Digital Audit
- 1. Emily Fletcher MKT 412 Digital Audit 22 November 2022 Website: https://smile4kidsfoundation.org/ Instagram/Facebook: @smile4kidsfoundation Introduction Smile 4 Kids is a nonprofit organization that strives to create and maintain relationships with children experiencing hardship. Through its digital presence, it encourages donations, attendance at events, involvement in fundraisers, and spreading awareness of the organization. In addition to having a strong website and social media presence, it is currently achieving these objectives by operating and overseeing university chapters. Smile 4 Kids has a presence on some social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. It is present in the form of chapters on three college campuses throughout Michigan: Michigan State University, Grand Valley State University, and the University of Michigan. I chose this company to do a digital audit because my roommate is the president of the MSU chapter, so I am familiar with the company and its goals. The founder of Smile 4 Kids was a member of my sorority and I believe my analysis of its digital presence would help her expand the reach of the organization among students and surrounding communities. Audit for Website Smile 4 Kids’ main value proposition is clear as soon as you arrive on the landing page of the website. Its value proposition is: changing the lives of children in need, one smile at a time. This gives the user an idea of what the goal of the organization is, from the start. Directly below the value proposition is a button that users can click to learn more about the organization. This
- 2. allows the user to explore how Smile 4 Kids is “changing the lives of children in need.” The navigation menu is clear and accessible with tabs for the homepage and events, as well as dropdown menus for “who we are”, donations, the board of directors, and “login.” The navigation menu is easy to read and allows users to select many options. There are multiple conversion paths to guide the user through the site and eventually either donate, create a campaign, contact the board of directors, become a sponsor, subscribe to emails, or register for an account. One of the conversion paths leads the user to donate directly through the website. This path begins at the landing page with a large button labeled, “click here to spread a smile” on a bright green background. The user is then taken to the donation landing page with the option to select a donation amount and enter their information. Once they have entered the necessary information, they will have successfully donated to the organization. This conversion path flows through the user’s journey and is relatively simple, reducing the probability of the user abandoning the site. The site contains many relevant resources that visitors would be interested in exploring, including a backlink to The Abhi Shah Foundation, one of Smile 4 Kids’ partners in fundraising efforts. Users are welcome to read about The Abhi Shah Foundation and other sponsors without leaving the landing page. There are no known crawl issues on the site or 404 errors. The website design also renders well in mobile view, which is crucial due to how frequently we use our phones to browse the web. There is no sitemap, probably because the total number of pages is relatively small, however, utilizing a sitemap could allow Google to “crawl” the site more efficiently. There are conversion pages at each step of the funnel. Whether the user is logging in or exploring school fundraising campaigns, there are forms at the bottom of the page that prompt
- 3. the user to select a donation amount or stay updated by subscribing to emails. However, I think it would be beneficial to position these prompts at the top of the page so that they are more accessible as the visitor progresses through the conversion process. Content Audit The site does contain relevant keywords, but there are not many on the main landing page. When analyzing Smile4kidsfoundation.org on Spyfu, I found that the keywords from organic searches are very specific. The top keywords are smile4kids, smile4, smile for kids, baby bib size chart, and smile organization. The landing page of the site contains the words “smile” and “kids” multiple times, but there is no mention of “charity” or “nonprofit,” which I believe would be valuable keywords to include. The current keywords do align with Smile 4 Kids’ objective of spreading awareness about the organization, but there is a lack of keywords that would attract someone who intends to donate. The content on the landing page is not keyword-rich. The keyword smile4kids appears only five times on the landing page, while smile appears six times. Utilizing keywords such as “fundraiser,” “charity,” or “nonprofit” on the landing page could boost clicks from more general searches. Integrating these words into text about the organization and its objectives would give Smile 4 Kids more opportunities to reach Google users. For example, a restaurant owner that is looking to sponsor a charity would be able to find Smile 4 Kids much easier if they were to look up “charity near me,” rather than directly searching for Smile 4 Kids. Another persona that the organization would appeal to is a college student looking to join a new club on campus. If they had heard of Smile 4 Kids before through word of mouth, they would be able to find out if their school has a chapter and how to join by
- 4. searching the organization’s name. The content on the Smile 4 Kids website would appeal to many other personas such as, but not limited to: schools looking for fundraising opportunities, financially secure adults looking to make a difference, or other nonprofits interested in setting up a joint holiday campaign. SEO Audit The URLs, meta description, and page titles all contain relevant keywords such as “smile” and “kids.” The meta description also includes keywords such as “nonprofit,” “organization,” and “hope,” which give the searcher the ability to understand the objective of Smile 4 Kids and its fundraising efforts. The URL is simple, which is an important practice in SEO to convey content information easily and increase the efficiency of crawling. The main title tag contains part of the value proposition, “changing the lives of children in need,” which also emphasizes the goal of the organization. There are unique title tags that allow the user to jump directly to the “who we are,” “events,” “donate,” and “board of directors” pages from the search engine. These titles are not lengthy and they use relevant keywords. Overall, the URL, meta description and title tags are all optimized. Social Media Audit In terms of social media, Smile 4 Kids is present predominantly on Instagram and Facebook. They are consistent with their username so it is easier for users to find Smile 4 Kids on social media. The two platforms are linked, so the organization can share its posts on Instagram and Facebook simultaneously. Because the target audience ranges from students to adults, the platforms they are currently using are ideal for spreading awareness and increasing
- 5. reach. In their posts, they utilize hashtags such as #childhoodcancerawarenessmonth, #community, and #cancerfree to encourage visits generated from other posts. When participating in joint fundraisers, they tag other organizations to increase the probability of reaching non-followers. The content of the posts allows other users to share it on their own stories with their followers. For example, September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and Smile 4 Kids uploaded a post with a fact about how often children are diagnosed with cancer. By creating content with shareable information, they are encouraging their followers to repost and spread awareness. In these posts, they utilize phrases such as, “learn how to help below” to stimulate engagement among followers and visitors by directing them to visit their website or share the post. While some of the posts are just graphics that encourage followers to take action, many of the posts are photos of children and their families who are directly impacted by the donations. This triggers an emotional response from followers to take immediate action because they can put a face to the child that they are helping. On both Instagram and Facebook profiles, there is a button that allows users to donate directly through the social media platform. Existing members of the organization are also highlighted in their posts to recognize the time and effort they have put forth in raising money and holding events. Smile 4 Kids has also linked its social media platforms to its website for easy accessibility. Conclusion Overall, Smile 4 Kids is achieving its objective of receiving donations, encouraging participation in events and fundraising, as well as spreading awareness about childhood illness through its digital presence. There are, however, various improvements that can be made to its
- 6. website and social media to optimize these objectives. First, I would suggest including information about fundraising opportunities without making the user sign in first. Although one of the conversions is ultimately creating an account, forcing the user to sign in to view information about fundraisers is a barrier that might cause the user to abandon the site out of frustration. Another improvement that I would suggest is to make the conversion paths clearer from the awareness to action stages. On the home page, there are buttons to donate, create a campaign, subscribe to emails, and create an account, but I think that guiding the user through the process would make the webpage less confusing and increase the conversion rate. I also recommend the usage of broader keywords on the landing page to encourage a higher organic position on Google. Finally, as an improvement for Smile 4 Kids regarding their social media, I suggest they post more frequently. Posting more frequently is crucial to staying relevant and in the minds of followers, increasing traffic to social media pages and websites. All in all, it is clear that Smile 4 Kids has put much effort into its digital strategy, whether it be optimizing its website or improving its social media presence. There are not many aspects to critique, but the few that I was able to give recommendations on will help Smile 4 Kids maximize donations, participation in events, subscriptions, and awareness of childhood hardships.