As an animal shelter director, you know how vital an engaging website is to your mission. Not only does it serve as a digital face of your organization, but it's also often the first point of contact for potential adopters and donors. Creating an impactful website, however, usually requires hiring an expensive web developer or learning complex coding yourself. If you want to build a stunning website to spread your message and help more animals in need without breaking the bank or tearing your hair out, you've come to the right place. With an intuitive website builder like Unicorn Platform, you can create a fully custom site in a flash through an easy drag-and-drop interface and designer templates tailored for animal shelters and nonprofits. Forget about hiring web pros or figuring out HTML - with Unicorn, you have the power to craft a website as unique as the animals you serve.
And if you need a landing page for your pet grooming business, Unicorn Platform can help you there too. Check out our article on how to build a pet grooming landing page in minutes with Unicorn Platform to learn more.
Why Your Animal Shelter Needs a Website
As an animal shelter, having an online presence is crucial to helping more pets find their forever homes. A website allows you to reach more potential adopters and donors, raise awareness about your mission, and gain credibility as a reputable organization.
- Build trust and transparency. A website shows you have nothing to hide and are a legitimate shelter. Adopters can learn about your adoption policies, fees, and procedures upfront before visiting in person.
- Increase adoptions. By featuring photos and profiles of available pets, you make it easy for people to fall in love with an animal in need of a home. Include details on the animal’s age, breed, personality, and any special needs to help match them with the right owner.
- Raise donations. A well-designed website, especially one with photos and stories of animals you’ve helped, inspires people to give. Include easy ways for visitors to donate money, supplies, or their time as volunteers.
- Promote events and news. Keep your site updated with the latest fundraising campaigns, news coverage, events like adoption days or open houses, and success stories of pets recently adopted into their forever homes. Engage visitors and give them reasons to return to your site.
- Build SEO and traffic. An optimized website with relevant keywords, content, and metadata helps raise your rank in search engines like Google. The higher your ranking, the more people will find your shelter when searching for animal adoption in your area.
In summary, a professional animal shelter website is one of the best investments you can make to fulfill your mission. While designing and building a site may seem daunting, user-friendly DIY website builders make the process simple, requiring zero technical skills. The rewards of more adoptions, donations, and awareness far outweigh the effort required. Every pet deserves a chance at finding a loving home. A well-crafted website can help make that possible.
How to Build an Animal Shelter Website With No Coding Required
To build an engaging animal shelter website without coding, you need a simple yet powerful website builder. Using a drag and drop website builder, you can create a professional animal shelter website in a few hours without any technical skills.
With a website builder like Unicorn Platform, here are the main steps to build your animal shelter website:
- Choose a template. Browse the template library and select an animal shelter website template you like. The templates are fully customizable, so you can tweak the design to match your brand.
- Add your content. Upload photos and write descriptions of animals up for adoption. Create pages highlighting your mission, events, news, and how people can donate or volunteer. Share heartwarming stories of animals finding their forever homes.
- Include key details. Specify your shelter's location, hours of operation, and contact information prominently on the site. Have separate sections for dogs, cats and other animals. List details for each pet like breed, age, temperament, and adoption fees.
- Optimize for search engines. Use important keywords related to animal shelters in your page titles, headings, and content. This will help people find your website when searching online for animal shelters or pet adoptions in your local area.
- Promote your site. Spread the word about your new animal shelter website on social media, in newsletters, flyers, and local publications. The more people that visit your site, the more animals will get exposure and increase their chances of being adopted into loving homes.
With some time and effort, you can create an amazing animal shelter website using a website builder. By providing useful information and sharing your mission, you'll connect with more members of your community and help find homes for animals in need.
Choose a Visually Appealing Template for Your Animal Shelter Website Design
Choose a Visually Appealing Template
When designing an animal shelter website, selecting an attractive template is key to creating a good first impression and user experience. As a nonprofit organization, your website acts as a virtual shelter where potential adopters and donors can learn more about your mission and available animals. Therefore, it is important to choose a template that is:
- Visually striking: Select a template with engaging photos, graphics, and icons that capture the heart of your organization. Images of animals in need of homes as well as happy animals in their forever homes will resonate most with visitors and encourage them to get involved.
- Easy to navigate: A simple, minimalistic layout with clear headings, sections and calls-to-action will make your website easy to navigate for all users. Dropdown menus, image carousels and embedded videos are useful for organizing details about your shelter, available animals, events and volunteer opportunities.
- Mobile-friendly: As more people access websites via mobile devices, it is crucial to choose a responsive template that looks great on phones, tablets and desktops. If your site is difficult to view or navigate on mobile, you risk losing a large portion of your audience and potential supporters.
- Customizable: Look for a flexible template that allows you to change fonts, colors, images and content as needed to match your shelter's branding and messaging. Some website builders like Unicorn Platform offer hundreds of customizable blocks, elements and sections to help you craft a unique design without any coding required.
By selecting an animal shelter website template based on these factors, you will end up with an impactful design that effectively engages your audience, educates them about your mission and prompts them to get involved through adoptions, donations or volunteering their time. With a professional web presence, you can spread awareness about animal welfare issues in your local community and beyond.
Add Images of Adorable Pets to Engage Visitors
Adding eye-catching images of adorable pets available for adoption is key to engaging visitors and conveying the animals’ personalities. High-quality photos will help showcase each pet in a positive light and encourage potential adopters to learn more.
Choose Photos That Capture the Pet's Essence
Select images that capture each animal’s unique qualities and spirit. Close-up shots of the pet interacting with toys or treats, or in an outdoor setting, often work well. For cats, include photos of them perched in a window, curled up asleep, or peeking around a corner. For dogs, feature images of them playing fetch, giving their owner the puppy dog eyes, or joyfully greeting someone.
Include Photos of Pets With Their Foster Families or Volunteers
Pictures of pets interacting with people also help demonstrate how friendly and socialized the animals are, which can reassure adopters. Ask foster families and volunteers if they have any photos of themselves with the pets that you can use. Be sure to get their permission to share the images on your website and social media.
Optimize Images for the Web
Choose images that are at least 1000 pixels in width to display well on mobile devices and high-resolution monitors. Save photos as JPEGs or PNGs in RGB color mode. Add alt text descriptions for accessibility and SEO. Using pets’ names in image filenames and alt text also helps associate their photos with their online profiles.
Create an Adorable Photo Gallery
Feature your best images in an eye-catching pet photo gallery on your website. Group images by pet type (e.g., cats, dogs, small animals) or location. Include navigation that allows visitors to browse all available pets or filter by attributes like age, breed, size or gender. A well-designed gallery with high-quality, optimized images is a great way to showcase your adorable pets and drive more adoptions.
Following these best practices for choosing and optimizing engaging pet photos will help make the animals’ profiles more compelling and increase their chances of finding a loving forever home. Adding an interactive image gallery takes it a step further by giving visitors an easy way to discover all the pets in your care through the power of visual storytelling.
Share Your Mission and How People Can Help
As an animal shelter, your mission is to help homeless pets find their forever homes. To accomplish this goal, you need to effectively communicate your mission to your audience and provide clear ways for them to offer their support.
Share Your Mission Statement
The mission statement succinctly conveys your core purpose and values. Place this prominently on your website, such as on the homepage. Explain how you aim to rescue animals in need, provide them shelter and care, and help them get adopted into loving families. Discuss how you strive to enrich the lives of both animals and people.
List Specific Ways to Help
Let visitors know exactly how they can support your cause in a meaningful way. For example:
- Donate money to help cover essential costs like food, medical care, and facility maintenance. Set up a simple donation form on your site.
- Sponsor an animal by contributing funds each month towards their care and upkeep until they find a permanent home. Share photos and stories of animals available for sponsorship.
- Volunteer time at the shelter walking, feeding, bathing and playing with the animals. Explain the volunteer application process and any necessary training.
- Foster an animal temporarily by taking them into your home. Discuss any requirements, like the level of care needed and length of stay.
- Adopt by providing a forever home to an animal in need of love and affection. Share pet profiles and adoption FAQs.
- Spread awareness about pet adoption and your shelter's mission on social media. Offer shareable posts and images for visitors to easily spread your message.
Call Them to Action
Finally, include clear calls to action, or CTAs, that prompt visitors to take the next step in supporting your cause, whether through donating, volunteering, adopting or spreading awareness. Place these CTAs prominently on your site, such as in page headers, sidebars and at the end of content sections. With an emotive and compelling mission statement and specific ways for people to help and get involved, you'll gain more support for your animal shelter.
Create Simple Donation Forms for Supporters
To allow your supporters to donate funds to help the animal shelter, you'll want to create simple yet effective donation forms on your website.
Include Donate Buttons
Include prominent "Donate Now" buttons on your website to make it easy for visitors to contribute. Place these buttons prominently on your homepage, "About Us" page, and "Donate" page. Consider providing options for one-time donations as well as recurring monthly donations.
Customize Donation Amounts
Allow your donors to choose from preset donation amounts, such as $25, $50, $100, $250, or enter their own custom amount. Be sure to set a minimum, such as $10 or $20, to offset any processing fees. You can also suggest donation amounts for specific needs, such as $50 to feed a dog for a week or $100 for medical treatment for a rescue animal.
Offer Additional Payment Options
In addition to accepting donations via credit card, allow donors to pay with checks, money orders, wire transfers, ACH payments from their bank accounts, and PayPal. The more payment options you provide, the easier you make it for supporters to donate in the method most convenient for them.
Provide Receipts and Updates
Email receipts immediately to donors to confirm their contributions for tax purposes. You should also provide occasional updates on how funds are being used to help the animals in your shelter. Share stories of animals that have been helped through medical care, microchipping, or other services provided through donations. This type of follow-up and transparency will inspire donors to continue their support of your organization.
By crafting simple yet effective donation forms and processes, you make it straightforward for your animal shelter to collect much-needed funds from generous supporters. Be sure to show gratitude for each and every gift to keep donors engaged and willing to contribute again in the future. Every dollar matters when it comes to helping rescue animals in need.
Share Updates on Animals Available for Adoption
To increase adoptions, it is important to regularly share updates on animals available for adoption on your shelter’s website. Keeping profiles up-to-date with photos and descriptions will allow potential adopters to connect with animals that interest them.
Highlight Adoptable Animals
- Feature animals on your homepage with names, photos, ages, and a short bio. This gives them visibility and personality.
- Create individual profile pages for each adoptable animal with details on their background, characteristics, and needs. Share details that bring out their unique personality to help them stand out.
- Post updates on social media with photos and information about adoptable animals. Many adopters search sites like Facebook and Instagram when looking to adopt.
Describe the Adoption Process
Explain the steps to adopt in a clear, easy-to-understand manner:
- Fill out an application to determine if the interested adopter's lifestyle matches the needs of the animal.
- Get approved to visit with animals that match your application. Meet with animals you connect with to find the right match.
- Once you choose an animal, complete the adoption contract and pay the required adoption fee. The fee covers essential vaccinations and medical care.
- Prepare to bring your new family member home! Review details on how to get set up with food bowls, toys, vet care, training, and more.
Share Happy Endings
- Post stories of successful adoptions on your website and social media. Share photos and updates from the adopters about how the animals are settling into their new homes.
- These “happy ending” stories inspire hope in potential adopters and show the impact of your mission. They demonstrate what can happen when people open their hearts and homes to shelter animals.
Keeping your website up-to-date with profiles of adoptable animals and sharing details on the adoption process and successful adoption stories will help raise awareness about animals in need of homes and increase adoptions from your shelter. By giving people an easy way to learn about and connect with animals that match their lifestyle, you'll be bringing families together and saving more lives.
Write Blog Posts to Spread Awareness About Important Issues
To raise awareness about important issues affecting animals in your local community, regularly publishing blog posts on your animal shelter’s website is an impactful strategy.
Write About Urgent Needs
Highlight any urgent needs or requests for donations your shelter currently has, such as:
- Supplies running low (food, litter, cleaning products, etc.)
- Overpopulation of certain animals leading to cramped living conditions
- Difficulty finding foster homes or permanent adoptions for certain animals
- Upcoming fundraising campaigns or events
Spreading the word about these urgent needs and calls-to-action will allow supporters to take immediate action.
Educate the Public
Use blog posts to teach the public about various topics related to animal welfare, such as:
- The importance of spaying and neutering pets. Discuss how it helps address overpopulation and leads to healthier, happier animals.
- Common myths and misconceptions about shelter animals. Dispel stigmas around “used” or “damaged” goods. Many shelter animals are healthy, socialized and ready for adoption.
- Responsible pet ownership. Discuss things like the time, money and commitment required to properly care for a pet. Highlight the benefits of microchipping, ID tags, training, exercise, grooming, vet care, and more.
- Updates on legislation or political issues affecting animal rights and welfare. Discuss new or upcoming laws on topics like animal cruelty, wildlife protection, farm animal conditions, etc. and ways for people to take action by contacting government representatives.
Share Heartwarming Stories
Blog posts highlighting successful adoption stories, acts of animal heroism, or any heartwarming story related to your shelter’s mission and values are always crowd-pleasers. Photos and videos of the animals involved will make these stories even more impactful. Readers will appreciate feeling good while also gaining more insight into the meaningful work your shelter does.
Using your website’s blog to spread awareness about urgent needs, educate the public on important issues, and share inspiring stories is an effective way to garner support for your animal shelter. Be sure to promote new blog posts on social media to reach as wide an audience as possible.
FAQ: How Do I Build an Animal Shelter Website With Unicorn Platform?
To build an animal shelter website with Unicorn Platform, follow these steps:
Select a Template
Choose from Unicorn Platform’s pre-designed templates for an animal shelter website. Options include a minimal homepage, gallery page, contact page, and blog page. Select templates that match your shelter’s brand and mission.
Add Pages
Include essential pages like “About Us,” “Adopt,” “Donate,” “Volunteer,” and “Events.” An “About Us” page should share your shelter’s story and mission. An “Adopt” page profiles available pets. A “Donate” page makes it easy for visitors to contribute financially. A “Volunteer” page recruits help. An “Events” page promotes fundraising events.
Upload Photos
Feature photos of adoptable animals, happy adopted pets, staff, volunteers, facilities, events, etc. Professional photos are most impactful but any photos are better than none. Photos bring your website to life and connect visitors emotionally.
Share Your Mission
Explain your shelter’s mission, values and goals. Discuss the importance of animal welfare in your community. Share stories of the lives you’ve saved and changed. Help visitors understand the meaningful impact of supporting your cause.
Make Donating Simple
Include options for one-time or recurring donations. Accept payments through platforms like PayPal, Stripe and Square. Offer opportunities to donate essential supplies in addition to money. Provide details on how donations are used to inspire generosity.
Promote Adoptable Pets
Profile each adoptable pet with a photo, name, breed, age, and biography. Mention special needs or circumstances to find the right home. Feature a few “ Pet of the Week” to increase visibility. Make it easy for visitors to inquire about pets of interest.
Unicorn Platform enables you to quickly build a professional, impactful animal shelter website without advanced technical skills. By following these recommendations, you can create an online space to save and improve the lives of homeless animals in your community. Please let us know if you have any other questions!
Conclusion
Building a website for an animal shelter is a noble goal that can help connect abandoned pets with their forever homes.With an easy to use platform like Unicorn, you have the power to create a professional site in just a few hours without any coding experience. By choosing an eye-catching template, adding photos of the adorable pets up for adoption, and sharing your mission with visitors, you'll have an effective digital presence for your shelter in no time. Best of all, Unicorn is completely free to use, so you can focus your funds on helping more animals in need. What are you waiting for? Get started today and create a website as memorable as the pets you help.
