Political Campaign Tips and Strategies
Practical guides for candidates running local and state campaigns. Find advice on starting a campaign, building your online presence, fundraising, messaging, voter outreach, and more.
Essential Articles
How to Prepare for a Run for Local Office
Learn the basics of preparing for a local campaign, including qualifications,
budgeting, fundraising, building a campaign team, filing requirements, and
getting voters to the polls.
Read the guide
Setting Up Your Political Campaign Timeline
See what needs to happen before, during, and after a campaign launch, from early planning and filing through fundraising, voter outreach, and Election Day.
View the timeline
A practical guide to planning, building, and launching a campaign website that gives voters the information they need and supports your campaign goals.
Read the website guide
Find out which pages and content your campaign website should include to inform voters, collect support, accept donations, and keep your campaign active.
See the essential pages
Comparing Political Donation Platforms
Compare common political fundraising platforms and the factors campaigns should consider when choosing a service for accepting online contributions.
Compare donation platforms
Understand how your campaign slogan, core message, and issue platform work together—and the different role each plays in communicating with voters.
Learn the differences
Need a Campaign Website?
Online Candidate has helped political candidates build their online presence since 2004. See our custom campaign website packages and campaign-specific features.
Political Campaigns Aren’t Won By Part-Timers
We get it. You likely have a full-time job that keeps you busy. And depending on the elected position and the circumstances of your race, you may not need to run a 24/7 campaign. But if you are going to run for office, you need to understand what you are getting into....
Mastering Political Storytelling: Your Secret Campaign Weapon
If this is your first campaign for political office, there's one tool you absolutely need to use: political storytelling. A smart politician knows that most voters remember stories and narratives, not facts and figures. Connections are not made by listing policies....
A Candidate’s Defense Against Online Misinformation
We've said this for years, and in 2024 it will become more important than ever. “If you don’t define yourself online, someone else will.” AI threatens to upend what voters read, see, and hear about political campaigns. The biggest danger of generative AI is that it...
How Fast Can Your Campaign Website Appear on Google?
We get asked this question a lot when clients launch their new campaign websites. Some people are alarmed when they don’t see themselves for a name search within hours of going live with a website. Others know that it takes a little time to appear on Google – though often not as long as they think!
10 Essential Strategies for Successful Political Campaigns
The success of a candidate hinges on more than just their charisma or the popularity of their political platform. Winning is the result of a combination of strategy, good policy, public engagement, and sometimes a bit of luck. Here are ten strategies addressing the...
The Power of Branding Your Political Campaign
Political candidates who want to be successful in building online support need two things – resources and time. Just like an offline campaign, campaign success comes about by creating a brand for a candidate.
How to Build a Political Campaign Website (Pages, Cost, and Examples)
Great campaign websites engage voters, are easy to navigate, and provide a powerful fundraising tool. Here are the steps to building your own political campaign website.
Why Every Local Candidate Should Have a Campaign Manager
This year, there was a candidate in our area who managed everything herself. It was basically a one-person operation. She encountered early problems in organizing volunteers and raising funds. Volunteer interest waned as time went on. The problems continued as the...
When Should You Start Campaigning For Your Election?
If you are planning to run for office, you should start campaigning as soon as you can. That’s all. End of post.
What Simple Question Can Increase Voter Turnout?
Sometimes elections, particularly local elections, come down to only a handful of votes. While all the moral support in the world is nice, a candidate cannot win an election until they get their supporters into the voting booth. Here’s one way to help get that final all-important commitment.
Online Candidate makes it easy to launch your political website and build your online presence.
No spam. Campaign-focused updates only.