Tag Archives: Nonprofit

Launch Boutique

Visit – and shop – LaunchBoutique.com The Challenge Opening an online and brick-and-mortar store during a pandemic is not for the faint of heart! The client had a vision, however, and boldly moved forward. We needed to create an ecommerce website that would feature a limited number of products and categories to start but grow over time. The client would be adding products and maintaining inventory herself and wanted to make sure the interface would be simple to use but still have all the features she needed. Solutions WordPress and WooCommerce allowed us to create an attractive, easy-to-maintain online shop. Products can easily be listed as on sale via the dashboard. On the front-end, sale items are then featured on the home page and a dedicated sale page. Extensions allow for integrated shipping calculations, printing labels and coupons. Key Successes A written User Guide allows the client to confidently manage…
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Stray H.E.L.P.

Visit StrayHELP.org The Challenge Stray H.E.L.P.’s website lacked clear, concise messaging. Every page appeared in the main menu making it difficult to discern relative priority of information. Additionally, a number of technical issues made the site difficult to update and maintain on the backend and plagued the user experience on the front end. Solutions An in-depth marketing questionnaire provided an opportunity to reflect on key services the organization provides. The information collected was used to create a content strategy that became the foundation of the new website content structure. Copyediting content brought key messaging to the fore and simplified the writing throughout the site. PDF forms were converted into online forms allowing the organization to move towards a paperless system and eliminated the need for volunteers to enter data into spreadsheets. Key Successes The adoption and foster application forms were extensive. By using conditional logic and reordering the fields, the…
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PFS Foundation

Visit PFSFoundation.org The Challenge The PFS Foundation’s new website had been stalled for a while and communication with their web developer was sporadic. We were able to get the site launched but the work was not done! Content needed to be translated into multiple languages, and “wish list” features, such a a Patient Quilt of letters from PFS patients and family could be shared, were yet to be included. Solutions The first order of business was simplifying the overly-engineered WordPress website. We were able to remove much of the custom-coding that was preventing staff from being able to update content. With the initial work done, we were able to implement a “phase one” launch, making critical information available to readers right away. Subsequent phases included adding additional languages as translations become available. The site is now available in Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Hindi. A “Patient Quilt” of letters from patients…
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Mianus River Gorge

Visit Mianus.org The Challenge Mianus River Gorge is a private, not-for-profit nature preserve and conservation organization; but you wouldn’t know it from their old website. The website mainly focused on the hiking trails and only a subset of the diverse programs and research being done. A previous malware infection left the site difficult to update. As a result, much of the content was old and the look and feel were dated. Solutions Using bold images and simple copy we put the organization’s mission center stage. Program areas showcase the research and conservation work of the organization from the site navigation. A content strategy, based on program areas, keeps the site well organized and provides a structure for new content to be added over time. Key Successes Photos taken at the Gorge add significant visual impact and highlight the beauty of the Preserve. The new page structure – to say nothing…
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Support Connection v2

Visit SupportConnection.org The Challenge Westchester Marketing Cafe redesigned the Support Connection website over four years ago and while the page structure stood the test of time, the site was looking a bit dated. Online payments were also a challenge because the original theme did not play well with the payment gateway. As a result, online sponsorship payments and donations were problematic; a significant hurdle especially once COVID hit and virtually all events went online. We wanted to leave most of the current content intact. This meant we needed to update the look without reformating every page. Finally, essential features, such as site search, the support number, and a link to information about the new retail shop needed a more prominent place on the site. Solutions We began by creating a new theme that leveraged the technical improvements in WordPress since the last redesign. The new theme and limited use of…
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Broadway Mall Association

Visit BroadwayMall.org The Challenge Broadway Mall Association had a WordPress website that they liked. A few technical and style issues, however, kept them from loving it. The home page slideshow was an integral part of their communication and design but was difficult to update. The widgets on the home page were attractive and quickly took visitors to key areas of the website. The photos, however, did not line up perfectly with the green text boxes and looked sloppy. Other pesky problems included: the SSL not being applied correctly resulting in the site showing as “unsecure” inconsistencies in styles and the mobile layout The Solution A checkup was all that was necessary to get the website humming again. The home page slider was created using a very sophisticated plugin that offered a multitude of professional-level settings. It was far more than what was needed. We replaced it with a plugin that…
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CoveCare Center

The Challenge CoveCare Center, formerly known as Putnam Family & Community Services, needed a new website as a part of their rebranding initiative. More than just a new logo, they needed a website that would be mobile-friendly to accommodate their many clients accessing the site solely on mobile devices. The new site would start with a deep pool of content and grow from there. This made it crucial to create a well-designed and flexible navigation structure. Top level pages would require fresh content regularly to encourage visitors to dive deeper into the website but not take up valuable staff time with fussy changes. Solutions We worked with CoveCare Center and their team from content strategy to site launch. Work started with content strategy development. We focused on identifying the needs of the target audiences and created the blueprint for the website. Using the content strategy we were able to determine…
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Humane Society of Westchester

Visit HumaneSocietyOfWestchester.org The Challenge The New Rochelle Humane Society was changing its name to Humane Society of Westchester at New Rochelle to better reflect all 19 communities they serve. They needed to rebrand and update their website as well. They already had a lot of great content on their website but lacked a way to highlight upcoming events. While users could make donations online, the process was confusing and cumbersome. Many tasks such as reporting a lost or found animal required calling the Shelter and having office staff take down the information to then manually enter it into their database creating a disruption to staff workflow. Solutions A content management strategy provided staff and volunteers with a road map for adding new content; everyone understood how and where to include new articles and information. By moving to WordPress we enabled staff to take control of editing and updating the website…
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Alliance For Safe Kids

Visit AllianceForSafeKids.org The Challenge The Alliance For Safe Kids, a nonprofit based in Yorktown, NY, had been dealing with some technical issues on their existing website. While they were, in general, happy with WordPress they needed to switch hosting companies and fix several bugs on the site. Since they were already focused on the website and dealing with existing issues they took the opportunity to make a number of upgrades as well. The existing site was not mobile-friendly, nor were they able to accept online donations. The content had become cluttered and the focus what not on their primary objective; highlighting community events and supporting local youth. Solutions We worked extensively with staff to create a focused content development strategy. This strategy outlined how we would streamline the website, pare down the number of pages significantly and create an outline for the remaining pages. An integrated calendar highlighting upcoming programs…
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MVP Basketball Camp

The Challenge MVP Basketball Camp’s website was full of great information, including details on upcoming fundraising events, camp registration and more. Unfortunately, the information was not necessarily easy to access. Nor did their site leverage web-based assets such as subscriber opt-ins and online registration. The website was not mobile-friendly making it hard for visitors using phones and tablets to access information as well as negatively impacting search engine placement. The site managed by a third party making updates and site maintenance a very slow and costly process. Lastly, their blog was a separate entity from the website making site maintenance and management far from ideal. Solutions We created a single, unified – and mobile-friendly – website and blog for MVP leveraging WordPress as a Content Management System. Links to donation forms and registration to fundraisers were given more prominent placement using graphics to invite readers deeper into the website. Online registration and…
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