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Improving 38degrees.org.uk

September 1st, 2010 by

The 38 Degrees homepage

The 38 Degrees homepage

You might have noticed a few changes to 38degrees.org.uk over the last few weeks. Over the next few weeks we’ll be making further improvements all designed to make it easier for you to take action on issues you care about.

Every weeks tens of thousands of people from across the entire UK join 38 Degrees campaigns. One of our most requested features was to see how many people have joined 38 Degrees campaigns and where they’re from. So over the past few weeks we’ve been introducing more counters on petitions and our new “petition map” which shows where people have signed the petition. You can check it out on the “Stand Up For the NHS” campaign here.
One of the most requested features I receive is for easier and quicker ways to donate. Over the next few days we’re going to be introducing some exciting changes. You’ll be able to quickly and easily support our campaigns through Paypal and Direct Debit as well as the wide variety of cards we already accept.
38 Degrees is all about people powered change. Every week tens of thousands of people visit the site and get involved with campaigns. What do you think we could change to improve the website? What would make it easier to tell your friends about our campaigns? Are there things you think we should do differently? Let us know in comments below:

Every week tens of thousands of people from across the entire UK join 38 Degrees campaigns. One of our most requested features was to see how many people have joined 38 Degrees campaigns and where they’re from. So over the past few weeks we’ve been introducing more counters on petitions and our new “petition map” which shows where people have signed the petition. You can check it out on the “Stand Up For the NHS” campaign here.

Another frequently requested feature is for easier and quicker ways to donate. Over the next few days we’re going to be introducing some exciting changes. You’ll be able to quickly and easily support our campaigns through Paypal and Direct Debit as well as the wide variety of cards we already accept.

38 Degrees is all about people powered change. What do you think we could change to improve the website? What would make it easier for you to tell your friends about our campaigns? Are there things you think we should do differently? Let us know in comments below.

None of the changes would have been possible without the support of the fantastic web development team at Rechord and our reliable web hosts at Catalyst2.

Posted in 38 Degrees Blog Posts

  • http://twitter.com/Borgs8472 Chris Monteiro

    Fish in a barrel. Unbind your securessl certificate from your main website. (you'll need two ips for the site) https://38degrees.org.uk/ http://38degrees.org.uk/pages/staff missing hyperlink on url. You should take money other than just via Paypal as they have a poor reputation. (the choice will make people happier even if they don't use it). You should 301 http://www.38degrees.org.uk to 38degrees.org.uk for better SEO. Also where's the site map? Lazy people put some real email addresss on the contact page and have them go into the same general mail box, makes it easier to contact you. Now give my sister back her job and pay her this time :p

  • johnnychatterton

    Hi Chris, great to hear from you and thanks for your suggestions, they're

    really helpful.

    Very good plan on the 301, because of our tech set up that's a little tricky

    but we'll try.

    Not sure what you mean about the email address, could you explain a bit

    more.

    Great to hear from another Monteiro. Hope your sister is doing very well and

    look forward to seeing her soon.

  • johnnychatterton

    Hi Chris, great to hear from you and thanks for your suggestions, they're

    really helpful.

    Very good plan on the 301, because of our tech set up that's a little tricky

    but we'll try.

    Not sure what you mean about the email address, could you explain a bit

    more.

    Great to hear from another Monteiro. Hope your sister is doing very well and

    look forward to seeing her soon.

  • Flashparry

    One thing re: tweeting links, etc. Your emails often contain longer text than I can find on the website, e.g. the current NHS email. I can't find this full email text on the site, only a very brief version on the campaigns page with a link to the form/map which has even less info (if I'm missing it, let me know!).

    If I tweet a link and it gets a newcomer to the site, it would be good if they could read the full text you put in the emails – it explains the campaign fully. I imagine some folks wouldn't be happy to sign-up based just on what is presented on the sign-up page.

  • http://twitter.com/Borgs8472 Chris Monteiro

    Since you're using an Apache server, you can either 301 your domains in various ways. http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/ApacheRedirect.html
    It's not worth me giving you specifics, if you ask your host 'can you 301 my [list of secondary domains] to [primary domain], ensuring no old links break' they should be able to reconfigure it just like that.

    r.e. the emails, add the mailto:syntax around your hello@38degrees.org.uk email, complete with the template filled out:
    http://www.ianr.unl.edu/internet/mailto.html

    The best way to find out about how effectively your site is being used these days is install a heatmap on the site. http://www.clickdensity.co.uk/

    Consider it the next generation of web analytics's. Are people hovering your links then not clicking them? Are people scrolling down on the long pages? Are people going straight to the links they want or getting lost elsewhere in the site first? This can help you find out.

    Much of the content is one or two pages away from the portal. Your choose the top menu item, wait for the page to load then come to complete different pages where the navigational structure must be re evaluated. I'm not suggesting going through and rewriting the core content pages, but a more dynamic header that shows the subsections of the main area of the site that you're on after before you even click it (e.g. on mouseover) would allow faster scanning of the site structure and access to proper destinations from any page on the site.

    (or you can make a site map too)

  • http://twitter.com/Borgs8472 Chris Monteiro

    Since you're using an Apache server, you can either 301 your domains in various ways. http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/ApacheRedirect.html
    It's not worth me giving you specifics, if you ask your host 'can you 301 my [list of secondary domains] to [primary domain], ensuring no old links break' they should be able to reconfigure it just like that.

    r.e. the emails, add the mailto:syntax around your hello@38degrees.org.uk email, complete with the template filled out:
    http://www.ianr.unl.edu/internet/mailto.html

    The best way to find out about how effectively your site is being used these days is install a heatmap on the site. http://www.clickdensity.co.uk/

    Consider it the next generation of web analytics's. Are people hovering your links then not clicking them? Are people scrolling down on the long pages? Are people going straight to the links they want or getting lost elsewhere in the site first? This can help you find out.

    Much of the content is one or two pages away from the portal. Your choose the top menu item, wait for the page to load then come to complete different pages where the navigational structure must be re evaluated. I'm not suggesting going through and rewriting the core content pages, but a more dynamic header that shows the subsections of the main area of the site that you're on after before you even click it (e.g. on mouseover) would allow faster scanning of the site structure and access to proper destinations from any page on the site.

    (or you can make a site map too)

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