strategy that helps them stand out from the crowd. Remember to work with an agency-specific CMS to easily add branded elements to your website and create a professional design. Good luck!

Murad Bushnaq is the Founder and CEO of Morweb.