Website Analysis

By Adam Barr

5/6/2010

Site chosen: Big Sister League of San Diego – www.bigsisterleague.org

Business Model

The Big Sister League of San Diego, Inc. assists women and girls in San Diego County by providing supervised transitional housing, volunteer mentor relationships, and support services. The League's programs are designed to encourage confidence, self-esteem, and independence.

Value Proposition

The Big Sister League offers a value to its members by offering free housing, counseling, and social services to women in need. The organization operates two homes that can serve up to 34 women. Residents typically stay between 6 months and a year receiving services that will help them transition into independent living. This program has become a primary housing resource for many mentally ill and/or abused women in San Diego County through the years. The Big Sister League also operates the Little Sister Mentor Program that was established more recently, in 1978. This program partners girls between the ages of 6 and 16 with older women who serve as mentors and positive role models. The Mentor program is recognized as a positive solution to many of the problems at risk girls experience in their journey to womanhood.

Competition

These competitors have a similar program to supporting women with housing and counseling services in the San Diego area:

  • Knights of Kindness
  • San Diego Rescue Mission

These competitors have a similar program to the Little Sister Mentor Program in the San Diego area:

  • MentorYouth.com
  • Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego
  • Girls Inc. of San Diego County

Channels

The website integrates and supports other marketing channels in representing an online catalog by offering all the information and services that the organization offers. The site also has a registration area that allows them to capture prospect and donor information that may be used to direct mailing campaigns (or email campaigns). Further, donations are accepted online, and photo galleries as well as upcoming events are some of the items that may be viewed via their website.

Intended Customers

These competitors have a similar program to supporting women with housing and counseling services in the San Diego area:

  • Mentor/Volunteers/Workers: The websites primary intention is to get personnel support for their organization.
  • Women/Girls in need of support: These are individuals that might be interested in receiving services that the organization offers.
  • Donors: Since the organization in non-profit, the website has information for donors, and it processes donation payments online.

Attracting Consumer Interest

Big Sister League attracts interest to volunteers and donors by offering an online presence that allows these intended customers to gather information and quickly take a role as either a volunteer or donor. The website is easy to find if you are looking for becoming a volunteer as it is well positioned in various search engines. Information leading to the website is also displayed offline at events and included in any information brochures that are printed.

Interactive Web Content

The layout of the website is very functional and well-organized, users can navigate to various sections to find information. The content layout features are simple, but effective. The website is broken down to the following 9 pages:

  • Home - Excellent design. The Home pages offers a snapshot of the company and includes a small portal that links to Recent News, Facebook, and the Event Calendar. (see Figure 1).

  • About Us - where visitors can find information about the organization's mission, history, and founders (see Figure 2).

  • Mentoring - this page supplies information about one of their two services (see Figure 3). It is interactive in that it allows users to view information through various mediums (multimedia and written information).

  • Housing - this page supplies information about one of their two services (see Figure 4). It is interactive in that it allows users to view information through various mediums (multimedia and written information).

  • Donate - this page offers information regarding donations. (see Figure 5).

  • Jobs & Vounteering - this page offers information regarding employment. (see Figure 6).

  • What's New - this page offers information about current events in the organization - links to Calendar, News (Previous News), Activities, and the Newsletter. (see Figure 7 ).

  • FAQ - this page offers Frequently Asked Questions about the organization and services. (see Figure 8 ).

  • Contacts- where visitors can find the physical foundation location and contact information for key staff members (see Figure 9).

    • Site Actions

    Online donations and purchases are applicable for this site as well as information to donate via mail. The online payment processing is done via Paypal.

    The site allows potential volunteers a click to "Get Involved", this directs them to a registration page that will put them into contact with the organization.

    Reacting to Visitor Interaction

    The site offers any user to directly contact the organization, all the information is displayed on the Contact Us page. Also, by joining the Email List, users can receive ongoing information about the organization.

    Usability

    The Big Sister League site design is very functional and easy to navigate - I would say that this is the strongest component of the website. The colors/fonts are easy to use and the spacing allows users to focus on the important content without getting distracting. The navigation bar remains consistent on every page and there is a low site map offering more links.

    Room for Improvements, Enhancements

    The site is an excellent forum for volunteers and donors, however I feel that it lacks interactive features that the women and girls being supported could use. Possible recommendations would include a page for the Women/Girls to interact - share their experiences, and personally offer information or support to others that are new to the program.

    References