# Web socialite or stay-at-home hoarder?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/05/09/web-socialite-or-stayathome-hoarder/
- Published: 2007-05-09T12:02:12+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Is your charity out and about on the web – by which I mean joining in with other
websites (information / charity portals, directories,  enhanced Guidestar, eBay,
MySpace, YouTube etc) and leaving its mark in a variety of relevant meeting points–
or is it stuck at home hoarding its own possessions and in likely need of a de-clutter?

I have been struck in recent years by the amount of growth in the content and functionality
of charities’ websites whilst underwhelmed by the relative movement of e-marketing.

Various Virtual Promise research reports into charities use of the Internet have
born my observations out, and in VP 05 the charities surveyed had an average of 
4 websites a-piece (compared to 2 in 04). The question wasn’t asked in 06.

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A certain commercial fashion with micro-sites and splash pages and other one-
time sites did pervade the charity sector, but the above figure counts for growth
simply in their core year-round websites. That’s a lot to manage on the average 
staff levels and budgets of charity online departments?

I’m not disputing the role of some of those additional websites, after all I 
was a big culprit myself whilst at CAF. But I also tried to make sure and to push
for CAF’s web presence and content to be disaggregated, rather than focused (egocentrically)
on everyone finding their way to its own door.

There are all kinds of arguments to support this. The best are the financial and
the behavioural. Financially, few charities will have the reach to build significant
traffic direct to their own site, so that conversion ratios really deliver something
that puts a big smile on their faces. So it’s advisable to piggy back the marketing
reach of someone else, appropriately of course. And behaviourally, well few people
really just have the habit of going out to one spot and never considering any other
ways to spend their time. It’s not promiscuity, it’s variety, necessity and lifestyle.
They have the need to be in many places at different times. So if you can catch
them in more than one spot, you’ll likely have a bigger and more lasting impact,
as well as more opportunities to say your piece.

So my advice is don’t hoard. Especially if you have something fantastic as an asset,
whether in content or functionality. Get it plugged in to other sites. Do build 
the right collateral on your main web presence(s) – ensuring they form a cohesive
whole and a clear overall identity – and then concentrate on taking its message 
out to those places where you think you may be heard. Be a web socialite, but make
sure you have your cushions tidied for when you bring people home.

 * **[How to MySpace your charity!](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/05/09/how-myspace-your-charity/)**(
   9 May 2007)
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   15 May 2007)
 * **[Great Expectations](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/05/18/great-expectations/)**(
   18 May 2007)