For political campaigns, a website is more than just a digital brochure. It’s a powerful tool that can turn casual visitors into passionate supporters and help you reach people online, particularly younger voters.
To win hearts, minds, and votes, your site needs to do more than provide information—it needs to motivate people to act. So, how do you ensure your political website educates voters about your platform and drives action?
The information you include and the design choices you make are critical. You must quickly communicate your message and inspire people to donate, advocate, or cast their vote. Let’s explore strategies to create a compelling political website that drives support for your campaign or advocacy efforts.
Organize information into key pages.
Each user will have a specific action in mind when visiting your site. They might want to learn about your campaign, discover where you stand on key issues, donate, or contact your team. If they can’t find what they’re looking for, they’re likely to bounce from (or leave) your website before taking action. That’s why you should create content with these key goals in mind.
Think about what you want to communicate to your audience. Your political website should include some variation of these pages:
About
This page helps visitors understand who you are. Provide a clear overview of the candidate or your organization's purpose. Share your mission, values, background, and what drives you to make a difference.
Issues
Create a page with sections about positions on key issues (healthcare, education, climate change, etc.). Make sure these are easy to read with bullet points or short paragraphs.
Newsfeed/Blog
This page should keep supporters updated with the latest news and thought leadership related to your efforts. It should include blog posts, articles, and updates about the campaign and related political issues.
Get Involved
As your campaign grows, you’ll need donors and volunteers to fuel your efforts. Include a Ways to Give page highlighting opportunities to donate, canvass, volunteer, or host an advocacy event. This page should link to specific forms for each opportunity.
Donation Form
Include a secure, user-friendly donation form to make it easy for supporters to contribute. Ensure your form looks modern, is PCI-compliant, and is SSL-certified to instill trust in donors.
360MatchPro’s fundraising statistics list mentions that there are now over 3.4 billion digital wallet users, making it important to accept these forms of payment in addition to credit/debit cards and ACH direct deposits.
Contact Us
Include a contact form, phone number, or social media links so supporters can connect with your team.
Pro Tip: Make sure visitors can find what they’re looking for by featuring these key pages in your navigation menu. If you’re using an open-source CMS like WordPress, you have access to various plugins and templates that can organize your site by creating multi-level menus featuring important content.
Use clear, strong branding.
Consistency creates a polished, professional appearance that can instill confidence. It also helps people easily recognize your marketing materials on other platforms, whether they come across a campaign sign or a social media post. When people trust and recognize your brand, they’re more likely to engage, donate, or volunteer.
Plus, political campaigns and movements tend to compete for attention in a sea of similar messaging. A well-executed brand helps differentiate yours from others, making your efforts more memorable.
Beyond featuring your slogan and logo on your political site, include these branded elements:
- Colors: Typically, websites will use a primary color for important aspects like buttons, headlines, or logos. Then, they’ll have secondary colors for accents, backgrounds, or other elements. Make sure your primary and secondary colors contrast enough for readability, especially on important call-to-action (CTA) buttons.
- Fonts: Choose easy-to-read, modern fonts that reflect your campaign’s tone. While readability is most important, political design research has found that choices convey information about campaigns, such as candidates’ partisanships, genders, and personalities. For instance, Republicans are more likely to use serif than sans-serif fonts than Democrats. Incumbents are also more likely to use a serif than a sans-serif font.
- Tone of voice: The language used throughout your site should reflect the campaign or movement’s personality, values, and approachability. Whether it’s inspiring, conversational, or authoritative, all written content should convey similar messaging.
Cornershop Creative’s list of nonprofit advocacy examples highlights Save the Children Action Network, Save the Children's political advocacy arm that focuses on influencing policy decisions to benefit children’s welfare:
Notice how the page incorporates elements from Save the Children’s primary brand, including its colors and a variation of its logo. This helps leverage the organization’s existing authority. The text also creates an urgent tone. Explore their website to find plenty of inspiration for your site’s design.
Feature engaging visuals.
Visuals are a powerful tool in political website design, empowering deeper connections with voters.
Using high-quality images and videos that feature real people—whether it’s the candidate or individuals directly affected by key issues—adds authenticity and emotion to your platform. Showcasing moments of engagement, like the candidate speaking with voters or activists at events, can humanize the cause and convey a sense of dedication.
For advocacy organizations, images of real-life impact, community gatherings, and behind-the-scenes efforts can communicate the support behind your work and rally even more involvement. If your organization hosts events, debates, or discussions, ensure that your website provides access to replay or watch these moments live.
Not only does this keep visitors informed, but it also makes them feel involved in the ongoing conversation. Every visual element should reinforce your mission, making your cause relatable to your audience.
Include clear CTAs.
CTAs give visitors clear instructions on what to do next. Without CTAs, visitors may be unsure about how they can support your efforts. Strong CTAs are essential for meeting donor acquisition goals and recruiting advocates, helping convert interested visitors into committed supporters.
Think about the most important actions you want someone to take. Newer visitors might benefit from learning more about your campaign. Meanwhile, more engaged visitors should encounter CTAs that push for deeper involvement, like donating, signing up for your digital volunteer program, or hosting an advocacy event.
When writing your CTAs, keep the text simple, clear, and action-oriented. Phrases like “Join Us,” “Get Involved,” and “Learn More” are direct and easy to understand. Try to include a sense of urgency, too. You might say, “Donate Today” or “Join Before Election Day!”
Near your CTAs, you might show testimonials or the number of people already involved. For example, you might say, “Join 10,000 others in protecting our ecosystems from drilling.” This statement acts as social proof and creates a sense of community, encouraging visitors to follow suit.
Adding CTAs to Your Political Site
As for the design, use contrasting colors to make CTAs stand out from the rest of the page. While they should be visually distinct, they should still align with your color scheme.
When you’ve decided what actions to encourage, determine where you’ll place those CTAs on your site. Placement should be strategic, especially on key pages like the homepage and issue pages. Here’s some advice on placement:
- Add CTAs above the fold. Place CTAs at the top of key pages where visitors can see them without scrolling.
- Use sticky CTAs. Use buttons that stay visible as users scroll, making it easy for users to take action at any point during their visit.
- Include CTAs throughout content. For instance, after explaining the impact of advocacy, include a CTA to host an event or participate in a digital campaign.
Think back to our Save the Children Action Network example. Their homepage features a few key actions. The “Take Action” buttons are placed in the navigation menu and overlaid on the banner image, both above the fold. These buttons lead to a form with a pre-populated message to an elected official. The “Donate Now” button is a sticky CTA that travels with the user as they scroll. Other CTAs encourage users to sign up for communications and explore the organization’s work.
While the most important buttons are red, secondary CTAs such as “Learn More” are black. This ensures crucial actions stand out.
By thoughtfully designing your political website to inform and inspire action, you can turn passive visitors into active supporters. Every click on your site is an opportunity to build momentum, encourage voters, and rally people behind your cause.
As you implement these strategies, remember that a strong online presence can be a game-changer in today’s political landscape—so seize the opportunity to inspire change.
