It's campaign season and Candidates for office, usually challengers will feel like they need to have a website for their candidacy, but they are unsure how to start. This is not the last "To Do," item in campaign mission planning. It should be one of the first things you do. It's where followers, and voters can read about you and perhaps donate money to you.
I've been a website administrator for about 12 years as of this writing in 2024 and I've developed some ideas for Candidates out there about what makes a good campaign website
Consider a Name for Your Website
This is just my opinion about website names but you need have a formal name that is general in nature for your website name (domain name). If you go to the Minnesota Secretary of State's Candidate filing page candidates.sos.state.mn.us and click on one of the searches like State & Federal Candidates. There you can see a lot of good website names and a lot of bad ones.
The Good Website Names are ones which have the last name of the candidate and the district they are running in. If the first name is short then it's okay to add in the name like tadjude.com, Tad Jude is running in Minnesota's Congressional District 3 (CD3). Sometimes a candidate might want to run for another office in their city, for school board, and then run for another legislative office at a later date and instead of generating other specific websites for them they go with something plain with their name on it. Here's State Rep Walter Hudson's website hudsonformn.com.
Bad Website Names are ones that use a first name only, a nickname, or use numbers in place of words. There are other very unique names that are horrible too. Here are some examples of Bad Website Names. Just so we're not picking on one party because neither party has a lock on common sense or critical thinking. In Congressional District 6 (CD6), there is a Democratic Farmer & Labor (DFL) Party Candidate named Austin Winkleman who decided in CD6 to use the number 4 for the word "For" and it creates a bit of confusion as he's running in CD6, Austin4rep.com. This name uses the first name, a number for a word and while it's true he's running for a Rep office, it's not specific what sort of Rep the State House or US House? There's also some more confusion as there is an Austin MN, and while folks might know him as Austin, having his last name only would have been okay.
One example I'm on the fence about until I noticed either a typo or the candidate bought another domain name is for May Lor Xiong. She's the endorsed Republican from CD4 and it's listed as may4mn.com but when the site pops up it shows mayformn.com. It's an extra cost but if someone forgets the name then it still goes to the site. Her last name may sound unique there are quite a few Xiongs who run for office here, but if it were me, I would have had her full name on it with MN on the end before dot com.
Last few bad ones, here's one with a nickname, a Republican pickmickmn.com. Can you guess his name? His name is Michael J Ditlevson. The worst one I can see on there isn't too serious with this name makeusageeky.com.
As I stated above this is just my opinion about a website name but if you think about the Position as a job. What you do on your campaign is how you are applying for the job you'll want to put your best foot forward and help voters to remember you on the ballot.
Buy the Hosting Service First
Almost every candidate I know seems to kneejerk into buying the domain name first like from the much advertised GoDaddy. Or they will go with something they saw on TV like Square, or something else. Actually you should seek out a hosting company first. I went with what the owner of the site had, I-Power. If you go to their site you'll see a deal with using Wordpress website software. This would be the route to go with in my opinion. I-Power has partnered with BlueHost and they have a special deal on new accounts which is pretty cheap.
WordPress Website Creator
WordPress is an open source content management system (CMS). There are a number of free to use plug-ins and themes one can style your website with. They have a feature that shows what your site will look like called "Customize." It will show how it will look like from a desktop, a mobile tablet, and a smartphone. WordPress is used on about 40% of the websites in the world.
I tell people that if you can create a document with photos embedded in it with MS Word, you can do an article in WordPress. It's very similar to that set up. Dropping in YouTube or other videos are great because all you have to do is drop in the url of the video and it will play in the article just by clicking on it. You can add media in the forms of photos/images, website links listed as themselves or under a key word. When I list candidates on the saintpaulrepublicans.us/candidates page, I like to put candidate websites into the name of the person as well in a formal listing.
Though WordPress has a Block Editor which is incredibly annoying, so I use the Classic Editor mostly, or I use a plug-in called Disable Gutenberg which keeps the Classic Editor as the main way to craft an article.
Static vs Latest Post Home Page
I prefer the Latest Post Home Page as a campaign season there might be issues to address. However if you are using your website as basically an electronic business card for your campaign then a Static Home page would be best for you. You can always have a blog with your site that covers latest issues.
Campaign Content
Once you have your website set up and you're looking to do some content for your website there are some musts to have on your site.
Musts:
Pictures of you, your family, you and your pets. If you have a picture of yourself make sure you have a toothy smile. When I see Trump smiling without showing his teeth it looks like a grimace or indigestion. Don't have crazy eyes. Think of your website as an interview for a job, which it kind of is for an office that you need the most votes. Keep the pictures tame. Photos of you and your pets attract a certain voter that likes pets, but animals are great judges of a person's character and if the dog looks terrified to be around you, that's an alarm to a voter. Ask your family if they want to be in photos with you. If they want to sit this out it's not unheard of but like the pet photos, lack of family photos is a negative sign to some voters. There's also a US Senate Primary Challenger this year, 2024, that doesn't have any photos of himself on his website. That's a problem for voters too. I scoured the internet and on Ballotpedia there was a photo of the candidate with his dog and I was wondering why he didn't have this excellent photo on his website, which to me was a red flag on his candidacy.
Have tools for Voters to use. On my main site, I have Maps of Wards, Precincts, MN State House & Senate Districts, and the Congressional District. I have polling locations. I have ways one can apply for an absentee ballot, and also how to register to vote. I have documents of the organization that governs the area, or organization it used to cover. I also have documents like State and Federal Constitutions. The Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers.
Have a Contact Page. On my main site I have a Candidates Page. In the Candidates Page I have a listing of all the endorsed candidates running for the Congressional Districts in Minnesota, the current US Senate Candidate, and the Candidates of the St Paul Local Party Units (aka BPOUs--it's a term Republicans in Minnesota use a lot for party units). If it is your contact page definitely have your contact information available. I have a kind of a Macro set up (a format I use to display the candidate information). For your site, list your contact information first, and if there are other endorsed candidates in your area from your party feel free to list their contact information as well. You might get thanked from those other candidates and they might attend some event you invited them to. They might include you in their campaign events.
Biography Page. Voters are interested to know how personable you are. What is your expertise, your experience at work, how old your kids are. How many dogs or cats you have. You might have horses on your spread but to appeal to the common voter you might want to not mention your Arabian Horses unless they are well known and your choice of pet is your 10 yr old Quarter Horse. If you have a weird upbringing, don't mention all the weird things that you've done. You want to convey you are not a kooky weirdo who wants to end the penny (there was a Congressional District Candidate I knew who wanted to get rid of pennies from being minted). List the important milestones in your career not every job you did for a temp agency. I have a sibling that did this and wondered why no one would hire her. Well when you have 100 different jobs on your resume that don't relate to the job you're applying for that can be an problem. Please mention your faith, even if you only go to church at Christmas, Easter, for Weddings, and Funerals.
Donations Page. One of the chief reasons you have a website is so people can learn about you and how to receive donations. I suggest to candidates to have a bank link, and also a physical address listed as well. The bank link you can set up with your bank to record the date, the name of the person, their address, email, phone number, and what they do for a living. Our state requires this information for reporting for Campaign Finance. Though in our state $20.00 or less doesn't have to be reported this way, but you'll want their contact info in case you have an event you might invite them to. Also make a note on the Donations Page that if the donor wants to opt out of being on your newsletter list or future emails have them type "Opt-out" in the comment section of the donation link. People hate too many emails from candidates. You want to be respectful of their privacy as they might tell others to avoid you if you pester them too much. The physical address is so they can cut you a check and send it to your location or a Post Office Box you set up. You don't have to share any of that money with a credit card service or bank fees for processing the donation.
Issues Page. When I do candidate interviews for Candidate articles I always ask them what their top 3 priorities are when they are elected. Most Republicans I can guess what their 3 priorities are without even asking them because Republican Candidates can be very predictable. Though you never know they might throw you a curveball. On your Issues Page I would list your Top Three Issues and make your list Top Heavy. When people come to your site more than likely they'll look at your Biography Page, then click on the Issues Page. If you are a Veteran like me and it's the top issue of yours but you listed it alphabetical order, it's a good chance that reader won't see it as it's near the bottom and they are only glancing at the list. So put your top 3 issues on the top of the list of issues.
Volunteer Page. A number of people don't really have the money to contribute to a candidate but they do have some free time to donate to a candidate they support. I live in an area like that. It's a very blue collar neighborhood and people tend to want to support a candidate with their time rather than their wallet. One time I heard a Country Club Republican who lived in White Bear Lake, a suburb of St Paul, say they would rather have 10 people give $100 than 100 people give $10. Myself? I would rather have the latter because the 100 people more than likely will volunteer their time to help you do lit drops, door knocking, or phone-banking for your campaign than the 10 people who think $100 is sufficient effort to help you out. In both cases you will generate the same amount but like I've mentioned you will get more people involved with lower donations. Volunteers are priceless in my opinion because they will do the work that you might have to do by yourself and they believe in your cause. However you need to not abuse their generous nature and if you don't reward them somehow or you rely on them too much you can burn them out. On the page list various ways they can contribute their time: yard sign placement/maintenance, door-knocking, phone-banking, literature "lit" drops, working a booth, and marching in parades.
Have a Balance of Content. Some sites are heavy on issues, and other are heavy on photos. Some are all issues, and others are all photos. A site I'll mention the name of the candidate is all on issues which is presented in a visual buckshot kind of way with underlines & contrasting colors. This website should appear in the "Don'ts" section below too because of the way it presents information: Patrick Munro for US Senate. Click on their name and you can see what I'm talking about in a visual sort of way. Sharon Anderson is a perennial candidate and runs as a Republican, but has never been endorsed by a local party unit. Her websites are hurtful to your eyes and they present information in an unbalanced way. I would have used her website but the MN Secretary of State's candidate filing page has a lot of negligent typos on it. She opted for a Facebook page and it too is an eyesore.
Disclaimer Statement. In Minnesota, the Campaign Finance & Disclosures Board (MN CFB) requires a disclaimer on the bottom preferably of the main page saying essentially it was paid for and prepared by the name of Candidate's Campaign Committee. I've done free websites to some candidates and if the website is free or a volunteer does it for no salary, then it would read something like Prepared by the Candidate's Campaign Committee. It's a source of nitpicking a concerned citizen or someone from the opposing party will point out.
Don'ts:
Here are some tips to not do on your website.
Crazy Pictures. I've mentioned it before, that you should not have crazy pictures. Photos that you need to clarify to voters about the context of what is going on. A great example is Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau's black face photo from college. You have probably seen this and while he didn't post it on any candidate page for office, it's out there and needs some clarification what is going on. It's offensive to a big chunk of voters directly and indirectly. Also avoid the crazy eye photos. A person not yourself or related to you should preview any photos you want to put on your site. A local candidate in 2022 and also 2024 has some photos of himself that make him appear like he escaped a mental institution. If there is a political cartoon you think is funny, it might not make sense or isn't funny to someone else, so run it by a 3rd party before you decide to add it to your site.
Pop up Videos. Any sort of pop up screen on your website should be avoided as most people will have the pop up blocker on. A Secretary of State Candidate in Minnesota who ran in 2018 asked me to take a look at his site to work out any bugs or what I thought of it. There was a good balance of information on it. It had all the Musts from the above lists on it but there was one problem that was super annoying. It was a pop up video that initially when you enter the site it introduces the candidate in a short video. The video was well done, but the problem with it was when you went from page to page it would pop up and start playing. I told the candidate that while the video was well done that the page to page pop up was annoying. Also if you have visited the site before it should know and not always pop up the video again. He made the changes to the site and unfortunately he didn't win in 2018.
Unbalanced Information. See "Have a Balance of Content," in the "Musts" section above for reference. Don't assume the reader or voter is completely clueless about the issues. Often times some candidates feel they have to spell out everything about an issue. Just enough background on an issue is enough, and like the Issues page in the "Musts," above state your position right away. If one has to hunt for your position which is buried in the loquacious background you've spelled out, the reader/voter will get frustrated.
Slogans that mean nothing. I like it when candidates articulate their beliefs. They state their position on an issue then support it with verifiable facts from more than one source. Instead you have candidates tell the voters to, "Vote Red," or on the Democrat side, "Vote Blue." For many senior citizens they grew up in an era when the Political Parties had the opposite Electoral colors, Democrats were Red, and the Republicans were a Dark Royal Blue. So when you say vote Red, those Senior Citizens will be confused as Red was also and still is the color of Communism, Nazism, Fascism, and Socialism. You might say the colors don't mean anything but they do and Democrats their philosophy today is openly communist and you can't call them Reds anymore because that was a purposeful change the Media did in the elections of 2000 to 2006. In 2008 the colors had flipped.
Endorsements. The biggest difference between a Republican and Democrat Websites is the latter will have an endorsements section. There's a Minnesota State Supreme Court Candidate who had been appointed by the current MN State Governor Tim Waltz. The candidate's name is Karl Procaccini; his endorsement page is a who's who of the Democrat Party www.karlforjustice.com/supporters. Charles Nauen is one of his Co-Chairs. Mr Nauen is the top DFL Attorney for the party. He's one guy I wouldn't have accepted to be part of the campaign as he has a shady background being connected to the investigation of former US Rep Keith Ellison's alleged battery of his girlfriend. Some endorsements like this one are just a black eye to the campaign. Despite the Judge & Justice campaigns being nonpartisan, listing a bunch of heavy hitters from one side of the aisle has tainted your campaign.
FAQs. Avoid having a FAQs or Frequently Asked Questions page. In 2018 a guy was running for Minnesota Governor. I saw that he was running so I went to his website to click on everything. I do that to "kick the tires," of the website. He had a FAQs section and I asked myself why he had this when no one knew who he was in the first place. So I contacted him and said he should lose that section. I said to him if he covers his expertise and background in the Biography section you won't need a FAQs section.
Avoid Email or Platform sign ins. I explain about a website that uses this below, called Nationbuilder. The main reason to avoid building your database using this kind of interaction is privacy. It is a bit murky on how someone's contact information is used when you require people to do a sign in using their email or a platform like Facebook, X/Twitter, etc. On regular websites if you sell or exchange money somehow it is suggested to have a privacy disclaimer page.
Avoid Nationbuilder & similar Websites. There are a number of professionally made websites. The ones that come to mind are Nationbuilder, and Buzz360. Mostly they are too costly and they advertise a Ferrari like performance when you really only need Ford F150 like capabilities. Websites I've mentioned are Electronic business cards and they give a Who, What, Why, and a Donor opportunity to candidates. These others will track and collate the people who come to your website to learn about who you are. Nationbuilder has a weird interface with visitors such that they want you to sign in with your email, phone or some other platform and I think that gets into an area that violates the privacy of the visitor. Buzz360 is a website run by an insider in the Minnesota Republican Party. They have cooked up a deal where you can get the State Party's campaign apps year round if you buy one of their websites for your campaign or for a party unit. This looks like steering and is possibly illegal. At I-power or another hosting site they may have professionals to help you set up a site, but it's a finite fee or part of a package.
Rome Wasn't Built in a Day and Neither Should Your Website
Hopefully I've given you some things to think about when you are planning your campaign website. They say Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither should your website for your campaign. There needs to be a lot of thought put into your site, how you craft your message is how people may see, hear and absorb your message.
Need Help Setting it up?
If you need help setting up a Website, send me a message through this account. I mostly do website content creation. Occasionally I help set them up. I can show you how to post articles too.
Thank you for reading my post. ~~ Publius Jr.