You re holding a copy of the Jam website recipe. You clever thing! Follow this recipe, and you ll end up with a plan for your Jam website.

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "You re holding a copy of the Jam website recipe. You clever thing! Follow this recipe, and you ll end up with a plan for your Jam website."

Eustace Hancock
5 years ago
Views:

1 JAM: THE RECIPE Everything you need to make a website that makes a difference. You re holding a copy of the Jam website recipe. You clever thing! Follow this recipe, and you ll end up with a plan for your Jam website. Even better, you ll have worked out exactly what your site s purpose is, so you can be sure you re making something that will help you make a difference. That s got to be worth putting the ketttle on for?

2 What you need: -a packet of index cards, sticky notes or pieces of paper -a marker pen to label things -a big sheet of paper (if required) or a tabletop to form the background of your website -somewhere with enough space to lay everything out -maybe your team / colleagues / fellow volunteers / a friend to help you -a pot of tea (and perhaps some biscuits to keep you going -about an hour or so of (reasonably) uninterrupted planning time

3 Hold this thought: You re making a one page website. That one page is there to get people to do something......so think of yourselves as making an argument that will persuade and enable your visitors to take a particular action.

4 Know your chunks: Your index cards or sticky notes represent the different kinds of content you can put on your website. We call these chunks (It s sort of a Jam thing): Title Useful for page headings, section titles or headlines. Text Use wherever you want a block of writing on your page. Image A picture or photo with some text alongside to explain or caption the image. Video A video with some explanatory text alongside. Place A map with some text to explain it. Event A date with some text about it. File A downloadable item (usually a document of some sort, like a meeting agenda). These are your Jam building blocks. You can use as many as you need, in whatever order and combination you like.

5 Introduce yourself: First up, choose 2 or 3 chunks to introduce yourselves or your organisation at the top of your website. Typically, this might be: An IMAGE (your logo, a picture of what you do, or similar) A TITLE (The name of your organisation, a headline or a greeting) A TEXT chunk (a strapline or introductory sentence that tells people what you do) Write on your index cards to remind yourselves what the chunks will contain (or draw your logo or image if you re feeling creative). Stick the chunks in order at the top of your website (okay, it might be the tabletop or a big sheet of paper for now, but work with us!).

6 Choose a call to action: Okay, this is the big one. Ask yourselves... What is the one thing we would like people to do as a result of visiting your website? It might be come to our event, join our organisation, volunteer to help with the jumble sale, or even drop in for a cup of tea. The more specific you can be here, the easier you ll make it for your visitors to understand how they can help (and the more powerful your website will be). For example, Volunteer for an hour to clean the beach this Saturday is more effective than simply asking people to volunteer some time. (Bear in mind that nothing you put into this plan is set in stone - you ll be able to update your Jam website really easily and change things around as much as you like. So choose a call to action that works for you for now, but rest assured that you can update it later as your goals change). For now, just write your call to action on one of your cards and stick it at the bottom of your website.

7 Give yourselves a pat on the back... You re doing great work - your Jam website has a purpose, and it s focused on making things happen. That means it s already better than hundreds of thousands of websites out there! If you re really short of time, jump online ( and set up your website right now with your name, image, what you do and your call to action. If you ve got more time, turn over the page and carry on - but not before you ve cracked open the biscuits, if you haven t already done so...

8 Start telling your story... So far, you ve told your visitors who you are and what you do. Even more importantly, you know what you re going to ask them to do. Now, try to fill the gaps in between. What else do your visitors need in order to move from knowing a little about you to actually taking action? Think about adding a section between your introductory information and your call to action. Add some content - perhaps a TEXT chunk, an IMAGE or a VIDEO that will get your visitors attention. Could you make a startling statement here, ask a question, use a surprising statement, quotation or testimonial, or tell a moving story to engage your visitors?

9 Explain why your visitors should care... Next up, perhaps add a section that talks about the problem or situation that your organisation is trying to address. If you can here, tell your visitors about people, not things, and add an IMAGE so that we feel as if we really know them. You re doing excellent work. It might be time for another pot of tea?

10 Tell us what you re doing now... Explain how your organisation is making a difference. You might want to include information about your latest project or campaign, or a video of our wonderful volunteers talking about what they do. Don t forget to consider practical information where needed - event dates, directions, downloadable resources and so on. EVENT, PLACE and FILE chunks are your friends here. Think about splitting your information up into several sections, each with it s own TITLE.

11 Give your visitors what they need......help them take up your call to action. That might be about helping them understand the impact that specific actions could have: For instance Giving just 10 will feed one of our rescue dogs for a week rather than donate some money. Make sure your visitors can see what they need to do, that they understand how to do it, and that (if necessary) they know when and where they can answer your call to action. For example, if your call to action was to ask people to donate jumble, you d need to include information about what kind of jumble you need, and where, when and how it can be donated. Add this information just before your call to action. The final piece of the jigsaw!

12 You re nearly there... Look at your plan, and ask yourselves: Have we missed anything? Try to see your plan through the eyes of an outsider. Is there anything else your visitors might need in order to act? Are things in the right order? Feel free to swap your sections around according to what feels most important for your visitor. Is everything useful? Less really is more. A focused website is more effective than a flabby one. Everything you ve included should serve a purpose, specifically in terms of helping your visitors to take the action you want. Anything which isn t helpful, or might get in the way of your call to action, shouldn t be on your website. Give yourselves permission to remove clutter.

13 Start small... Websites are constantly evolving, and if you wait until you have every piece of content you think you ll ever need, you ll have missed valuable visitors. Go easy on yourselves - think about starting with the minimum possible amount of content and build up from there. Why not aim to get your logo, title and introductory information online and set up your call to action right now? You can add more content from your plan as and when you ve got time to spare, but in the meantime, your content will make sense, be useful, and won t look unfinished.

14 Congratulations! You have a website* *Yes, it s on paper right now, but you re just a few clicks away from turning it into a real live Jam site. Head to: start making yourselves a website that makes a difference* *Yes, in case you were wondering, this is our call to action.

Traffic Conversion Secrets

Traffic Conversion Secrets How To Turn Your Visitors Into Subscribers And Customers For our latest special offers, free gifts and much more, Click here to visit us now You are granted full Master Distribution