The Charities websites Essay

Although many charities are using digital technology to some extent to provide information, when compared to the transformative effective of digital in some industry sectors, the overall structures, services and systems within charities have not been as significantly altered. Small charities on the other hand are lagging behind by advancement in digital technology. Lloyds Banking Digital Index 2015 for tracking the use of digital technology among small charities suggests that 58% are lacking basic digital skills (Lloyds Bank, 2015).
Communication, particularly social media is a constantly evolving discipline. The development of social networking technologies over the past few decades has dramatically changed the way in which people interact with each other and the way in which the web is now used (Keynote, 2014). According to an eMarketer report published in June 2013, social networks have around 1.73 billion users worldwide (Keynote, 2014). Social media advertising spend increased by 65% in 2014 (Keynote, 2015). A survey by nfpSynergy on internet activity of UK charities indicates that 71% of charity organisations have a presence on Facebook, 62% on Twitter and 50% on Youtube (nfpSynergy, 2012). About 85% of charities agree that digital technology is very important for communication (nfpSynergy, 2015).
The emergence of search engine optimization has also brought about another revolution enabling people to easily find information on the web. This has caused significant changes in communication over the web. More websites are indexed by search engines to improve visibility (Giomelakis & Veglis, 2015). Digital search is the largest segment of the digital advertising market accounting for 52% (Keynote, 2015). NfpSynergy survey on charity awareness monitor indicated that only 16% of adults aged 16+ would visit a charity's website for information with over 30% preferring search engines (nfpSynergy, 2013). Charities websites are the last resort for people needing support and advice. For this reason visibility and high ranking of websites on search engines result pages is critically important for small charities. Charities are only just beginning to explore the opportunities offered through search engine optimisation (Third Sector, 2013).
Email marketing is a popular channel of communication with a high level of return on investment. The ROI of email campaigns rose by 53% in 2014 (Keynote, 2015). To aid non-profit in the use of email the ePhilanthrophy Foundation created some recommendation such as 'do not over message supporters' to help protect and preserve relationships among supporters. Email marketing is a vital and inexpensive tool for charities online cultivation, marketing and solicitation strategy (Hart, 2002).
The use of internet has become more widespread in the UK with 86% of households having internet access (Office for National Statistics, 2015). The top most popular online activities among UK consumers aged 18+ are emailing (95%), using search engines (89%) and social networking (75%) (Mintel, 2015). Social networking is widespread in all age groups, of those aged 65 and over, 15% used social networks 92% of 16- 24 and 82% of 24- 35 age group engaged in social networking in 2015 (Office for National Statistics, 2015).