The Surprising Link Between Membership Growth & Sustainable Web Design

About This Episode

In this episode, we talk about digital sustainability and how sustainable web design can help to improve the user experience. We will explore how the pursuit of sustainable web projects can produce more functional websites and help associations to drive traffic to their website. 

Tom Greenwood is an author, web designer, and activist devoting his time to the field of sustainable web design. His work demonstrates that making eco-friendly choices does not have to be a sacrifice; environmental choices can impact our membership and association's growth for the better!

Full List of Questions We Asked Tom

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your work?

What is sustainable web design?

What are some of the advantages of thinking about sustainable web design?

How popular should a website be to be really serious about this?

Can you walk us through your process: how would you build sustainability into the process?

How would you change the user experience on a website to make it sustainable?

Sustainable web design is a mutual responsibility of both the client and the developers. What can the developers do to impress upon the client that sustainable web design should be a priority?

What is the role of the client?

Should we really cut down the content on our sites and really focus in on a few things that really matter?

We are a big proponent of reducing waste. What practices can designers and developers change about our work to be more sustainable?

We build membership sites where many members visit the same pages. Is there better value to optimize the sustainability of pages that are used more than others?

We are working on a lot of websites where we are trying to include accessibility. Is there a way to include accessibility and sustainability principles hand-in-hand in the design?

For membership websites, are there things they can do to reduce their carbon footprint?

For the day-to-day activities, what are sustainable choices associations can make?

You mentioned a website that can help people assess the sustainability of their website. Tell us more about this.

Audience Questions

What are some examples of web design choices that people make that they don't realize have a terrible ecological impact?

How can we communicate our sustainable web choices without being pretentious or gimmicky?

Does eco-friendly also mean the long-term sustainability of the internet?

Closing Questions

What is your biggest takeaway for our audience?

Can you share a personal habit that has contributed the most to your success?

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