Effective Online Storytelling
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Effective Online Storytelling
Allan Pressel
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Today’s Speaker
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Allan PresselCEO/Founder,CharityFinders
Nonprofit Webinars
March 23, 2011
Presented by:
Allan Pressel, CEO/founder
CharityFinders
877-456-3210
www.CharityFinders.com
Allan@CharityFinders.com
Special Thanks To Our Sponsors
ONLINE STORYTELLING
© CharityFinders, proprietary & confidential, not for reproduction
Agenda
Success Story Guidelines
Sample Storytelling Approach
Strategy
Online Storytelling Tips
“Don’t”s
“Do”s
Case Studies
Exercise: Building an Online Story
Q&A (throughout)
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SUCCESS STORY GUIDELINES
Focus on a specific success Individual
Child
Family
Nonprofit
Environment
Segment of the community
“Before” and “after” scenarios
Discuss Programs and services
Staff and volunteers
Interviews: Staff
Volunteers
People that you helped
Their family
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SAMPLE STORYTELLING APPROACH
Call to action on your home page
Success story synopses (including pictures)
Provide information people are actually interested in…
...but not all the information
Give the reader a reason to click thru to the story
Success story of the month
Other success stories
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Private Website Consultation
I’d like to offer each of you a free private website consultation
One hour
Consultation includes: CharityFinders’ assessment of your site
Recommendations
Building your nonprofit's most-needed functionality
In person or by webinar
Include anyone you want (e.g., ED, DD, board members, etc.)
In one location or several
We’ll contact you in 1-2 business days to schedule the consultation
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AN EFFECTIVE WEBSITE STORY STRATEGY: 6
STEPS
1. Define Content Strategy
what content your organization needs
how you are going to develop it
how you are going to accomplish this content strategy
Target Audiences
Target Messages
Target Transactions
2. Develop Content Style Guide
Grammar & punctuation – naming conventions, abbreviations, etc.
Writing and editing style - fact-checking to tone to length of prose.
Fonts and characters –specific instructions font type, size, color, etc. for
headers, paragraphs, bullet points, click text and each section of the website
Graphics and images – use, frequency, size, style, format, etc.
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AN EFFECTIVE WEBSITE STORY STRATEGY: 6
STEPS (CONT.)
3. Produce
4. Edit/Proof
5. Publish
6. Maintain/Update
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“DON’T”S
“Don’t say a little in so many words but a great deal in a few.” (Pythagoras)
Simply take offline material and post it on your website
Include too much content
Use long paragraphs or lengthy prose
Have lots of information “below the fold”
Use pdf’s (unless the document is long or there is a particular reason it needs to be a pdf)
Make your stories hard to find
Use old or obsolete stories
Automatically play sound
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“DO”S: DEVELOPING YOUR STYLE
Incorporate humor
Consistency with your branding, mission, and image
Each story should have a purpose
Present your business or nonprofit/cause in a
positive light
Tug at their heartstrings, get them to believe in your
mission and want to support it
© CharityFinders, proprietary & confidential, not for reproduction
“DO”S: PLANNING YOUR CONTENT
Ensure consistency in the way different stories are written
If possible, tie results directly to prior donor or volunteer action
Take notes on what you like and don’t like about other nonprofits’ stories
Collect stories, examples, humor, and other content
Exercise to think about what stories to include in your site
Identify types of website visitors
For each
What do they want to SEE on your site?
What do they want to DO on your site?
Use stories to build better relationships with your constituents
Address confidentiality issues
Update your stories frequently
Use metatags to drive search engine traffic to your stories
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“DO”S: DEVELOPING YOUR CONTENT
Engage: have an attention grabbing opening
Interest: talk about what the website visitor wants to hear,
not what you want to tell them
Entertain
Inspire
Motivate to take action
Be concise
Be credible
Use bullets and lists
Ensure all stories are well-written, error-free, and up-to-date
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“DO”S: NAVIGATION
Easy to find/navigate
Hierarchical/drill-down
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“DO”S: USE IMAGES
Pictures
Kids
Animals
Graphics
Animation
Audio
Video
Images should be:
Large enough
Of a sufficiently narrow subject
Good resolution
Small file size
Properly cropped
Including a caption
Clickable if appropriate
In a commonly used format (e.g. jpeg,
gif, etc.)
Consistently displayed across
browsers, operating systems,
platform (PC vs. Mac)
© CharityFinders, proprietary & confidential, not for reproduction
“DO”S: INTERACT WITH THE READERS OF
YOUR STORIES
Feedback
Referrals
Polls
Blogs
Online Q&A
E-mail list sign-up
Story submittal
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You should strive to achieve these goals for your site:•Findability
•Stickiness
•Loyalty
•Referability
•Maximum conversion rate
•Dynamism
•Positive ROI
Your website: 7 Key Goals of an Effective Website
© CharityFinders, proprietary & confidential, not for reproduction
Contact Information
Allan Pressel, CEO/founder
Allan@CharityFinders.com
www.CharityFinders.com
1-877-456-3210
641 21st St.
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
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707-812-1234
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