Let me tell you a story that still keeps me up at night. Last year, I was grabbing coffee with a friend running for school board when her phone started buzzing like crazy. Her campaign website’s donation page had crashed right in the middle of a major fundraising push. Her tech-savvy volunteer who built the site? Unreachable. On vacation. Somewhere in the mountains.
By the time they got the page back up, they’d lost three crucial days of fundraising. Three days! In campaign time, that’s an eternity.
Look, I get it. When you’re running for office, every dollar counts. And when a well-meaning supporter offers to build your website for free, it’s incredibly tempting to say yes. After all, volunteers are the lifeblood of any campaign – they’re the ones knocking on doors, organizing events, and keeping your momentum going.
But here’s the thing: your campaign website isn’t just another task to check off your list. It’s your 24/7 campaign headquarters. Your first impression. Your most tireless fundraiser.
I recently worked with a city council candidate who learned this lesson the hard way. Her volunteer-built site looked decent enough at first glance. But when we dug deeper, we found it was missing basic features like email capture forms and secure donation processing. Even worse? It was practically unusable on mobile devices – where most voters would see it.
Want to know what happened when we launched her professional site? Online donations tripled in the first month. Volunteer signups doubled. All because people could actually use the site without fighting with it.
Here’s something I’ve learned after years of running digital campaigns: when voters visit your website, they’re asking themselves one question – “Does this campaign have what it takes to lead?”
A slow, outdated, or glitchy website doesn’t just frustrate supporters – it actively undermines your campaign’s credibility. For undecided voters especially, these first impressions matter more than we’d like to admit.
I remember a state house campaign that tried to save money with a volunteer-built site. Everything seemed fine until they got featured in the local news. Suddenly, their traffic spiked, and the site crashed. They scrambled to fix it, but by then, hundreds of potential supporters had already bounced away. You don’t get a second chance at a first impression.
Campaigns move fast. Really fast. Every delay in updating your website – whether it’s adding press coverage, posting event photos, or fixing a broken form – costs you precious momentum.
Just last month, I watched a campaign miss out on crucial media coverage because they couldn’t update their website quickly enough. Their volunteer webmaster was swamped with their day job (as most volunteers naturally are), and the campaign had to wait three days to get new content up. In campaign time, that’s practically a lifetime.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. When campaigns invest in professional digital infrastructure from the start, amazing things happen. One of my favorite success stories is a first-time candidate who initially balked at spending money on a professional website. “It’s just a website,” she said. Then she saw how a well-built site could:
She won her race, and later told me the website was one of her best early campaign decisions.
Your website should be an asset, not a source of stress. It should work as hard as you do – 24/7, without breaks, without excuses. While your volunteers are out doing the crucial work of connecting with voters face-to-face, your website should be:
Let’s Talk About Your Campaign
Every campaign faces unique challenges, and I’d love to hear about yours. What’s working with your current website? What isn’t? Let’s talk about building a digital headquarters that truly serves your campaign’s needs.
Want to discuss your campaign’s digital strategy over coffee (virtual works too!)? Choose a time or reach out at Sean@VOTEGTR.com. I’m always happy to share ideas and help good candidates build the professional online presence they deserve.