Filing week is the starting gun. The moment your name is on the ballot, voters, reporters, and donors start searching for you — and if there is nothing to find, that first impression goes to your opponent by default.
A campaign website is the single cheapest, highest-leverage asset a Washington candidate can own before that happens. It works while you sleep: it takes donations, signs up volunteers, and tells your story in your words instead of your opponent's.
What a campaign site actually needs to do
Most candidate sites try to do too much and convert nobody. The job is simpler than it looks. A site that wins does four things well:
- Takes money. A WinRed or Anedot donate button, above the fold, working on every phone. The donate button is almost always the highest-converting element on the page.
- Builds the list. An email and volunteer signup form. Your list is the one asset you keep after Election Day.
- States the case. A short bio and three to five issues in plain language. Voters skim — give them something to skim.
- Earns trust. A real headshot, endorsements, and a PDC-compliant disclaimer footer so the whole thing looks legitimate.
Everything else — event calendars, photo galleries, press pages — is a bonus, not the foundation.
Why timing beats polish
The most common mistake is waiting for the "perfect" site. A live, simple site beats a perfect site that launches in October. Search engines need time to index you, your donate link needs to be in circulation, and your opponents are not waiting.
The practical target: have something live before filing week, then improve it as the campaign matures. Launching in under a week is entirely doable when the content is ready.
Own it outright
One more thing that matters more than candidates expect: own your site. The domain, the code, the content — all of it should be yours, portable to any host or developer. A campaign that rents its website is one missed invoice away from going dark at the worst possible moment.
Foresight Productions builds flat-rate campaign websites for Washington State Republican candidates — donate-ready, mobile-first, PDC-aware, and live in under a week. Start your campaign intake →