This report(PDF) from the Wilburforce Foundation and the Brainerd Foundation, does a good job highlighting standard best practices for online engagement, and does it through the compelling lens of seeing the positive impact in a political campaign. Here are some key ideas that we’ll be taking to heart here at Front Seat:

• Hire great people with professional experience. (We just started recruiting for a new Marketing Manager.)
• Always be testing. (We’ve integrated Google Analytics, but we’re not yet in an analytic-driven, continuous testing mind set.)
• Get signups first. You can get revenue later. (Sign up here!)
• Make sure that all of your emails have a consistent narrative arc.
• Email frequency can go up around specific, time-critical events, without losing your readers

I got more inspiration from the report than just these bullets, but you’ll have to wait to see how our sites change to find out!