Editing and Proofreading Online Articles

We know from research that typos affect credibility.

We want to build trust with the people coming to our websites. Don't erode trust with typos.

Watch the video above for tips or you can read the same content in written form below.

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Let's talk a little bit about editing and proofreading. So I know you're most likely a writer, and you've worked a lot with tech, so you probably have your own process. But sometimes it's valuable to hear how others edit and proofread their work. You might pick up something you want to try.

Write First, Then Edit

The first thing I always do when I need to edit a page online, a newsletter, or whatever happens to be, is write it. Then I wait.

I give myself the luxury of some time. Don't try to edit as you go along, just write first.

Of course, this wouldn't work if you're doing some crisis communication. But for most things, you can wait a day and then come back to the writing. I will definitely find things I want to change and typos the next day, after my eyes have had a little bit of rest.

Your Time of Day for Details

I also encourage you to find that time of the day where you are best at detailed work. For me, that is first thing in the morning from eight to 10 a.m. If you give me something to look at it at four p.m., I will be terrible. I can't do it, don't give me math at that time! You know you. And if you don't, you need to figure out, when can I do really detailed work? That is the time to check for typos and that sort of thing.

Print It Out

Another thing I want you to do (and I feel bad for saying this for the trees) is print it out. Printing it out makes a big difference. There are times we can't see typos online, but once we print it out, we can see "Oh, there's a typo right there." We also may think, "I would definitely reword that phrase."

So don't print it out 10 times, but do print and look it over carefully. That will help you catch things you wouldn't catch otherwise.

Read Aloud

Another thing I do is I read it out loud. I print it out, and I will read whatever I wrote out loud. I'll see if there are any sentences I tend to stumble on. That is a sign to me that maybe I need to think about shortening that sentence. Maybe it's a little bit too complex or worded awkwardly.

Find a Colleague or Pal

Another thing I like to do is pass the writing off to a colleague. If you are solo in an organization that can be hard. You can sometimes find somebody outside of your organization who may trade with you. If you look at their articles and they look at yours, that sort of thing could be a win-win. It definitely helps to get somebody's eyes on it who didn't write it. That will help you catch typos. I always say this to any reviewers, "Please check me for typos and any kind of weirdness. Tell me anything that is not clear."

More Checking After Launch

Finally, after the writing/website/whatever launches, check for typos again. I promise you, there still might be a few typos in there.

When I worked at UNC Chapel Hill on this project with 15 people. We launched a new website with all kinds of content. As soon as it launched, we spent the next hour just all combing the different areas of the website. We looked for little things that were funny — typos, weirdness, or something that didn't work well with the content management system. Proofreading was part of the process of launch. So we celebrated, but first we checked for typos!

So those are a few things that I do to make sure that my writing is polished. I don't want to have typos because I know that credibility is really important online. And while we all know that typos are part of life and certainly part of emails, we want to try to reduce them as much as possible. We want to give people total confidence and trust in what we're doing and what we're writing on our websites.

If you see a typo on here (likely), I beg you to tell me so I can fix it! Help out others by telling them about typos. It's appreciated.

Want to keep learning? Check out my online classes. More topics coming soon!

Calls to Action (CTAs) for Nonprofits

Let's talk about best practices that will improve the calls to action on your nonprofit website. We want to keep people engaged in exploring what your organization has to offer. 

WHAT ARE CALLS TO ACTION?

CTAs suggest that the website user take a specific action such as click on a link, sign up for a newsletter, donate to a cause, or do something else.

Calls to action are also called CTAs. You want to be sure you have a CTA on every single page of your website. That doesn't mean it's necessarily a button. It could just be a link at the bottom of a text passage. It could be a few words that are linked. It could be a little box that has some related content in it. It could just be a question to get people thinking, perhaps maybe your call to action is to think more deeply about a topic.

Of course, your CTA could be a button that says "apply now" or "get help now” or whatever it happens to be.

Let's look at a few nonprofit site examples. 

Example 1

So here's a great example of a beautiful website. Look at this lovely bird and baby bird. I'm very impressed with the imagery on this website. 

Unfortunately, the call to action is actually off the page on my laptop. It's down “below the fold.”

What do I would probably do instead is remove one of the smaller sentences. Keep the text tighter so that the call to action button is up top so that nobody misses it. Right now I have what we call a false bottom, where I don't necessarily even know that there's content below the image. You want to avoid that. You want to make sure any button is up high AND that we can see it on mobile “above the fold” as well. 

Let’s be above the fold as much as possible for our calls to action, especially on main pages.

This can be a challenge because there are lots of devices of different sizes nowadays - the fold is a moving target. Look at your content on various sized devices and try to get CTAs up high on all of them. When you're doing something like a longer article, it makes sense that the call to action would be farther down the page.

Another thing to mention is that the CTA button could stand out a little bit more. Using the orange or purple brand color might be a better choice to catch the attention of the viewer. 

Example 2

This screen is from the University of Oregon about Black History Month. They've got this interesting button called Celebrate and Recognize.

The great thing is that the call to action is front and center. It's pretty unmissable in many ways. I do wish it were yellow from the get go and not only when I scrolled over it. But I think it will definitely attract clicks due to its location. 

Notice that this site and the other example above offer one call to action at a time.

Keep it simple and give people the one action you want them to do, not four different choices. This typically turns out better and does encourage more clicks. 

It helps if your button can be a little bit more descriptive about what I'm going to click on. When I consider clicking on "Celebrate & Recognize," I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to get. I'm going to bet it's somewhere great, but I don't necessarily know what to expect. The “information scent” on this button could be improved.

Example 3

Let’s look at the Australian Cricketers Association. 

I really want them to have a bigger logo so I can really read that without any problem whatsoever. But I give them a high five because they have a very clear call to action here. This looks like a news story. It's very clear that if I click on this, I will be reading more about these cricket awards. That is helpful and descriptive.

Often in our buttons, it would be great if we could put something like read more about blah, blah, blah. But sometimes the button space doesn't allow for that. So sometimes your buttons have to be really short and sweet, like "read more" or "learn more.” 

If that’s your situation, make sure the short (but vague) CTA is very closely positioned with the title or item. Make it very clear what somebody would be reading more about. 

Example 4

Here's an example from a tennis organization in Britain. They have an article about tennis coaching at home. If I scroll through the article, there's lots of things to engage with in the article, which is great. It even has a quiz on it, which is cool. 

At the bottom where the red arrow points, they're really encouraging people to keep up with them. Great job, tennis people in London, you've done a good job with your CTAs!

Your Nonprofit’s Calls to Action

Now think about the calls to action on your nonprofit website. Ask yourself:

• Do you have a call to action on every page? 
  

• Do they stand out well either as buttons or links? 
  

• Are they descriptive so people know where they're going to land after clicking on that thing? 
  

• Are you making sure they're really up high on mobile as well as desktop/laptop?

Having great CTAs means you're more likely to get clicks. The website visitor will be guided along a good path. This should help your organization AND those who are visiting your site.

Join us for further learning at the UX for Nonprofits Facebook group and grab your 3 FREE UX lessons to Drastically Improve Your Nonprofit Website.

What is UX, UI, and Usability?

If you prefer to read instead of watch the video, here you go:

UX, UI and Usability

These terms are all used in user experience. It can get confusing, and it's murky for people who are new to this area.

I want to give a shout-out to Jennifer Aldrich of Invision because she came up with this analogy first. And I'm extending it a little bit here because it's an awesome way to understand the difference between these three things. Let's think about a bicycle.

User Experience (UX) of a Bike

I have a cute bicycle that I love. When you go bike riding, you're having some kind of experience, and you're affected not just by the bike itself.

You're going to be affected by the context in which you're using the bike. For example, if:

• you're going straight uphill

• you're going downhill too fast

• the road is bumpy or smooth

You're going to be affected even by how you feel that day when you got on the bike in the first place! All those things are going to affect your user experience.

The User Interface (UI) of the Bike

Other things are going to affect it as well. The user interface, which is the UI, are the actual things that you touch on the bike. Things like the seat, handlebars, pedals, kickstand, those sorts of things are the UI. That's going to affect your experience as well as is usability.

Usability of the Bike

Usability is how easy something is to use. If the gears are easy to shift, that's going to be a better experience, right? You want items like a kickstand you can easily put down. You want to make sure the bike is the right size for you in general because that's going to affect your experience. We have the overall user experience that affected by UI and usability.

Translate the Bike to Your Website

Take this analogy to a website. UX is a person's total interaction with the website (or the company, really) - the whole experience. Let's simply think about a website for ease. A person's experience is influenced by what happened right before they found your website. There's a lot of things they're bringing to the table. They might be looking at your website on a phone in a grocery store with kids hanging off their arm. That's going to affect their experience of your website, too.

Now, you can't control that, but you can control things like the user interface. Those are the things that somebody would be tapping, clicking, scrolling, swiping. UI elements are the items somebody can interact with. This includes things like navigation buttons or links in the text.

Usability is, of course, how easy to use your website is. And of course, we want people to be able to use our websites with ease. We want them to be able to find things quickly, to come to the website and do exactly what they want to do. Focusing on usability and UI is going to point you in the right direction towards a great user experience. You know now those are necessary components. But let's not forget how important content is.

Example of Great UI Design but Bad UX

For example, I have tested an app that was all about civic engagement in the United States. Through the app, you could learn about your government representatives and potential candidates. This would help you to be an informed voter when you are at the ballot box. It's a great idea, right? The app was beautifully designed. It had wonderful visual design. The functionality was solid.

But when I tested it, the app didn't fulfill the needs of the users. It didn't provide enough information about local candidates - only the statewide and national ones. This state and national information was easier to get - that's why it was provided in the app. But the information people really wanted was about the local candidates.

Even though this app had great design in some ways, it still wasn't a positive experience. It wouldn't actually be used. It didn't solve the problem of people wanting to be informed about local candidates.

So don't forget about your content! Don't forget about the main reasons people are coming to your website and what they want to do. You want to make sure that those things can be done. The UI and the usability should support those things.

I hope this helps you remember the difference between UX, UI, and usability. If in doubt, think about the bike riding experience!

Learn More

Want to learn more? Join Birdcall’s learning community, UX for Nonprofits, on Facebook. Keep learning how great UX can support your nonprofit’s mission! 

You can also get 3 FREE UX Lessons to Dramatically Improve Your Nonprofit Website. The lessons are completely free. They offer tips I don’t hear often in the nonprofit community. Happy learning!

Four Best Practices for Forms for Nonprofits

You work so hard to get people to the form on your website to donate, volunteer, or apply. But your job is not over. You want to make sure they actually complete the form. 

Unfortunately, on nonprofit websites, it is very common to have abandoned forms.

The abandonment rate for nonprofit forms is estimated to be as high as 78%!

Why is this?

I reviewed forms on some large nonprofit websites. One reason for abandonment is that the forms aren’t easy to fill out. They have poor usability. Many nonprofits are following best practices for forms from more than 10 years ago.

Decreasing your abandonment rate and improving the rate of people filling out your forms - this could be a big deal! It could mean more money or more people. 

Improve the design of your donation, application, or volunteer forms! Here are four practical tips based on user experience research: 

Use a Single Column

One single column of form fields, left-aligned, makes your form easier and faster to fill out. See this simple contact form example:

Do this with all your forms! This will make it easy for the eyes of your visitors to find the next line. People are less likely to miss a field. The single-column format makes your forms mobile-friendly as well. This is important since we know more people are using mobile devices to get things done. 

Ditch Optional Questions

Research shows that the shorter the form is, the more likely that it will be completed. Throw away any questions that are “extras” that you could figure out another way. Keep it to the essentials for your important forms on your website. 

A form may be the beginning of a relationship with your nonprofit. Don’t ask too much information at once. Take it easy. Do this experience well, and you’ll have the chance to ask more in the future. After all, we often provide our email addresses on a form. Just ask the required questions (and then there’s no need to distinguish them with an asterisk.) 

Help Prevent Errors

Is anyone reading this born in 1700?! On a recent form I was filling out (see right), I discovered that I could take the year for my date of birth WAY back in time. 

That’s nutty. Forms should not let me declare that I was born more than 300 years ago. (I don’t think I completed the form as I got so distracted by this fact.)

We want to help people get through the form without trouble. Ways to help:

• Ensure your developers code your forms so nobody can put in illogical items. I should not be able to say I was born in month 14 or the year 1776. 

• Explain any requirements, such as password requirements, ahead of time. Do not wait until after I’ve created a seemingly great password. Oh NOW, you tell me you wanted a special character.

• Provide a list of any items people will need at the top of the form. For example, do I need to find a special number that I may not know by heart? 

Be Helpful When Errors Occur

The above example of a poor error message is common. If we were together in person and I asked for your email address, then you started to trail off in the middle of it, I wouldn't then say “Invalid email” and expect you to pay attention to me and give me your email. That would sound really robotic, right? There are better ways to do error messages that are more human-centered and kind.

This is the way I would handle it instead:

Make it clear what someone needs to do to fix the error. Outline the form field in red and bold it. Have a little indicator to the right to show there's an error going on. Don’t just rely on the red color. This is important for accessibility. Some people who are colorblind might not be able to see the red color. If there's an exclamation mark in a circle, that will help everyone know about a problem. We want clear, accessible, and friendly error messages.

Go check your forms on your nonprofit website right now! See if you need to make any adjustments. You’ll likely see more completions and reduce the frustration of your audiences. 

If you need help, contact me, Melissa, for help. You can also join Birdcall’s learning community, UX for Nonprofits, on Facebook. Keep learning how great UX can support your nonprofit’s mission! 

You can also get 3 FREE UX Lessons to Dramatically Improve Your Nonprofit Website. The lessons are completely free. They offer tips I don’t hear often in the nonprofit community.

What is User Experience (for Nonprofit Organizations?)

Defining UX

User experience (UX) refers to the holistic experience that someone has with your nonprofit organization. It’s already happening - people are having SOME kind of experience with your nonprofit. What kind of experience do you want them to have? How do you want them to feel?

User experience includes all interactions an individual has with an organization.

This is everything from first learning about an organization to being in a relationship with it. This relationship could be as a participant, donor, applicant, student, etc. 

Explaining UX Designers

UX designers tend to focus on your tech, for example, your website, app, or other digital tool. But service design is also part of UX. It includes both non-tech interactions and whatever processes are happening "behind the scenes." 

A UX designer helps craft experiences to be positive ones. Marketing, operations, and other parts of a nonprofit organization all affect UX too. In that sense, UX is a part of everyone’s job. (I know, did you really need one more thing on your plate to do?)

Before you think this is beyond you or overwhelming, know that most of us have done UX work in the past. Have you ever thrown any type of party? A birthday party for a friend or family member? A housewarming? Then you were a UX designer for that event. You might have:

• Chosen the tasty refreshments and set them up on tables

• Organized furniture so people could have comfortable seats

• Helped people find the bathrooms or trash/recycle bins

• Made introductions of people and topics that you thought would be appreciated

• Watched whether people were having a good time

• Moved around items during the party to make them easier to find 

UX designers do the same sorts of things for your website and beyond. Great UX is about including everyone in the party and helping people to…

do what they want to do

while using your tech successfully 

and having a good time!

Sometimes, that can be a challenging order. That’s why there’s a field focused on UX. Thinking about a website, a UX designer might do things like:

• Choose the content to resonate with the target audiences

• Organize the site structure and search so people can find items quickly

• Help with wayfinding through crosslinking and great navigation

• Introduce related content that might add value

• Watch various people use the website to see how easy it is

• Make design changes based on observations, analytics, and other research

UX design vs website design

What distinguishes UX designers from traditional web designers? UX designers conduct research with real users. This is the distinguishing factor with UX people. It’s not UX design without research involved. You have to see what people do on a website and adjust. Just like at a party, if someone was having trouble finding the drinks, you wouldn't tell them, "Good luck with that." Would you? No way. I know you would be helpful. Too often we let people suffer online though. We need to treat visitors kindly, just like we would in person.

Research is REALLY important to make informed design decisions. It’s easy to make assumptions because we are biased and self-focused. But there is lots of public research available to help us. There are free and low-cost tools out there to see how people use our website. With some mindfulness, we can affect people’s experience positively. Small changes, for example, making text-user friendly, do make a difference. There’s no excuse for bad user experience on nonprofit websites anymore. 

UX Design for Nonprofits

Nonprofits need to really focus on particular areas of user experience that might be less important for a traditional company selling widgets. For example,

Trust is #1 for nonprofits. Nonprofits need a trustworthy and professional presence for people to engage with them and/or give them money. We can design for trust - there’s research available on this and more coming out all the time.

Transparency is also critical for nonprofit organizations. Some people may be ok purchasing products without exactly knowing who or how they are made. But when it comes to giving money or receiving services, most people want more information. Being as transparent as possible builds trust, familiarity, and comfort with people. This means “About” pages and access to information are critical.

How Do I Get Started?

What kind of experience do YOU want people who visit your nonprofit website to have? One approach is to, pick one website area that you know is problematic and start there. It’s ok to start small. For example, fix your broken links.

If you haven’t already, get your 3 FREE UX Lessons to Dramatically Improve Your Nonprofit Website.

Next, join our Facebook learning community, UX for Nonprofits, to keep learning. It’s a worthwhile effort to improve the UX of your nonprofit organization. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Join others like you at our learning community, the Facebook Group called UX for Nonprofits!