Your site needs to be attractive to three audiences:
First-time visitors to the site (accidental or otherwise)
These people may have come through by accident. They searched for "guns" or "sex" and the search engine directed them to your libertarian site. :-)
If they're from your state, great, here's your chance to make a first impression! Remember that they may not land at your top page. If they reach a subpage, will they know they are at a libertarian site? Will they know what state? Will they know where in the site they are, and how to get to other content--whether they want more of the same, or information about your party?
If they're not from your state, you could still be making a first impression for the Libertarian Party. Will they understand what the party stands for? Do you offer a link to the National party site?
By the way, you can tell how they are finding your site. Your Web server log files contain information about how people got directed to your site: including the search terms entered at a search engine that yielded your page. They can make for fascinating reading once you get up to a certain level of activity, and the information should be used to further target your site's message. It should also be used to refine the META keyword list your should have on each document. (See Nuts and Bolts, (coming soon))
People coming to the site for info
They may have searched for Libertarianism or "AZ State Libertarian Party"--or about an issue that you're highlighting on your front page. Or they may have picked up a flyer with your URL and they want to find a local meeting. You need them to find this information as quickly as possible. If they are coming from a search engine, they have 56,789 other choices (at least!) they can look at. If they get to your front page, and don't at least see a link that takes them closer to the info, they will take a step back and maybe try the Green Party site that showed up next in the search engine. If they DO see that link and follow it, they'd better get the info. If you string them along for a few pages, navigating deeper into the site--forget it, you've lost them to the next result from their search.
Again, here's where reading the referrer logs can help you. Determine what keywords people are using, and place your META keywords on the pages that actually address those issues--build new sub-index pages if people are looking for stuff that spans a few of your existing categories. This way, you can increase the chance that they get a "hit" (of information) on the very first page they see. And, scrolling counts: if it's not above the fold, consider it a click away.
So, for this audience, you need to first answer their questions, and second, sell the party. If they were searching for you directly, maybe they're interested in joining! You need to convince them right away that your site is well-organized and full of activity, just like your state party. Make sure on every page of your site, you always know where to click to join the party.
People who (you want to) visit the site every week/every day
This person will probably be a member of the state party, and active at the local level--or at least interested. What do you offer to get them coming back again and again? The answer in the real world is activities and events... the answer online is fresh content, especially information about those activities.
This need for continual updates is one of the biggest changes in the Web since 1994 (the year the Web exploded. :) There is competition out there. Why should people visit you a second time, never mind again and again? You don't need to sell this part of your audience on the party philosophy anymore. You've already got their minds and hearts... you want their eyeballs! (The word eyeballs is actually widely-used on the Web. :-)
To keep people coming back to the web site, you have to offer new content every time they come back. It's got to be entertaining, informative, and predictable (in terms of timing). It's got to be obvious that it's new. You can't bury the new stuff a level down--they won't find it. If your site gets updated weekly or daily, the front page should be updated that often as well. (See Keeping, (coming soon))
The first two categories concentrate on acquiring members for your state party. Getting people to return to the Web site regularly is a retention mechanism--not only retaining them as paying members, but retaining (or stimulating) their interest in the activities of the real-world activities of the party. (See Nexus, (coming soon))
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Goals of a political Web site
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