Creating a Website for Your Campaign

If you are new to running for office you will eventually need to build a website for your campaign. It doesn’t have to be too complex, but it needs to be able to convey your message and goals clearly. APS Sciences is here to help in providing you a simple but detailed guide on what should be in your website.

What should your website have at a bare minimum?

1. An About You section
2. A way that people can donate to your campaign
3. A way that your constituents can contact your campaign
4. An section describing what your plans are if you are elected
5. An optional section for selling or giving away merchandise
6. Lastly, an optional section with up to date news on your campaign or the current political environment

We will go over the details about every section, but your website isn’t restricted to what’s in this article. If you feel it is necessary to add or subtract some sections, then by all means go ahead. This is just to serve as a general guide for most campaigns.

The About You section is the bread and butter of your website. This is where you will be giving your voters a good idea of who you are, why they should vote for you, and why you think you are the best person for that position. When talking about yourself, you want to highlight your previous goals and accomplishments, while not coming off as pretentious or above anyone else.  It’s important to show that you are qualified for your position, but you don’t need to brag or disparage anyone else. Talk about where you came from, where you live now, your education, your previous work, any experiences you had with the community, and anything else you think would make you seem like the best candidate. If you feel as if you aren’t the most qualified because you don’t have 30 years of political experience, that’s perfectly fine. Everything that you have done in your life has taught you a valuable skill or lesson. Try to highlight your thought process or what you learned from your mistakes. Politics isn’t about who has the most experience, it’s about who the community thinks will do the best for them, and the About You section is where you prove that you are the best.

The next most important section is to have a way for people to donate to your campaign. This is going to be the primary way that you collect donations. Whenever you make an ask to someone, you want to direct them to your donation link, to make the process as easy as possible. If there are any issues with how this section runs, then chances are that when someone tries to donate but struggles at all, they just won’t donate. Make sure that this section is very easy to read and follow. Once this is setup, you can also use this to help keep track of your finances for when your FEC filings are due.

On your website you want to make sure that there is a way for your voters to contact you and your campaign. This can be a simple fillable form that will email your campaign, or it could be a phone number and address. It is important to ensure that voters feel as if their voices are heard, and you will want to respond to as many of them as you can.

Now you will need a section describing what your plans are for your community once elected. This is where you showcase your agenda and goals. Some candidates include this section in the About You section, and some create a new section for this. The big thing to keep in mind when talking about your agenda is to not focus on high level agendas that aren’t something that you can accomplish. Keep your agenda focused on the things that matter to your voters, like fixing the local bridge, combating local waste issues, etc. This ensures that your voters know that you will support them and make a noticeable difference to their lives.

The last 2 sections of your website are optional and it depends on how active you want to be on your website. If you plan on selling merchandise or giving it away, then you will need to have a store. Most campaigns don’t have this, but if you are a large campaign then this is almost a necessity. You need to ensure that your store is easy to understand and when someone wants to make a purchase, they can do so without any issues. Lastly, if you would like to host a blog of current events, future events for your campaign, any social media post, or other forms of news, you may want to have a current events section on your website. This requires quite a lot of work to make sure that it is up to date, and ideally you will continue to update the website after your election, but this is an easy way for your voters to keep up to date with your campaign without having to be in constant communications with you. 

Hopefully this will provide you with the valuable insight that you need in order to create your own website. While APS Sciences doesn’t currently offer website creation for candidates. Within the next year we will be rolling out our website services to make your life even easier. Check back soon to see if we offer our services, so that you can focus on what’s truly important to your campaign.