By Carrie Spates, Design Manager, Siteworx

Nonprofit clients I work with generally have mastered the art of engaging members and supporters once they are in the door. But with the ever-changing properties and tools on the Internet, that door has evolved into countless spaces, conversations, and opportunities that can seem tough to tackle.

If you aren't using your Web presence to engage committed and potential members, you're losing a prime opportunity. The days of "reaching out" via a static website and hoping people come to you are over. You need to join the conversation where it's happening. You can't bring the mountain to you; you have to go to the mountain.

Before you take that first step though, remember that your Web efforts, no matter how big or small, should advance your comprehensive marketing and business strategy. Base your plans on sound knowledge about who and where your users are, and what they're doing online. Finding out could be as simple as conducting a survey through your newsletter or website (try free tools at SurveyMonkey.com). Invest in this research up-front so that you can focus your resources where you'll make the biggest impact.

Once you have that research, you can begin engaging people online. Here are five cost-effective ways to engage on the Web and, where appropriate, some of my favorite tools for each task. Start with the basics, then move on to the big time.

1. Think Old School. Even in this social media age, content remains king. Make sure you're providing timely, valuable information, and using tried and true tools like newsletters and e-mail to remind people of the value you provide. If you are in the social media space, let people know by providing a Twitter feed or YouTube promotion on your website which can update automatically.
2. Diversify Your Content. Once you've got fresh content, spice it up with a photo or video. People love pictures and videos, and they can be easier to create and control than blogs. Again, don't forget about doing a little research first. If your audience is accessing your site with limited bandwidth, you may want to keep your content basic with no unnecessary bulk.
   
   Of course, lots of rich media can bog down your servers, leading to a slower response time, which can hurt your rankings on Google and other search engines. So, if you're serious about video, and like the control of hosting it on your site, try a content delivery network (CDN). With a CDN, your Web content is dispersed from your server to a global network of servers. Visitors are directed to the server nearest them, which increases the speed of delivery of your website and decreases the load on your originating web server.
3. Start a Conversation. On the Web, the best way to engage people is to ask a question. Polling widgets are a fun and simple way to interact with visitors on your site. They're irresistible, particularly simple multiple-choice questions that display a tally of the responses. They also serve as a great way to tap into your audience's interests and can help determine whether you should devote more resources to particular topics or needs by, for instance, a broader article or blog post. Tools like Zoomerang, Micropoll, and SuveyMonkey are good ones to consider.
4. Join the Conversation. If you want to catch fish, you have go where they're biting. In this case, that's in the social media world. Chances are, you can find your "fish" on Facebook (whose 350 million member population would make it the third largest country in the world) and lure them with a Cause or Fan page. Remember point #1 and keep your page fresh with new and interesting content.
   
   If you can't commit resources to maintain an active social media presence, start by guest blogging on relevant sites to get your name in front of your target audience. Or, join Quora, a fast-growing Q&A community. Quora lets members post questions on any topic and invites other members to post practical, factual answers. If you have a useful answer, you can gain a follower and impress the broader Quora audience with your expertise.
5. Monitor the Conversation. At formal dinner parties, you can usually only converse with the person on your left or on your right. In social media, you can talk to both at the same time, plus everyone else at the table, and everyone in the other room for that matter. It's hard to keep track of everything that's being said. Fortunately, several free or nearly free Web-based tools can help you manage the social media conversation. My favorites include both HootSuite and TweetDeck. These are "dashboard" programs that let you disseminate messages to multiple social media sites from one place simultaneously. You can also schedule updates in advance, track mentions of your organization or keywords, and find out what keywords people used to reach your site -- you might be surprised! HootSuite even automatically translates your posts to French or other languages for visitors coming from other countries. Ooh la la!

As you build your Web engagement toolkit, don't forget to track your results back to your strategic goals. Use more of what's working; put aside what's not. Engaging your audiences through the Web is feasible, and if you're really successful, the mountain may in fact, come to you.

Carrie Spates has more than twelve years of experience in user interface design in a wide range of commercial and nonprofit organizations. Carrie offers specific expertise in the areas of usability consulting, information architecture, user interface diagramming and requirements documentation. At Siteworx, she has solved complex user experience problems for Chronicle of Higher Education, the U.S. House of Representatives and AOL Help.