Building a New Website to Build Hope
Safe Harbor is a private, nonprofit organization that offers a continuum of services for survivors of domestic violence and their children in Greenville, Anderson, Pickens and Oconee Counties. They host a 24/7 help line and offer safe emergency shelters, counseling for survivors and their children, advocacy, legal assistance, transitional housing, domestic violence education and parenting classes, and group support.
How ALINE got involved
ALINE’s lead designer, Cara Robb, had worked with Safe Harbor for many, many years designing and implementing strategy for their special events, donation appeals and campaigns. When this important organization needed a Project Manager in the mix, they agreed to come to work with ALINE as an agency, and we were happy to give them a discounted rate to work with us for a year on holistic marketing projects.
At the start of our second year together, ALINE offered them a new website at no cost and they jumped at the opportunity. ALINE made the offer because we believe in the work that Safe Harbor does and we wanted to support their mission as a partner. We know that offering them a best-in-class website would get their message into the hands of more donors, more supporters, and more high-risk people in need. The team at Safe Harbor does the hard work, and we are here to support them!
A new website accomplishes big goals
Safe Harbor’s previous website was somewhat difficult to navigate and didn’t follow some key best practices for web design. There was a lot of information that was not organized in the best way for users, which includes both people in need of services as well as potential donors and volunteers.
The new site ALINE built has an updated, warmer look that reflects Safe Harbor’s brand and draws attention to the most important information for their main audience, making it much easier to find information. Anyone needing help can easily see how to get it. Users know right away what their six main services are, as well as how to help the organization. Their blog is also easier to read and navigate now, and they do a wonderful job of keeping it current.
The relationship continues
The Safe Harbor team also does a great job keeping the entire site current. ALINE has worked with them to add a few things since launch, including a "Safe Exit" link to make sure users can exit out of the site quickly, an update to make their donate page easier to use, and a simplified way to translate the site into Spanish.
The Safe Harbor staff views their website as an extremely important tool for both helping victims get the information they need as well as getting money/donations. ALINE was proud to play a role in helping end domestic violence in the Upstate and find care and hope for its victims.
"A small team of us at Safe Harbor worked with ALINE, who built us a new website and gave us support throughout the entire process from adding content to its launch. Most of us on this Safe Harbor team are not experts in coding and it was a big learning curve…. The ALINE team that worked with us was very supportive and patient along the way, answering all of our questions, helping us learn how to edit our site, and giving us tips to have a beautiful and well-functioning site. There was communication between our team and ALINE’s the entire time; they made sure the site met our needs, often doing some additional coding to ensure our site was just as we needed it to be. Definitely recommend." -- Safe Harbor executive
