Designing an animal shelter website is similar to creating any other website really. You need to make your website as appealing as possible to your target audience. In your case this is probably all animal lovers. There are several key features that your website should include to make sure it is a success.
Information About the Animal Shelter
Let readers know about you, your organization, and what you do. If they have taken the time to visit your website, then they are obviously interested in finding out about your organization. Talk about the animals in your shelter, the staff or volunteers who care for them, the type of work you do, and the various ways you raise money for the upkeep of the shelter.
Photographs of the Animals
It is important that an animal shelter website is visually appealing. You want anyone who visits your site to see the animals who live in the shelter and people who go on animal shelter websites are usually interested in animals. If you are trying to raise money for the shelter, then pictures add the cute factor. Alternatively, if you are trying to re-home animals then letting site visitors see the animals means they are more likely to want to adopt an animal. Accompany each photograph with specific information about each animal.
Contact Information
People need to know hot to contact and find you. They may wish to donate money, adopt an animal, visit the shelter, volunteer or help to raise money. Either have a ‘contact us’ page on the site or clearly provide this information on your home page. Try to include a map as people will find this helpful in finding you.
Social Network Links
Social media marketing is a simple way of letting people know about your website. This in turn raises awareness of the shelter and the work you are doing. Setting up accounts with sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus or Linked In is easy. Build a list of connections in each and then add links to these accounts from your website. Each time a person ‘likes’ or shares your website with others it will raise awareness of your animal shelter.