What to Do When Your Nonprofit Website Traffic Doesn’t See Progress

One of the quoted definitions of insanity (not from the recently revised DSM-V, or from Albert Einstein, though it’s often attributed to him): “Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”

Blackbaud released a study called the 2013 Online Marketing Benchmark Study for Nonprofits (a mouthful) that has some potentially sobering stats on web traffic being down 14% among nonprofit organizations.

I haven’t delved deep into the report, but here are some first thoughts:

  • While web traffic is down, online fundraising revenue grew by 11.6%. Which of these is more important to your organization? (Fewer visitors and more donations means the people who coming are more of the right kind of people in the first place.)
  • All studies are based on the sample size available–so trends (while interesting) aren’t as important as your specific stats. In the case of web traffic, it’s really simple to get connected to Google Analytics and see if your nonprofit website traffic has gone down each year. You don’t (and shouldn’t) have to wait for a study to tell you how your traffic is doing, even only a weekly basis.

But don’t embrace insanity: if your organization’s online traffic is showing a decrease month by month and year by year, the worst thing you can do is the same thing you’ve already been doing.

Instead:

Create remarkable content. Increase outreach. Find out what the people who do come to your site want.

Just don’t cross your fingers and wait for the next online marketing benchmark study.

your-nonprofit-website-traffic

Marc Koenig

Marc Koenig is a regular contributor of Nonprofit Hub. Marc believes smart, ethical marketing can make the world a better place, and strives to create content that helps nonprofits tell better stories, push their organizations to excel and do work that matters. You'll find him writing Nonprofit Hub featured posts, brainstorming infographics and tweeting up a storm at @npmarc - follow him and say hi!

May 27, 2013

You May Also Enjoy

Become a Member

Whether you’re with a large team or a solo entrepreneur looking to start the next great cause, we have a membership package that will help you grow your network and your cause.