9 Steps You Can Use Now to Raise More Money Online in December

2. Make your website an e-mail collection and donation magnet
Try to look at your website with a fresh perspective. Is it hard to miss your online donation button? Can someone drop her e-mail address with one click from the top of your homepage? Websites sometimes force online visitors to scroll or click several times before they can leave a donation or e-mail address. Is your website a magnet, or are you making it too challenging for the well-intentioned guest?

3. Test your forms
Once someone makes it to your donation form, he can either complete it … or not! Look at your form, and ask these questions:

• Does it look scary and long?
• Do you have unnecessary questions or fields?
• Do you allow multiple nongiving options?
• Is it hard to find the security and privacy information?
• Do you provide a phone number for questions?

Our data shows that "abandon rates" (when a website visitor begins a form but does not complete it) can be extremely high for donation forms — sometimes greater than 50 percent.

4. Take your site for a test drive
Recruit some unsuspecting subjects, and watch them navigate your site. Select a variety of age, gender and attitude, and ask all participants to donate to your organization. Lend them your credit card if you need to! You’ll learn a lot about the usability of your website and forms from a few simple test drives.

5. Review your traffic
You currently have some traffic coming to your website, but how much do you know about it? Visit Alexa.com, and enter your Web address. It’s an easy way to get a high-level peek of your own traffic. Sign up for a free Google Analytics account, and connect it to your website. All of the instructions are online and relatively easy to follow.