Campaign website guides
Practical, free and written for people running for local office. Use them to build your own site, or to know what to ask for.
Planning
- Campaign website vs Facebook page: you need bothFacebook is where your neighbors scroll. Your website is where they land when they want to know who you are. One rents attention; the other is yours.
- Choosing a campaign domain nameYour web address goes on yard signs, push cards and the side of your truck. Pick one that a voter can remember after driving past it at 45 miles an hour, and make sure you own it.
- How much does a campaign website cost?Anywhere from nothing to several thousand dollars, depending on who does the work. Here is what each option really costs through Election Day, including the parts nobody puts on the pricing page.
- What every campaign website needsA local campaign site does a few jobs: tell voters who you are, show where you stand, and make it easy to give, help and vote. Here is the short list of pages and pieces that do that work.
- When to launch your campaign websiteShort answer: before you announce, or the same day. Here is a backward timeline from Election Day 2028, and what to do now if you're still deciding.
Content
- Campaign photos on a budget: the six shots you needYou do not need a professional photographer to have a good campaign website. You need six honest photos, decent light, and a friend with a steady hand.
- Campaign website accessibility: reach every voterAn accessible campaign site is one more voters can actually read, on any phone, in any light, at any age. Here is what to check and how to fix it.
- How to write issue pages voters actually readVoters don't want a platform. They want to know what you'll do about the road they drive every morning. Here is how to write issue pages that answer that.
- How to write your candidate bioYour bio is the second most-read page on your site. Here is how to write a short and a long version that tell voters who you are and why you're running.
- Volunteer and yard sign signups that people actually finishYour get-involved page is where a supporter turns into a helper. Keep the forms short, ask for what you will use, and call people back fast.
Rules & money
- Campaign donation buttons that workThe donate button is a link, not a cash register. It sends supporters to your own donation page on a processor your state allows, where the money and the records stay with your campaign.
- Paid-for-by disclaimers on campaign websitesThat small line in the footer is one of the few parts of your website the law may care about. Here is what it is, where it goes, and how to confirm the exact rules for your race.
- Texting voters the right wayTexts get read when mailers don't. But carriers now filter unregistered campaign texts hard, and registration takes time and a working website. Here's the setup, in order.