Political Campaign Tips and Strategies by Online Candidate

Online Writing Tips For Local Campaigns

The web provides a cost-effective method for political candidates and campaigns to reach voters and supporters. However, writing for a website is different than writing for print. Simply copying your campaign print material onto your website limits the potential of online campaigning.

Nobody likes scrolling through pages and pages of poorly written, overblown website content. Studies show that people read from computer screens about 25% slower than from paper.

Make your website content more readable:

Start each written section with the conclusion. Put the main points of your document in the first paragraph so that readers scanning your pages will not miss your point.
Write concisely and stick to one idea per paragraph.
Bullet lists rather than using wordy sentences or paragraphs. Readers can pick out information more easily from a list than from paragraphs.
Use meaningful subheadings. Guide the reader by highlighting the main points of your information.
Remember that readers do not read web pages in sequence. Providing information in precise segments allows readers to quickly locate the material they seek.
Separate your ‘white paper’ information and link out to it for readers who want to know more detail about a particular subject. PDF files work well because they can be easily printed out for offline reading.

Online content layout tips:

Don’t set your text size too large or too small.
Capitalizing all letters gives the appearance of shouting at your visitors. SHOUTING IS RUDE!
Keep your text left-aligned. Justified text can be harder to read online, particularly if the width is wide.
Space out blocks of information. Large chunks of text are intimidating to a reader and probably won’t get read.

Or course, what works for one candidate or campaign may not work for another. These tips should be adapted to suit your unique needs as part of a larger, multifaceted online campaign strategy. To find out what content works best, use website analytics to measure the impact of your online content and make data-driven adjustments.

Remember that anything you put online becomes part of ‘the record’ and will not only be read by your supporters, it will be read by your opponents – and you can be sure that they will keep an eye on what you do!

Our exclusive client resources site, OnlineCandidateResources.com, has sample website copy and content tools that you can use for inspiration.

We are here to help! Start your campaign website today. Online Candidate website clients get full access to our political campaign resources and articles.

Political Campaign Design: Our Top Posts

In politics, style often trumps substance. For campaign websites, a good design is more than just an attractive header and complementary colors. A good layout, images, and even the arrangement of the site content effects how your campaign is perceived by voters. So here are a few of our more popular posts on political web design.

What’s Your Campaign Theme?
Hammer that message home so every voter can easily recall what you stand for, and why they should vote for you on Election Day!

Campaign Sites – What Impression Does Yours Leave On Voters?
You only have one chance for your campaign site to make a good first impression, and that chance might only be a few seconds.

How Much Should You Doctor Your Candidate Head Shots?
You wouldn’t go on television without makeup. Why wouldn’t you enhance an important online image?

Political Campaign Website Design Trends
Here are some of the biggest changes we’ve seen since we made our first site in 2003…

Campaign Writing Can Make or Break a Vote
First impressions will make or break a voter’s support. Words have meaning.

The image above is from the website of the 1996 Clinton/Gore political campaign. Designs like that just aren’t in style anymore. Fortunately, most campaigns today are able to put together something a bit more pleasing to the eye…

Here are some of our own campaign designs for websites:

See our client design gallery. Try our campaign site demo.

Get the look you want with a custom-designed Online Candidate campaign website. Our system includes an easy-to-use content management system and plenty of included tools to make building your online presence as pain-free as possible.

6 Political Microsite Ideas

Although we discuss political microsites in our training modules, we’re going to go into a little more depth about campaign microsites, how you can benefit from them, and a few reasons why you may want to use them.

Just by way of recap, the term microsite is defined on Wikipedia as:

“A microsite is an Internet web design term referring to an individual web page or a small cluster (around 1 to 7) of pages which are meant to function as a discreet entity within an existing website or to complement an offline activity. The microsite’s main landing page most likely has its own domain name or subdomain.… Microsites may be used … as editorial support…”

Advantages of Using Microsites

For a political candidate, microsites have several advantages.

Candidate can enhance their branding potential.
It is a way of building traffic. The likelihood of clickthrough traffic from a microsite to your primary campaign website is very high.
It provides another platform to solicit donations. “Donate today and help…”
You can segment visitors who sign up for more information to be particularly interested about the site’s issue or subject matter.
You can get very creative in design and functionality.

You can focus on topics you may not want to focus on your regular campaign website. For example, if your opponent suffers from ‘symptoms of corruptions’, you might not want to get into the details and allegations on your own campaign website. After all, your campaign website should be about you, not your opponent.

For SEO and search engine ranking advantages, you can take advantage of the focused content by using topic-specific keywords and key phrases throughout the microsite. Again, if you are doing a microsite about an opponent’s corruption, you can create a separate web page for each corrupt practice.

Political Microsite Ideas

Just so we weren’t totally misleading about the article headline, here are some reasons and topic ideas for starting a political microsite.

To expose corrupt practices. You can highlight candidate corrupt actions or conflicts of interest that may interest voters. Use featured videos and content to hammer home your points.
Highlight a specific issue. This may be an expansion of an existing campaign issue. With a microsite, you can go into more detail and specifically target support for that issue. It can also be used to fight back against a particular issue that is being pushed by an opponent.
To point out an opponents lack of work ethic. During the 2008 election, WheresLiddy.com was created to track Elizabeth Dole’s travels outside the state. This was used by her opponent to show that she was out of touch with her constituents.
Donor details. Use a microsite to point out exactly who is donating to your opponent – and why. This is more effective if can tie together legislation and/or conflicts of interest between your opponent and the donor(s).
To set the record straight. Here, the microsite is used to refute false claims against a candidate or to fight back against another mirosite. It can also be used as an ‘attack’ site to lay out facts against an opponent.
To play games. With a large enough budget and a little creativity, you can create an online poking fun at an opponent. Players can try to rack up points by adding up your opponents campaign contributions or trying to choose which positions your opponents have taken on issues. (Surprise! Your opponent has been quoted as taking both sides on every issue!)

Microsites should operate somewhat independently of your main campaign website. You may want to promote one from your main site or you may want to let it stand alone. Take the time to plot out your goals, come up with a catchy website name, and create the site content before you start.

Use Online Candidate to build your next campaign website. Our Monthly Option is only $29/month.

What Impression Does Your Campaign Website Leave On Voters?

You only have one chance for your campaign site to make a good first impression, and that chance might only be a few seconds. Good or bad, your online presentation will leave an impression with visitors and voters.

So, what does your campaign site say about you?

Does it say ‘Vote for Me’? Do you actually ‘make the ask’? Are the words ‘vote for’ and a date prominently displayed on the site? Too often critical information is nowhere to be found on candidate websites. Is your ballot name presented consistently?

Does it make you look like a leader? Does your site inspire active support? Is there a volunteer page asking for help? Does the site invite others to join the campaign? Easy to read content, captivating imagery, and concise calls to action are crucial for success.

Does it make you appear vague? Is there enough real information about you and the issues? If someone reads about your positions, will they get the sense that you know the issues and have serious ideas for dealing with them? On the flip side, too much information can work against you, as well. No one wants to scroll through screens of endless text. If you have a lot to say, summarize it and package longer policy information for download.

Does it say your campaign is underfunded? A bad-looking website will reflect poorly on your campaign. Make sure your website content is easy to read and laid out neatly. Even a well-designed site will fail to impress if the page content is jumbled mess. Quality affects perception.

Does it show that you are articulate? Again, this goes back to content. Poor grammar and misspellings reflect poorly on your competency and attention to detail. If you want people to take you and your campaign seriously, you need to proofread all of your content.

Does it say you’re open? Are there ways for people to reach the candidate? Do you invite feedback and questions? Is your campaign website too partisan? Will your content immediately turn off half the electorate? Does that even matter to you?

Does it say that you are socially networked or just a poser? We’ve covered many social media topics on this site. A Facebook page is nice but it won’t help if it’s just used to push out one-way, promotional information. A Twitter feed only helps if you’re really using the service rather than just posting infrequent updates. A lack of social media engagement shows that you either don’t know or don’t care enough to use the tools.

For most voters, your campaign site may be your biggest opportunity to connect with a voter. If it leaves a lasting and positive impression that lasts into the voting booth, then it did its job.

Ready to start your political campaign website? Check out our affordable campaign site packages and marketing services.

Are You Measuring These Metrics On Your Campaign Website?

Knowing what your campaign website traffic does when it arrives at your site can help you tailor your web content for maximum effectiveness.

Google Analytics provides valuable information that allows you to find out where your web site visitors are coming from, what pages they are viewing, and what they do on your site. Here are three metrics to keep an eye on no matter what analytics program you are using.

Bounce Rate

The bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits where the visitor left your site from the entrance (or landing) page. Traffic sent to (donation or issue) landing pages, home page, and other internal pages will have different bounce rates.

Look at the pages with very high bounce rates. Is there are reason why people are not sticking around? Is there a call to action on the page? Is there enough content? Does the content match the traffic source? For example, if you are running a PPC campaign, are the ads pointing to the most relevant page on your site?

Average Page Views Per Visit

Your visitor’s overall engagement can be measured by how deep into your site they will go. The average page views per visit gives you an indication of how much interest your site holds for your visitors. When people find content that resonates, they will read more and tend to share that content with others. This ties into what content visitors see. If you find particular content is popular (such as issue pages), then you may want to create additional, similar content.

Average Time

This ties in with the other metrics. Are you reaching your visitors, and are your visitors spending time on your site? For example, you have a video on a page that is three minutes long, you’ll want to see that your audience has remained on the page for at least that long. Typically a high bounce rate will correlate with a low average time on the site, but not always.

Take a good look at your content when looking at your analytics. Try to see it through your visitor’s eyes, as if it’s the first page they see. Even better, have a neutral third party give you feedback on your site and page content.

Examining metrics on the page level will give you an idea of what content is most engaging to your audience and give you areas where you may want to change your content. Knowing what your visitors do is critical to understanding the effectiveness of your site and overall marketing strategy.

Analytics code can be easily be added to your Online Candidate website through the Site Setup.

Critical Elements of a Campaign Website Header

Create a great election website header Web users make snap decisions about the quality of a web page, so a nice design is critical for making an initial positive impression. The first part of a website that typically attracts the eye is the site header. Below are the most common features of successful politicalwebsite header images.

Candidate Photo: A candidate head shot is the most common feature in a campaign site header. Must be the nature of candidates, but there are few politicians who did not want their photo front and center. The best shots to work with are those with the subject in front of a solid color that contrasts with their clothing. This makes it much easier to crop and edit the image.

Colors and Fonts: The colors of the header and website should be consistent with the color scheme of any other campaign material that will be use. Consistency builds familiarity.

Location: This one gets missed sometimes, particularly the location. It’s great that the site is about ‘Smith for Mayor’, but mayor of where? Never assume that a visitor knows where you are located. Your municipality should be included the header. For SEO purposes, you should also include both the municipality and state somewhere in the body text of your pages.

Sample Website Header Designs

See our political website design examples.

Slogan or Quote: This is optional, but if you have a great campaign slogan, why hide it? Incorporate it into the header image.

Landmarks: Readily identifiable natural or man-made landmarks make a great addition to a header, particularly when used as a background. State flags or seals also make for good backgrounds, but if you plan to use them, make sure you can do so.

The size of header, particularly its height, can vary from site to site. When we started creating Online Candidate back in 2004, most of our sites were quite narrow, perhaps a hundred pixels tall. Today we tend to make them as least twice as tall, and a candidate head shot now usually includes the shoulders and chest. Part of this is simply keeping up with online design trends, and also the fact that the average screen resolution is higher than it used to be.

Learn more about our Campaign Website Packages to create an effective, professional web presence that helps win elections. Our Regular and Enhanced Website Packages include custom design!