Competitive Analysis - Site Redesign

25 May 2021

to determine the strengths and weaknesses of other websites as well as strategies that may help us identify our unique advantage

Solar Cars: Madhav Anugopal (Unlicensed) Vanessa Szymanski (Deactivated) Colman Tsang

Volunteering Websites: Ryan Lott Lily Ding (Deactivated)

Hosting Platforms: Ryan Lott Colman Tsang

https://www.mitsolar.com/

https://sunstang.com/

• Landing page has more information than ours: video with text overlay, sponsors carousel, about us, team, link to newsletter

http://blueskysolar.utoronto.ca/

https://calgarysolarcar.ca/

https://habitat.ca/en/

• Volunteering links

• alternative ways to give links

• news and reports from volunteers, projects, and donors

• Big “donate” button in top right corner that is very visible

  • Clicking it takes you straight to an easy to understand form that allows you to donate directly from it

• Interactive map on where to volunteer

• Links are clear and easy to differentiate in navbar

• very clear mission statement first thing

  • good for volunteering websites

• takes a lot of links to find what you want

  • ie. like 4 links to get to another specific location website for habitat for humanity

• Design of website is a little all over the place and difficult to follow

  • Not very structured content

• make navbar very clear for projected audience

• Maybe a particular “donate”/”sponsor” link like the donate button on their site

https://www.convoyofhope.org/

• In depth landing page

• Many links to past projects and what they’ve done

• Lists multiple ways to help out

• Organized and easy to navigate menu

• “Because of you” used multiple times - connects personally with readers/volunteers

• Their impact is highlighted through achievements and stats

• Multiple calls to action

  • Top right donate button that scrolls and links on the page itself

• “What we do” section small and easy to miss

• Is not clear immediately the mission statement/what the organization does specifically

• Perhaps a section of the landing page (if we were to do a more in-depth one) honouring our sponsors, like “because of our sponsors, we can….”

• Donate button with the menu maybe

https://www.rotary.org/en

• One of the biggest volunteer organizations

• Lots of confident wording - “no challenge is too big for us”

• Landing page with a specific flowing narrative

• Lets you pause the home page videos

• Both a “join” and a “donate” button right at the very top, and again at the bottom of the page

  • Multiple calls to action on the page

• Causes and mission very clear from the start

• States their name multiple times on home page

• The big drop-down menu can be a bit overwhelming

• Menu can only be accessed if you scroll back up to the top of the page

  • Lots of things aren’t linked on the landing page

• Find ways to incorporate “Midnight Sun” outside of the logo

• Have multiple calls to action to sponsor us

https://www.peacecorps.gov/

• many call to action buttons

• quick and clear statement

• large and easy to ready words

• call to action is great, gives so many options to get to the same link from one page

• accessible font size and weight

• nice drop down menus from navbar

• easy to find stories for emotional connection

Wordpress/Elementor
https://elementor.com/

• Drag & Drop Editing

• Customizable with in-depth code

• Lots of plugins/themes

• Cheaper than current

• Lots of templates and pre-mades to choose from

• Lots of plugin options

• Have to rebuild completely from scratch

• Have to know how to connect domain + manage ssl

• $49/USD a year (1Pro Website)

Bootstrap Studio
https://bootstrapstudio.io/

• Drag & Drop editing

• Customizable with in-depth code

• Cheap (one time payment for editor)

• Have to understand bootstrap a little

• Rebuild from scratch

• Not much templates to choose from

• Have to know how to connect domain + manage ssl

• One time payment of $69

Wix

https://www.wix.com/

• Drag & Drop editing

• Customizable with in-depth code

• lots of plugins/themes

• 1 Year free domain

• Lots of premade themes

• Have to rebuild from scratch

• Kinda pricy ngl

• $20USD/Month (business basic)

  • or $14/month (Unlimited plan)