‘Brochureware’ is the term used to describe static websites. You know the type, the ones with pages that have not been updated since the 1990s. They are usually all text with a few images thrown in. If you’re lucky, the only interactive element might be a contact form.
Below are some fairly simple ways to add interactivity to your campaign website. These features help keep visitors on your site longer, allow them to become more involved in your campaign, and maybe provide something they can pass along to others.
Email Lists
Despite all the changes in online trends, email is still an essential way to keep in touch with supporters. Having an automated way for people to add and remove themselves from your list is important. The most popular ways are to have an email list system installed on your website server or, for more functionality, use an email list system like aweber.
Online Candidate websites come with a simple, built-in mail list system. For campaigns that require greater email features, we recommend (and use) aweber, which allows you to build signup forms that are easily incorporated into your website.
Social Media Links
Link out to the candidate’s social media profiles, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and YouTube. This gives visitors the opportunity to learn more and link to support the campaign through alternate channels.
The second way to link is to add social bookmark buttons or links to your pages. When a user clicks on these badges, they can bookmark the page to their choice of bookmarking websites. This method helps build backlinks to your website and additional visitors through these other sites. There are several free tools that allow you to create custom buttons, including addthis.com, sharethis.com and socialmarker.com. Online Candidate websites provide easy to use social media linking methods, as well as an optional social bookmarking button that can appear on the bottom of each page.
Polls and Surveys
For local candidates with limited budgets, online surveys and polls help gather feedback and provide a way for visitors to share their opinions. Most everyone likes a quick poll, and a well-designed survey can allow visitors to share their opinions on a variety of topics.
Some free poll and survey sites include surveymonkey.com and zoomerang.com. A poll feature is included with Online Candidate websites, and outside survey code can easily be added as well.
District Maps
A district map makes a great addition to your voter registration page. To add a district map, follow these instructions.
Video
Video is a growing part of the web, and the tools and software available make it easy for just about anyone to create video. For political campaigns ads, YouTube makes it easy to link and share videos through HTML code that can be embedded in a web page.
Donations
Perhaps the most valuable interactive feature is having a way to take donations through the website. There are a number of payment processors available, and some specifically cater to political campaigns. We do not get involved in campaign donations or fundraising, but we recommend PayPal as a simple, inexpensive way to process transactions.
Even a few interactive elements added the simplest campaign website can make a difference between a visitor clicking off a website or sticking around and learning more.
We do more than campaign websites! Check out our Campaign Letter Templates, Campaigns Slogan E-Book and our Brochure Templates!
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Tags: email, polls, social networking, surveys, website tips