These days, managing digital is harder than ever.

It used to be that digital just meant updating a blog every so often or sending out an email newsletter. Now, managing a website is just a small part of what we do. That means that working to improve and optimize a website can seem like one of those “someday/maybe” dreams that never actually happens.

At ShareProgress, we’re always trying to find ways to help organizations improve their reach and impact through technology. That means that we can use our work to bring the lessons back to you. Even better? We promise you can implement them on your own, in less than a week.

1. Improve Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

You want to make it as easy as possible for search engines like Google to find your content and rank them in search so that new folks can find you. Writing your pages and content in an intentional way can help move you up in search engine rankings.

How to do it:

• Create interesting content on your issue area – become the go-to place for people to learn about why X is important.
• Write your HTML code so it’s easy to find your content. Two simple ways to start with this: using proper headings to demarcate titles and including a title tag and description tag on every page.
• Don’t use “click here” as a link – describe where the link is actually sending you to. For example, instead of “Click Here,” you can say “Read more about why we should all pledge to not vote Trump on Nov. 8th”

2. Less is more

When it comes to text, images, and content, less is more. Being succinct and clear about what your organization is doing and how you want people to engage will help people coming to your website better understand what you stand for and what they should do.

3. Above the Fold

This is what people see when they first enter your website, without having to scroll or click on anything. Have your most important piece of information here — something that will draw them in and help them understand what you want them to do on the website

4. Drop the jargon

We can all get lost in the jargon. But remember, your audience is just a regular person who isn’t necessarily as deep into the topic as you. Write your language and content to be clear, interesting, and understandable by someone who may not know everything. This will help you reach a wider audience.

5. Make your website accessible to everyone

Accessibility of a website means making it easy to use for everyone, no matter their condition or what kind of technology they’re using — this can include how your website looks on a phone, in bright sunlight, someone with good vision or bad vision.

How to do this:

• Writing a form? Label the questions instead of using placeholder text in the question boxes. Labels are above each of the input fields, and tell someone what information they are typing. Placeholder text is what appears in the input field (normally in light gray). When you only have placeholder text (though it may save some space), it makes it hard for folks to be able to know what they are filling out once they start typing.
• Make your font size readable and stand out from the rest of the page. For mobile, smallest body font-size should be 16px. For desktop, 18px.
• Make sure there is a good contrast with your text and your background — a white background with yellow text, for example, will frustrate your users and be completely illegible.

If you’d like to dive even deeper on how to improve your website, reach out to ShareProgress Creative Tech and we’ll do a deep dive together.