Tips for political candidate websites
2010 is an election year! Here’s some tips for online campaigning:
- Don’t expect your website to win the election for you. Less than 2% of people make a decision for a candidate based on a website. Nevertheless, have some strong talking points sitting on your website that cover the bases.
- If you had a million dollars for your election, you’d buy TV commercials, followed by direct mail, followed by signage. But you don’t have a million dollars. Sink what you do have into direct mail (postcards are OK) and signage (two-color is OK). Focus on frequency. Lots of mail pieces, lots of signs. Though video updates for your website are not a bad thing to have, especially if you’re telegenic or a good speaker.
- Focus your website on fundraising and friendraising. Fundraising will help you buy TV (if you get there), direct mail and signage. Friendraising will get your candidate on the ballot (you might need thousands of signatures on a petition), phone calls and door-knocking.
- If you have a password-protected, members-only portion of your site, you’d better vet everyone who has access. Campaigns have spies.
- 2010 is an in-between year, so skew older. Get your candidate in newspapers. Like, the ones printed on dead trees.
- If your audience is young and educated and monied, get on Facebook and Twitter. If they’re rural or inner-city and less well-off, focus on MySpace. Ideally you’re on all three, but you’ll find that certain social media channels work better than others.
- Email is more important than web. Send weekly updates noting impact (What were your candidate’s wins this week? New endorsements? A great write-up in a blog?) Always include a giant “CONTRIBUTE NOW” button pointing to a place that takes credit card donations, even if it’s PayPal.
- Piggybacking works. Is there anyone important or famous who you can get your candidate’s picture with? Who can write an email message for you that you can repurpose in blogs and newspapers? Our emails written by famous friends had the highest open rates of any that we sent.
- People first, technology last. There will be a lot of vendors trying to sell you technologies that you don’t need. Nothing is easy in politics. No computer program will make everyone know about and support your candidate.
- Having said that, a CRM (contact relationship management system) is nice to have. But a spreadsheet works just fine for that if you’re on a shoestring.
- Set realistic expectations. Campaigning is about relationship-building, and relationship-building takes a lot of time, even for the tireless. There really aren’t any shortcuts. Your website it not going to get a billion hits. That’s fine.
- Hire professionals to do your photos and videos. Get a really nice headshot. I’ve seen so many decent websites with terrible photos of the candidates. Image means a lot, even in the age where everyone’s a blogger.
- If people are engaging with you online, write them back ASAP. Have the candidate write them back whenever possible, though if you’re campaigning correctly there will barely be any time to sleep or eat, muchless jump online. But try. It means a TON to people to hear from a famous person.
- If you lose, lose gracefully. Have a tactful, tasteful statement drafted weeks in advance of the election. You do not want your candidate posting bitter scorched-earth remarks to the world the morning after. Bloggers live to make fun of that stuff.
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August 9th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Don’t mean to be critical but I can’t believe you put this nonsense up under your name.
No wonder you don’t think political sites get candidates elected. Look at your url for this page.
You obviously are still in the learning phase and that’s okay. I just don’t know if you should publish personal opinion with out the facts.
August 9th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Let me guess, you’re in the business of selling candidates Magic Websites that will level the playing field. And they’re so awesome, you can’t possibly use your real name or link to your business…
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
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September 5th, 2010 at 1:49 am
Of course, websites don’t get candidates elected. Nevertheless, there’s always a chance you as a candidate convey your message to those who are interested.