The Technopath Way: Productivity through tech for nonprofits Cindy Clearwater - All things website and social media for new nonprofits
Sep 24, 2021
33:05
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Scenario: I am on a board of a volunteer run nonprofit. The folks running our systems are still using gmail, yahoo, comcast and other personal email. How do I change this? We already have a website that was set up by a volunteer no longer at the organization.
Go to whois.com. There you can put your website into a search bar and it will tell you what company your domain is registered with. For instance, if it is Godaddy, you can call them and tell them what you are trying to do. GoDaddy also have a lot of “how-to” videos at godaddy.com/how-to. No matter what company it is, you can go to their website, get their contact information and call them. Tell them you want to set up email through your website, but don’t know how to get it set up and can no longer reach the person who originally purchased the domain for your organization.
Your web host is typically who you bought your domain name from, but as Cindy tells us, not always. You may need this information if you are hiring a new web developer. If they ask you for this and you don’t know, you can probably find it on an annual bill. Search your email archives for billing records.
The bottom line is - don’t worry! It is not as technical as it may seem, you just need to know the basic concepts to know who to call.
Helpful Tech Mentioned by Cindy
Registering a Domain:
Godaddy.com - Reassign ‘owner’ of registered domain
Namecheap.com - easier interface
Webhosting:
Inmotion - Cindy’s preferred
Godaddy.com
Bluehost.com
Email hosting: Often this is available through your webhost, but you will most likely want to set it up through Outlook or a similar email service to make it easier to navigate for yourself.
High Quality CRM: Salesforce
Others include Hubspot (just came out with a new nonprofit CRM), Bloomerang, kindful, Salsa, Neon, Donor Perfect, Wild Apricot, Virtuous
Digital Marketing General Tips:
Email collection is key. You can create a form on your website or through a service like Mailchimp that can be embedded on your website. Then connect it to your CRM. Again, all the folks at these companies have support that can get you or another volunteer started if you are “bootstrapping” it.
Make sure you have a dedicated website/digital marketing role assigned to someone who is either on staff or contracted in order to maintain consistency
Create brand/style guidelines for continuity
Website Building Platform:
Cindy recommends WordPress.org
WordPress.org is separate from WordPress.com
WordPress.com has less control over the website, plugins are not allowed, it is not as sophisticated, good for very basic absolute beginner bloggers, not for building a business or organization
Social Media Help:
Socialmediaexaminer.com has informative articles and a podcast
Fiverr.com - good for small projects, Virtual Assistants and contractors
Scenario: I am on a board of a volunteer run nonprofit. The folks running our systems are still using gmail, yahoo, comcast and other personal email. How do I change this? We already have a website that was set up by a volunteer no longer at the organization.
Go to whois.com. There you can put your website into a search bar and it will tell you what company your domain is registered with. For instance, if it is Godaddy, you can call them and tell them what you are trying to do. GoDaddy also have a lot of “how-to” videos at godaddy.com/how-to. No matter what company it is, you can go to their website, get their contact information and call them. Tell them you want to set up email through your website, but don’t know how to get it set up and can no longer reach the person who originally purchased the domain for your organization.
Your web host is typically who you bought your domain name from, but as Cindy tells us, not always. You may need this information if you are hiring a new web developer. If they ask you for this and you don’t know, you can probably find it on an annual bill. Search your email archives for billing records.
The bottom line is - don’t worry! It is not as technical as it may seem, you just need to know the basic concepts to know who to call.
Helpful Tech Mentioned by Cindy
Registering a Domain:
Godaddy.com - Reassign ‘owner’ of registered domain
Namecheap.com - easier interface
Webhosting:
Inmotion - Cindy’s preferred
Godaddy.com
Bluehost.com
Email hosting: Often this is available through your webhost, but you will most likely want to set it up through Outlook or a similar email service to make it easier to navigate for yourself.
High Quality CRM: Salesforce
Others include Hubspot (just came out with a new nonprofit CRM), Bloomerang, kindful, Salsa, Neon, Donor Perfect, Wild Apricot, Virtuous
Digital Marketing General Tips:
Email collection is key. You can create a form on your website or through a service like Mailchimp that can be embedded on your website. Then connect it to your CRM. Again, all the folks at these companies have support that can get you or another volunteer started if you are “bootstrapping” it.
Make sure you have a dedicated website/digital marketing role assigned to someone who is either on staff or contracted in order to maintain consistency
Create brand/style guidelines for continuity
Website Building Platform:
Cindy recommends WordPress.org
WordPress.org is separate from WordPress.com
WordPress.com has less control over the website, plugins are not allowed, it is not as sophisticated, good for very basic absolute beginner bloggers, not for building a business or organization
Social Media Help:
Socialmediaexaminer.com has informative articles and a podcast
Fiverr.com - good for small projects, Virtual Assistants and contractors