Political Campaign Tips and Strategies by Online Candidate

Election Website Basics You Should Know

Whether you’re just considering a run for office or you’ve already begun the process, even most local campaigns have an online component. There are many advantages to fundraising and advertising online. You can raise more money, increase exposure, and improve voter turnout.

Here are tips to establish your online presence and plan a website for your political campaign.

Get the right domain name

It all starts with the basics. That’s choosing a good campaign domain name. Simple is often best. And what could be simpler than your own name? If your name is John Jones, go with johnjones.com. If your name is already registered, try a variation of it (e.g., johnqjones.com).

You may want to avoid the year or the elected position you seek in your domain name. What if you win? You may still want to use your website after the election to keep in touch with constituents and recycle the domain for future elections. Again, simple is best.

Don’t make your domain too long. Even though you can have over 60 characters in your domain name, how many voters will actually remember to type a domain name like electjohnjonesformayberrytowncouncil.com?

Pick several domain names before you start, just in case your first choices are already taken.

While it’s possible to register the domain name of an opponent, we don’t recommend doing so. Underhanded tricks like that are easily brought to light and can backfire against you, particularly in smaller campaigns. Also, registering the legal name of an opponent and using it maliciously could get you into legal hot water.

At the same time, there isn’t much use in trying to purchase all of the domain names that could possibly be used against you. Instead, spend your efforts promoting your own message.

Basic political campaign website pages and features

Here’s a quick checklist of pages that any local political campaign website should include:

Candidate Biography: Background information about the candidate.
Issues pages: Stake your positions against those of your opponent.
Endorsements: These can be included on their own page or scattered throughout the website. If you link directly to the source material, it’s even better.
Campaign news page or blog: Featuring campaign news that is regularly updated.
Contact or volunteer form: This should be included along with ‘real-world’ contact information. A good volunteer form that suggests ways that a volunteer can help may spur more responses. Someone might not want to do door-to-door solicitation for you, but they might put a sign in their yard or agree to send postcards to neighbors.
Secure online fund raising.
Voter registration information: If running for political office, be sure to link to your state’s online registration application.
Contact Information: This can be for the organization or for specific campaign members (volunteer organizers, etc.).

Online Candidate website setup includes a questionnaire to help you plan your content, site features, and design elements.

Additional website features include:

Links to your social media and donation pages.
Ability to upload and download content: This provides easier distribution of policy papers, forms, etc. Let supporters print their own materials.
Site Policies: Most people don’t read “legalese,” but a good privacy policy helps build trust, particularly with potential donors. It’s best to be restrictive with your privacy policy and promise not to sell or share visitor information with anyone.
Printable Pages: Allow your visitors to print pages in a printer-friendly format.

Who should run your election campaign website?

Everyone has a role in a local campaign. Generally, the candidate focuses on campaigning; the campaign manager runs the campaign behind the scenes; the volunteer coordinator organizes the volunteer team; etc. Your campaign may want to recruit a volunteer web coordinator. They can post website updates, compose and send e-newsletters, set up your fundraising page, and handle your online advertising.

Whoever maintains your website should be responsible for working with others to maintain the campaign focus and theme online.

So now you know the answer to, “What do I need for a local campaign website?” And that’s just one aspect of running an online campaign. There’s also online fundraising, social media, advertising on the web, and your online reputation to manage.

It’s not easy, but like everything else in a political campaign, it takes proper planning and smart execution.

Running for Office as an Online Candidate is our exclusive e-book, packed with tips and strategies to develop and promote a local campaign website.

179 Years of Presidential Slogans [Infographic]

Presidential campaign slogans have been around for as long as there have been elections. Here are all the slogans of US presidential candidates from 1840 – 2020. Enjoy!

Courtesy of: https://edubirdie.com/

See more political infographs on our Pinterest page and see the list of our best political slogans.

5 Key Information Pieces Your Campaign Website Needs

At first glance, these items seem obvious, but you would be surprised at how often simple yet important information is left out of campaign websites.

Here is a short list of critical text that should always be included when building out your political campaign website. Leave this information out at your own peril!

1. State/Municipality/Office Sought

It’s amazing how many local political websites say “Candidate X for Mayor”, but don’t actually mention the state that the municipality is located in. If you’re running for office in Orange County, is that Orange County New York or Orange County California? Be specific. Help your visitors (and the search engines).

Add details to your “About” page that provide deeper context about your district and the office you seek. This not only gives voters critical information but also signals more about your election campaign to search engines.

2. The Primary/General Election Date

Don’t assume that everyone knows the day they need to go out and vote for you. Add the year, as well. A lot of old websites out there are asking for votes, even though the election day has come and gone. It’s another good reason to keep your website up-to-date, even after the campaign.

3. Election Information

Include local election information, such as voting locations and how they can register. Link out to your local or state election information, as well as related pages—like your candidate profile, FAQs, and press releases—that can provide voters with a larger picture of your campaign’s operations and milestones.

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4. Specific Local Issues

Be specific. The more local the campaign, the more specific the issues become. Don’t just say ‘our traffic problems’, say ‘TinyTown’s traffic problems’ or even specific highways or roads. Consider linking to detailed policy pages or blog posts that elaborate on these issues. This approach enriches the voter’s understanding and creates a network of internal content that strengthens your overall message.

5. Full Contact Information

Provide full contact information for your campaign. This will be helpful to both voters and the media. After all, if they can’t easily contact you when you’re running for office, why would they think you would be more responsive when you’re actually elected?

This information is what search engines look for when displaying search results for campaign-related queries.

Tip: Don’t forget to include the candidate’s name! Too many times we see websites written in the first person, where the candidate is referred to as ‘I’ or ‘my’. Without an actual name in the copy, how can you expect search engines to know who “you” are?

If you want to write in the first person, try adding a quote box and a call to action written in the third person. Mentioning your full ballot name, position sought, and location is critical for optimizing your website.

Integrating Internal Linking Within Your Broader Campaign Strategy

Beyond the basics of listing key information, internal linking plays a huge role in unifying your campaign message. By strategically linking related content—such as policy details, event updates, and media appearances—you can create a cohesive narrative that improves your site’s SEO. An interconnected structure also reinforces your key messages and helps voters easily access additional resources.

Incorporate this information into your site, and site visitors (and voters) will have no doubt about who you are, what you are running for, and what you stand for!

Related:

Get your campaign website created faster and easier with Online Candidate. Our system is designed for political candidates and organizations. Use our built-in tools and resources to improve your online campaign. Which services are best for you?

When To Start Your Political Campaign Website

Once you’ve decided to run for office, when should your political campaign website be started? The short answer is as early as you can.

In fact, the process of building a political website will force you to pull together elements you will later need for your print materials and signage. This material includes:

A logo design
Candidate photos
Content, including your candidate bio and issue positions

Putting together the content for a site will actually help pull together the larger elements of your voter advertising.

Have a primary to win?

A website could make all the difference, particularly in local elections. Turnout for primary elections are usually low, and because of this, every vote counts.

Two types of people vote in primary elections

Those people are dedicated party supporters and those who take their voting privileges seriously. Just 20% of eligible voters vote in primaries, and they tend to be more highly partisan than the average voter. Putting up a campaign website during a primary gives the impression that a candidate is in the race for the long haul.

Securing a domain name early gives you an opportunity to promote the site in every piece of campaign literature right from the start. Online information can help influence primary voters who seek out information about the candidates. Once a primary is over, the site content can be expanded and modified to focus on the general election audience.

Waiting until the last minute or following an opponent’s lead limits a campaign website’s effectiveness. By holding off, you’ve lost an opportunity to influence voters. It takes time to build online support, not only through a website, but through social media and other online advertising channels.

By starting late, you will have little time to promote your new site. Just building out a campaign site in response to an opponent’s site can look to many as if you’re simply following the others’ lead. A ‘wanna-be’ site, if you will…

Some candidates for office are required to hold off on campaigning activities during certain times. Judicial candidates, in particular, fall under legal restrictions. Check your election rules for how and when you are able to actively begin campaign activities.

With Online Candidate, it costs less than a mailing to create a political campaign website for state and local candidates. Having a website created early will give the recipients of your first mailing a destination to find out more about the campaign. They can learn how they can help, and where they can contribute to keep the campaign rolling to election victory.

One Vote Can Make All The Difference

It’s true. A single vote can change the course of a local election – or it can even change history!

Consider these examples:

By one vote in 1875, France chose a republican rather than a monarchical form of government.
One vote cost King Charles I of England his head in 1649.
President Andrew Johnson survived his Senate impeachment trial by a single vote.
California, Oregon, Texas, and Washington were each admitted as states by a margin of one vote each.
Two races that tied in Kentucky were decided by coin tosses. (One extra vote, and the tosses wouldn’t have been needed.)
A tied city council race was decided by the draw of a hat.

For those people that believe their vote doesn’t count, they couldn’t be more wrong. If the course of history was changed by a single vote, imagine what a single vote will do for a local race.

And if that isn’t enough to push for every last voter, consider these quotes:

“You’ve got to vote, vote, vote, vote. That’s it; that’s the way we move forward.” — Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader
“Someone struggled for your right to vote. Use it.” — Susan B. Anthony, women’s rights activist during the 20th century suffrage movement.
“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

Theoretically, a single ballot could even make the difference in a presidential race. But the odds are long.

Get your supporters fired up and get them out to the polls. Every vote counts!

Creating an Online Campaign Strategy Template

For many political candidates, creating a digital campaign strategy can be difficult. Just as you need a plan to attract volunteers and deliver signs, you’ll need to put together a marketing strategy for your online presence.

These strategies are important when running a local political campaign.

It starts with a name

One of the first things to do in putting together a digital campaign strategy is to choose your primary handle. This should be a standard name that you use for all your online activity. This usually includes candidate’s name combined with ‘vote’ or ‘elect’ or the position that is sought.

For example, you may decide to go with something like ‘smithformayor’. You would use this handle for your website domain name (i.e. smithformayor.com). You would also use smithformayor (or Smith for Mayor) as the name for your social media accounts. This helps build a consistent online brand for your campaign.

If you plan to have a long-term career in politics, you may want to use a more generic ‘vote’ or ‘elect’ in the handle. That way, you can reuse your website and social media profiles in future elections.

Tip: Make sure the your chosen handle is not already in use. And don’t print offline materials with a website domain before you have a site in place. We’ve seen campaigns mess up print brochures because the domain name they listed was already taken when they finally went to register it.

The hub of your online campaign

A well-designed campaign website instills trust and confidence. It can make your organization appear larger than it really is. A website gives you a head start in building up social media followers, email subscribers, volunteers – and even donors if you begin early enough.

You will want to plan out your initial content early. It will make putting your site together a lot easier.

A campaign website generally includes these pages:

Home Page
About the Candidate
Issue Pages
Donation Page
Endorsements
Voter Information
Contact Page
Disclaimers (privacy and terms of use)

Putting content together early can help you focus on why you are running and what you hope to accomplish.

Many candidates find the writing process to be difficult. Online Candidate provides sample text and copy on our client resource site. We also have website worksheets when clients order to help make the process easier.

Using social media for outreach and support

Building an online network before you launch your political campaign gives you a leg up when you announce your intention to run. Friends and fans will be the first to check out your campaign website and help your fundraising and volunteer efforts.

When creating a social media strategy for your political campaign, stake your claim early. The primary social media platforms for smaller campaigns are Facebook and Twitter.

Of the two, Facebook is your best bet for its ability to target specific user demographics. Twitter is does not have the same advertising reach.

Start using a social media platform ONLY if you are willing to commit to maintaining it. It’s better to avoid using a platform than to create an account on one and let it grow stagnant.

Develop a content strategy for your social media. Plan ahead of time some general content that your campaign will post. This would include pre-planned event announcements, endorsements, election countdowns, etc. Other content will be produced throughout the election. Part of your social media activities will be responding to current news, your opposition’s activities and other events.

Consider your online fundraising options

An online political campaign strategy is not complete without a means for online fundraising. A campaign for local office can easily cost a few thousand dollars. In large city or state-wide elections, the costs may reach millions. If you want an idea of the potential cost of your election, research previous races for the same office.

Starting a political campaign can be tough. You will need initial seed money along with a campaign bank account. These days, people expect candidates and organizations to accept online donations. A number of services process political transactions online. Many have tools that go beyond simple transaction processing and bank transfers. They may allow you to take donations directly through your Facebook page, provide landing page creation and let you track multiple fundraising channels.

Crowdfunding is similar to traditional fundraising, but with a twist; it is a process where individuals pool money and other resources online to fund projects. It can help candidates who cannot afford to self-fund their own campaign.

What paid advertising channels will you use?

You are going to want to budget some money for online marketing and advertising. You may want to start with Facebook ads and Google Adwords early in the campaign to help build awareness.

Later in the campaign, you may want to increase your spend and expand into Facebook advertising for targeted posts and retargeting to build additional awareness.

Social Media Advertising, Facebook in particular
Google Adwords, though there are many restrictions these days.
Retargeting services.
IP Targeting to reach specific voter households

For campaigns with limited budgets, make sure that you have enough money in reserve to make a final advertising push. Turnout is critical, especially in local elections.

Campaign email is still a powerful tool

In this case, we’re not talking about email accounts, but how you will use your email list to maintain contact with your subscribers. If you plan to send emails to a large number of subscribers, it is essential to use an email marketing service. The use of an email service will help ensure that your messages are delivered and provide important tracking and automation tools.

A few of the more popular email vendors include, but are not limited to:

AWeber.com (we use this service)
MailChimp.com (has a free version)

Autoresponders are designed to get your message to the same audience repeatedly. Most autoresponder sequences are seven or so messages – based on the old seven-message marketing rule. You’ll want to lay out a template ahead of time for what those messages will be and the timetable for which they will be sent.

Email is one of the most important tools for online fundraising. The more subscribers you attract, the better.

Monitor your campaign’s online reputation

How do you plan to monitor your campaign and your opponent’s campaign? It is important to keep up with what people are saying about you online. Several people should be monitoring your social media campaigns and keeping up with online mentions about the candidate and campaign.

Start with Google Alerts and free sites like SocialMention.com. Consider investing in paid solutions like SproutSocial.

Put together a Get Out The Vote (GOTV) plan

As Election Day nears, you will need to pull out all the stops. Everything gets pushed, including your online advertising, social media updates, fundraising pushes and email updates. Plan your GOTV strategy early. Don’t wait until the last minute.

Have your campaign ads ready and the pitches already written. Remind supporters to vote the week before, the days before, the night before – and throughout Election Day. (A lot of people do not vote until the evening. ) Don’t quit pushing until the polls close!

Consider going outside the box

More sophisticated campaigns may use text messaging or even phone apps as a means of keeping in contact with supporters. Other campaigns may engage in video conferencing for online ‘Town Hall” meetings. Every political campaign has a different mix of resources and money.

Campaign plans can and do change, but it pays to have a good foundation at the start. Use the ideas here to put together a strategy for your digital side of your political campaign. You’ll have financial and resource limits that you will need to work within. It’s better to do what you can well than to try to do everything poorly.

Just as you have a campaign calendar for offline activities, you should also have a calendar for your online activities. Campaign events, fundraisers, GOTV efforts and such should all have online components planned out. Write them down and put together a schedule.

Whatever you do, just don’t wing it!

For more information on planning your online campaign strategy, check out Running for Office as an Online Candidate. Our exclusive guide provides a blueprint for local candidates who want to use the web to help win their election. It’s available in PDF, Kindle and print through Amazon.