Reach Your Website’s Potential with Maximized SEO

SEO – To most people, this doesn’t mean much. But in the land of internet searches, SEO can be vitally important. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and essentially determines where your website ranks when someone searches a particular term on Google. The higher up your site ranks, the more likely it is to be clicked – and your opportunity for getting more exposure for your nonprint will be increased. You’re probably wondering, how can a nonprofit maximize it’s website’s SEO for maximum effectiveness? The experts at Rock Environmental can guide you through the basics:

The “magic bullet” of SEO is having proper keywords. Each page of your website should have it’s own unique and relevant keyword. The keyword should appear a number of times on the page itself, but be careful not to overdo it. “Keyword Stuffing”, as Google calls it, can actually lower search ranking! A good rule of thumb is to only use the keyword when it seems relevant. Once or twice a paragraph is generally considered a safe bet. A rule of thumb is that keyword density should not exceed 3% (approximately) on any given page. Keywords should not be chosen at random, but instead, carefully chosen to be as relevant as possible. This will help to ensure that Google knows what your website is all about. Google’s AdWords provides a free service called “Keyword Planner” that is a good place to start when determining keywords for each of your website’s pages.

Meta information is also important when it comes to SEO. Meta descriptions and meta titles are the first information people see about your website when it shows up in search results. The more engaging and informative these descriptions are, the more likely someone would be to click and visit your site. Page titles and meta descriptions should also contain your website’s keywords.

Internal links will allow search engines to maneuver through your site and determine whether or not you should be included in the results list of a certain keyword search. These links should lead between pages and allow user to navigate quickly between related topics. Additionally, a site map can be helpful for SEO purposes.

HTML is the code behind what you see on your website. Take a look at image tags, title tags and heading tags to ensure they are matched up using the page’s keyword they ‘live’ on. Tags should be short but include the keyword and any other relevant information that may be helpful for search engines navigating your site for relevance.

Investing in mobile compatibility isn’t always at the top of the SEO list, but with so many users accessing the internet on their cell phones and tablets, it’s vitally important that your site be optimized to ensure a good user experience in this setting as well.

The user experience is the final piece to the SEO puzzle. Once someone is presented with your site in search results and decides to click to read more, the browser doesn’t stop monitoring their actions. Instead the browser checks to see how much time someone spends on a site, and then uses that information to infer that the information for there was relevant based on the keyword searched. Once your site is deemed a good source of information for ‘x’ search term, it can begin to move its way up the results list toward the top.

The complicated nature of SEO is ever-changing. As search engines like Google and Bing compete to provide the most relevant content to end users, their algorithms continue to evolve. However, a simple framework remains. Relevant content plus proper keywords and execution will likely lead to a high probability of being ranked in searches.

So, why should you care about SEO? For many nonprofits, being found is the key to growing a donor pool and supporting their mission and programs. By taking time to work on SEO, you are investing in the long term viability of your organization.

At Rock Environmental, we know SEO can seem like a daunting and seemingly endless task. We’re here to help. Our SEO experts can work with you and your organization to provide a thorough examination of your current SEO strategies, as well as evaluate and work to improve them across your site. You can contact us for more information about such services at: info@rockenvironmental.com.

How to Make Email Marketing Work for Your Nonprofit

Email campaigns can be a vital part of any nonprofit’s outreach efforts. Email has become an invaluable resource for many as it allows for direct contact with donors, volunteers and others interested in the work a nonprofit does.

How can your nonprofit take advantage of these valuable opportunities and maximize on each contact opportunity?

At Rock Environmental, we focus our email efforts on expanding the donor base and mission of each nonprofit we work with. Let us create email campaigns for you, which allows us to send targeted messages to different audiences and take full advantage of such services. Our email strategies have been fine tuned after many years of doing email campaigns, so we’ve learned about the pitfalls that many nonprofits encounter. Here’s a few of those pitfalls – and our recommendations for readjusting your next campaign to get better results.

Mass messaging – One size does not fit all, especially in the world of nonprofits. This means that content should be tailored to the audience you are messaging. To do this:

• Consider making groups for your contacts to help you organize them. Groups like Corporate Partners, Annual Donors, Large Denomination Donors, Volunteers, etc. will help you to pinpoint the type of messages you will be sending to each respective group. Many email management services, such as Constant Contact or MailChimp, allow you to set these groups up, manage them and then send targeted emails.
• Create an email outline or plan that will help keep the content organized. This allows you to feature upcoming events, success stories and other information in a strategic way.

Disorganized Email Lists – Consider using a management service like the aforementioned.

• Not only will your email lists be managed and organized, these services also allow for customized email formatting, design and analytics information.
• Analytics information allows you to track what types of emails are most attractive or interesting to your readers based on click rates, interactions, linkouts and other factors. All of this data can be found via the management software. These services are typically charged based on the number of emails being sent, and are generally very affordable.

Cluttered emails – Most people are checking emails on mobile devices. On a small screen, too much text can overwhelm the reader and prevent them from actually retaining any of the content. A good approach to emails is to draft the content first, then spend time cutting down extensively.

• Pull out the ‘fluff’ information and leave only the ‘meat’ of the message.
• Consider using images (related to your email’s subject), dividers and other formatting tricks to break up larger paragraphs of content into more manageable pieces.

Irrelevant content – This goes hand in hand with targeting specific people in your email list. The same information may not be pertinent to donors, partners and volunteers.

• For example, if you have group-specific information, such as asking for help with a volunteer event, it should only be shared with the volunteer list.
• General information can be shared with the entire list like upcoming outreach programs and annual reports.

Missing CTA – A Call To Action, or CTA, is the key to a successful email campaign. What do you want the audience to do after reading your email?

• This will vary with audience and content however, a defined CTA is crucially important to promoting action. Whether you are looking for new volunteers, donations, help with new programming or feedback about your last event, be sure to draw attention to the CTA early in your email and reiterate it by the end to ensure it’s not overlooked.

 

These are just a few of the most common mistakes we find in email campaigns done by nonprofits. By making these small changes, along with a few others, your nonprofit’s next email campaign has the potential to be both engaging and intentional and will hopefully bring in new donors and continue the generosity of others.

If you’re worried about your next email campaign strategy, don’t have the time or staff/volunteers, or would like the advice or guidance of the experts at Rock Environmental, visit our website at http://www.rockenvironemental.com. There you can find a list of services we provide, as well as contact information to get in touch with us about your next email campaign.

Looking forward to hearing from you!