We’re excited to announce the launch of the freshly redesigned website for Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, a local land trust serving the well-known coastal town of Kennebunkport, Maine.
Since 1973, Kennebunkport Conservation Trust (KCT) has been preserving special places in Kennebunkport. To date, KCT has conserved over 3,000 acres and created over 30 miles of trails, with many successful initiatives for stewardship and education. The organization is grounded in the history of Kennebunkport's places and people.
The conservation organization discovered Ecopixel in its search for a web technology partner who understands the work of land trusts and has years of experience designing successful nonprofit websites. Ecopixel collaborated with KCT on a multifaceted project, including:
Brand identity evaluation & enhancement
At the start of the project, KCT realized its brand identity was not robust enough to serve as a foundation for the website redesign. Ecopixel collaborated with the organization’s staff and print designer to strengthen KCT’s brand identity. Ecopixel provided:
- Typography: researched and designed usage around freely available fonts that had the right balance across website, publications, and maps
- Color palette: extended the color scheme used in KCT’s logo to add warmth and give it a coastal feel
- Style guide: documented the new identity components for consistent use by the organization
Accessible and mobile-friendly web design
With the brand identity polished up, Ecopixel and KCT worked together on a fresh nonprofit website design. The new web design has many improvements, including:
- Fundraising out front: Ecopixel streamlined access to the donation form and made it much more visible
- On brand: the new web design is consistent with the land trust's branding
- Inclusion & accessibility: the new templates adhere to WCAG 2.2 level AA, the international standard for web accessibility, as well as compliance with the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) act
- Mobile friendly design: the new site looks and works great on any screen size, on mobile, tablet, and desktop devices, and over slower mobile networks
Complex content migration
Ecopixel also worked with KCT to re-platform the website from Squarespace to Ecopixel. Squarespace is optimized for small websites, and KCT had far outgrown it. Ecopixel helped KCT undertake extensive content cleanup ahead of the migration. When it came to the migration itself, Ecopixel worked around major bugs in Squarespace’s data export. Ecopixel tackled this challenge by:
- Migrating content dating back 20 years, including over 600 blog posts, about 80 pages, and over 1,500 media files
- Developing software to mitigate major Squarespace XML data export bugs
- Cleaning up content formatting after migration
- Reorganizing content for easy visitor migration
Robust content management
On their old Squarespace website, KCT was held back by slow editing, limited menu and content organization tools, and a media library that was impossible to organize. Ecopixel’s platform is powered by the fast, flexible, and secure TYPO3 CMS. This “enterprise for everyone” content management system (CMS) empowered KCT staff to take full control of their content and finally create the kind of engaging content the organization has needed. Benefits of Ecopixel and TYPO3 CMS include:
- A state-of-the-art content management system you’ll never outgrow
- Media management including folders, categories, tagging, and search
- Engaging news and publications display and categorization
- Full-featured SEO guidance with integrated Yoast SEO
Built-in event registration & reservations system
The nonprofit had struggled with the Squarespace calendar and worked around it by embedding a Google Calendar. But that lacked sharability and branding, leading to workarounds that took extra time. With Ecopixel’s platform, the built-in event registration system makes it easy to:
- Show upcoming events on the home page
- Create custom signup forms for special events
- Design engaging event signup pages
- Limit attendees per event and registrants per sign-up
- Integration with CRMs like Bloomerang and Little Green Light
For years, the organization has to maintain a separate site to handle campsite reservations on several islands it has conserved. Ecopixel was able to put the reservations features directly in the main website, keeping constituents fully engaged with the organization and giving staff more content flexibility and control.
Training, ongoing support, and proactive improvements
A great website wouldn’t be so great without a readily accessible helping hand. Ecopixel helps nonprofits make full use of their websites. We take care of ongoing maintenance, support, training, backups, security, upgrades, and a reliable cloud platform. With Ecopixel, you can stop trying to manage your own website and focus on your mission and programs!
Ecopixel also keeps a close eye on the website and proactively improves the website.
Does your nonprofit need a website like this?
If your nonprofit is planning a website redesign, improving accessibility and mobile experience, or looking for better fundraising and communications tools, we’d love to talk. Ecopixel has specific website solutions for land trusts and other nonprofits.
Reach out to us via the demo request form and we’ll help you plan the next steps.