Content Marketing Today

How to Create a World-Class Website for a Superb Nonprofit–Without Breaking the Bank!

The website perfectly reflects the David Lawrence Center mission: “restoring and rebuilding lives.”

The David Lawrence Center is a nonprofit mental health and substance abuse facility that provides affordable services for anyone in need.  Located in Naples Florida, the 40-year-old center serves all of Collier County. Each year, 16,000 individuals take advantage of more than 50 prevention, intervention, and treatment services.

The brand-new website proves how powerful online content marketing can be.  What’s even more impressive is that a new website was driven by a very small team: Communications Director, Trista Meister, in partnership with a local web development firm, Exploritech.

Old Site Better Than Many, But Limited and a Bit Gloomy

Actually, the old website wasn’t bad.  In fact, it was much better than many websites that have been created to promote “marketing professionals.” But it represented a typically limited understanding of the power that a great website could bring.  The old website failed to provide comprehensive information about the wide range of services offered by the David Lawrence Center. In addition, although it contained some fairly strong visual images, they represented the sorrow of mental illness rather than the joy of recovery.

Here’s why the new site is so successful:

1. The pervasive theme of the site is that there are successful outcomes to be found when you seek treatment at the David Lawrence Center.  This is so important because individuals seeking help may well have hit rock bottom.  When they arrive at the site, it’s uplifting to view positive results. 
2. The website offers comprehensive information on all of the services provided by the David Lawrence Center. The broad accessibility of information makes it very comfortable to take the first step of asking for help.  Visitors with serious problems can discover likely solutions online before they ever have to talk to someone on the phone or in person.
3. Powerful and positive visuals pervade the website.  For individuals who may well be surrounded by virtual clouds of gloom and sadness, these images offer a wonderful antidote.
4. Lots of success stories reinforce the idea that the David Lawrence Center can provide assistance, not in the abstract, but in the real world. Success stories are tied to specific programs, giving them even more relevance.
5. Just like a commercial website, the David Lawrence Center’s online home makes it very easy to take the next step by calling just the right number or sending an e-mail asking for help. On the old site, you had to work pretty hard to figure out how to take the next action.
6. You are offered the opportunity to make a donation, just as you had been on the old site. But the visual and the call to action are both more positive and less intrusive than they had been.
7. You are also offered the chance to volunteer.  And who wouldn’t want a volunteer after learning about how many wonderful things the David Lawrence Center does for the greater Naples community?

This marvelous website may turn out to be the most cost-effective marketing tool ever deployed by the David Lawrence Center.

Before embarking on the transformation, Trista Meister did lots of research online.  She looked at a wide range of health-related sites, many of which were awful, but many of which illustrated the path that the David Lawrence Center website should take.  After interviewing many potential web developers, she settled on Exploritech because they understood the importance of content–and how to integrate it with powerful visual elements.  Even better, they were affordable.

The one-time cost of creating the new website is approximately 50% of what the center spends each year on Yellow Pages advertising.  But the ongoing monthly cost is very modest.  Because their Yellow Pages advertising is so fragmented, it’s very difficult to determine any kind of return on their investment.  Because the website is very measurable, they will soon be able to learn exactly how it is delivering tangible results.

Once again, we can see that great content marketing is really about developing the right mindset.  In this case, there is a shared mindset between Trista and the Exploritech team.  With this mindset in place, a relatively small investment can result in a very big content marketing payoff.

Do yourself a favor.  Visit the David Lawrence Center website.  You will be impressed.  And you will come away with a lot of great ideas.