International Volunteer Programs Association: Website Redesign
Request for Proposals
Project Summary
This Request For Proposals (RFP) is for the redesign of International Volunteer Program Association’s (IVPA) current website www.volunteerinternational.org.
The main purpose in a site redesign is to create a more visually appealing and adaptable site to increase visitor traffic.
Company Information
IVPA is a small 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to promoting awareness and access to quality volunteer aboard programs. IVPA is committed to standards of excellence in the field of international volunteering and IVPA member organizations must uphold the IVPA’s Principles and Practices as guidelines for good programming as well as meet stringent membership criteria. IVPA is an association of volunteer sending organizations but does not organize or run its own volunteer programs.
Audience
The main target audience for the IVPA website is US Americans interested in volunteering abroad. Secondary geographic target location would be English speakers and those interested in volunteering from Canada, UK and Australia. The target age ranges from 16 – 65 years old with prime target being 19-24 year olds.
The majority of the visitors to the site are from the United States followed by Canada, United Kingdom, China and Australia.
Tools and High Level Functionality
The functionality of the IVPA website should include the following features and tools:
- Content management so that text can be easily added to and updated
- Integration of IVPA blog (currently hosted on free version of WordPress)
- Email sign-up for newsletter (currently run by Campaign Monitor). Would like to add a bot prevention
- Links to social media: Twitter, FB and IG
- Map or search feature for current countries where IVPA Members have programs.
- Currently we have a search feature that allows visitors to search by project type and/or location. This is a valuable feature but is problematic for the redesign. The search function is written in Flash which limits our alternative host options
Design Look & Feel
- Clean lines
- Nice use of white space
- Good use of graphics and photography
- Easy to read and digest information.
- Trustworthy
- Promotes international volunteerism
SEO
In a search of “volunteer international” IVPA’s website comes up first. Yet with other similar searches like “volunteer abroad” IVPA does not come up on the first page.
In 2013, the IVPA website averaged 13,057 visitors a month with 51% absolute unique visitors.
A large portion, 55%, of traffic came through organic searches and 14% came to the site directly. Key words and phrases used in searches by visitors included variations of the words international, volunteer, programs.
SEO remains a high priority for the IVPA site and there is concern about a website redesign altering our Google ranking. We would like to increase our SEO with the new site.
Traffic Reporting
We currently use Google Analytics and would like to continue to do so for our web trafficking needs.
Budget (including hosting and maintaining)
We do have an alternative hosting options that cost around $60/yr. Current web changes are done pro bono by the previous designer of the IVPA site. With the redesign we would not have a dedicated webmaster and any updates would be done in house.
Our budget allotted for this project is up to $7,000.
Proposal Instructions
All proposals should be received by 8:00pm ET on April 30, 2014. Submit your proposal by e-mail to Genevieve Brown g.brown@volunteerinternational.org
As part of your proposal, please address the following:
- Sample Project Plan
- Project Budget
- Your approach to web design
- Details regarding your website project management process
- A summary of website development experience
- A list of at least two client references
- Identify who will be involved on your project team, including their relevant experience and credentials
Please be sure to include the name and contact details of persons to be approached for clarification of the proposal if needed
Proposed Timeline
The desired delivery date for the revised website is August 31, 2014.
Contact Info
Genevieve Brown, Executive Director
International Volunteer Programs Association
g.brown@volunteerinternational.org
646-505-8209