| Many people feel intimidated when approaching | | | | platform, make sure that it does not assign content |
| Search Engine Optimization (SEO). They think it's | | | | ID numbers to page titles. |
| super-technical or requires a huge budget. But the | | | | 5. Clear and compelling content. I cannot say it |
| truth is that SEO is not brain surgery. Search Engine | | | | enough: content is king. Content should be fresh, |
| Optimization doesn't require an expert to do. The | | | | interesting and directed to your users. Your content |
| only things that are really necessary are time, the | | | | needs to be formatted so robots can read it. This |
| willingness to learn and a tad of patience. | | | | means HTML text, not graphical text, which search |
| Does your nonprofit have a website that would | | | | engines can't read. |
| benefit from an increase in targeted traffic? Would | | | | In addition, within your page body, there are 5 |
| you like to rank higher in search engines? Would you | | | | important elements from a SEO perspective: |
| like to increase your online fund-raising and brand | | | | - Anchor text (also called linking text). Text that is |
| visibility? Don't sweat i! Do-it-yourselfers can do as | | | | clickable on a webpage. Aim to anchor text that |
| good of a job as professionals when it comes to | | | | contains your page's targeted keywords. This can |
| SEO. After all, you know your organization - and all its | | | | help you boost your page rank. |
| nooks and crannies - better than anybody. | | | | - Breadcrumb trail. It gives users a way to keep |
| Let's be clear: SEO takes some time. There are no | | | | track of their location within your site. Usually, |
| short cuts or quick fixes. Good results almost always | | | | breadcrumbs appear horizontally across the top of a |
| takes many months. But don't despair. If you follow | | | | web page, usually below title bars or headers. |
| the 10 tips below, you'll be paving the way for your | | | | - Heading tags. After the title tag, the headline tag is |
| nonprofit. Although the tips below are a mix of | | | | the next most important SEO on page element. |
| on-page and off-page optimization techniques, they | | | | Although HTML supports up to six levels of heading |
| work together to increase your nonprofit's ranking in | | | | tags, typically I don't recommend using more than |
| organic search results. | | | | the h1 and h2 tags on a given page. |
| 1. Clarify your goals. Good SEO requires concrete, | | | | - Body text. Use no more than 450-600 words in |
| laser-focused goals. Spend sometime clicking around | | | | total on each page. Use bold and italics to pick out |
| your website. Think in terms of: | | | | keywords on the page. This helps search engines as |
| - Presentation (is your information up-to-date? Are | | | | well as humans readers to identify your key text. Do |
| your forms asking the right questions?) | | | | not use the underline tag on your page as it |
| - Functionality (Can people make donations online? Do | | | | confuses users expecting to find a link. |
| you have a strong brand identity?) | | | | - Image ALT tags. As we discussed before, robots |
| - What do you want your visitors to do on your | | | | cannot read graphics. Make sure that all your images |
| website? It is your party. You decide what you want | | | | have an tag that describes the image clearly. |
| your guests to do: make a donation, view a certain | | | | - Internal links (also known as cross-linking). Greater |
| page on the site, subscribe to your mailing list, etc. | | | | SEO value is given to internal links. Have keyword-rich |
| 2. Audience. Who is the target audience for your | | | | navigation within your own site (in addition to the |
| website? Surely it includes potential donors. But don't | | | | breadcrumb trail). |
| forget that it may also include members of the | | | | 6. Inbound links. SEO considers inbound links to be the |
| press, employees at your organization, current and | | | | gold standard for content quality. Think of links as |
| past beneficiaries seeking support. Describe your | | | | online recommendations. |
| target audience(s) with as much detail as possible. | | | | 7. Create and file a sitemap. It allows robots (and |
| 3. Keyword selection is key. Keywords are the heart | | | | users) to quickly and easily find and index your |
| of any SEO campaign. Organizations who are on top | | | | content. Sitemaps help with usability and site |
| of their SEO game have a list of top-priority | | | | navigation. |
| keywords that they use on their site with reasonable | | | | 8. Make SEO-friendly URLs. Use keywords in your |
| repetition. | | | | URLs and file names. |
| 4. Pay attention to Meta tags. They are what we | | | | 9. Optimize other assets found on your website, |
| called "invisible text" because metadata is not | | | | including documents (.doc,.pdf), spreadsheets (.xls), |
| displayed on the page, but is added to your html | | | | presentations (.ppt), videos (.avi) and pictures (.jpg, |
| code to be analyzed by SEO robots. Meta elements | | | | gif,.png), etc. |
| are typically used to specify page description, | | | | 10. Track and evaluate your SEO efforts periodically. |
| keywords and images. | | | | How will you know you're successful if you have no |
| - Page title. Most search engines assign great | | | | way of measuring what you've done? Sign up for |
| importance to page titles when indexing content. | | | | Google's webmaster Central and Google Analytics to |
| Writers who use descriptive headlines can become | | | | learn more about how the search engines see your |
| magnet for SEO attention. | | | | site, inbound links, source of traffics, etc. Measure, |
| - Friendly titles. If your nonprofit is using a CMS | | | | analyze and adjust your strategy as needed. |