BeCause

The New Medium is Still the Message!

February 26, 2013
Don't be intimidated by internet jargon, embrace it.
 
Last week, we talked how those in non-profit marketing can make social/digital media work harder for them. We stressed that you should indeed "get in the game" — but have reasonable expectations. It's not the "be-all, end-all" — but a new element that should be included in your marketing mix.
 
We thought it would make sense to round out the discussion this week by covering a couple of BASIC principals you need to consider when thinking about the digital marketing and your organization. Many non-profits find themselves in one of two scenarios when establishing an online presence:
 

1. You don't have a website and will be launching one sometime in the near future (yes Virginia, there are still people out there who aren't represented on the internet!!)
2. You do have a website that has been up for a while but isn't attracting more "eyeballs.”

 
These two situations came to mind for us recently when a non-profit client was curious about how they could get more "hits" or "eyeballs" to their website. Should they be sending out more press releases about their site? (which obviously you can do). Should they link their site to other relevant sites? (which you also can do). But online marketers can do more.
 
Start with these two questions: What have you done to maximize site potential i.e. steps to ensure "SEO"? What are you doing in "Key Word Optimization?"
 
Our client looked at us like we were from Mars!
 
When we explained what SEO meant — "Search Engine Optimization" — they immediately "got it.” SEO is the method of ensuring that search engines — Google, Bing and the like — list your organization and/or website when someone types in a relevant non-profit category and/or locale and hits "search." SEO makes certain that your entity is on the "pop up" list. WHERE on the list will depend on whether you pay the search engine for a specific placement i.e. you want to be #1 or among the top three etc.
 
By working with a top search engine-utilizing SEO, our non-profit friend dramatically increased the number of visitors to his site.
 
It was a similar experience in our discussion regarding "Key Word Optimization." Our non-profit collegues didn't know that certain words or phrases, based on their relevance to a category or high volume use on search engines, can trigger visits to your website. You can contact the Googles and Bings of this world and work with them on finding the most pertinent words and phrases to help maximize these potential website hits. The cost varies from search engine to search engine.
 
Now that you are more educated about digital, social, blogs, internet, websites, SEO and Key Word Optimization, feel free to explore the web at will!