This is a guest post by Keith Holloway. Keith
is the founding partner of BetterMail.ca, an engagement campaign software
company that operates a consulting division completely focused on search
marketing and Wild Apricot is a (happy!) client of BetterMail.ca. He can be reached at keith@bettermail.ca or followed on twitter.com/TorontoSEO.
Search engine optimization, or
SEO, is something we've all heard about, but what is it, really, and why should
any association or non-profit manager care about it?
The fact is, if you're interested
in bringing new members into your organization, or creating more value for your
existing members, SEO is arguably the one marketing technique you simply can't
afford to ignore. And, therein, lies the crux of the matter: SEO has to be
viewed as an indispensible marketing tool, not some arcane web development
process best left to the techies to worry about.
So, how does SEO work?
First, it's important to
understand what SEO does. At it's most basic level, SEO is a systematic
approach you can employ to ensure your organization earns the highest ranking
possible for the specific search queries you're interested in out of the hundreds of millions conducted every day by
people all over the Web.
Increasing the visibility of your
web site through popular search engines captures prospective visitors at the
peak moment of their interest... obviously not a bad thing when you're hunting
for new members or donors.
However, the order of the search results is compiled using each search
engine's own algorithms to distinguish which ones are more relevant than any other.
Search engines look for strong
signals of both trust and relevance in order to list your site for a particular
phrase. Such is the value that the search engine provides to its customers. So,
your site has to be trustworthy (links from trustworthy sites, no keyword
spamming, no broken links, no pop-ups, etc.) and it has to be directly relevant
to the search.
Breaking it down, successful
search engine optimization includes three main components:
On page optimization: The keywords that generate the most qualified
traffic are the ones you want to spread most widely throughout your web site. For example in
the case of an association, these terms would most likely relate to the profile
of your members. For example, if you run an association of real estate lawyers
in Ontario, a good search term would be ‘real estate lawyers in Ontario' and your web site should be
optimized accordingly.
There are many different places
these keywords should go, including:
- HTML
title tags - Displayed at the top of the browser bar, they
summarize what the page is about. They also let visitors know they're in the
right place. Each page on your site should have a unique title tag, and the
keyword you want to rank for should be placed closer to the front of the title.
- H1
& H3 tags - Used as headlines and sub headlines for web pages,
it's important to put keywords in these tags. Search engines pay special
attention to them, so make sure you use headlines, and make sure to use your
keywords in your headlines.
- Embedded
URLs - When
using hyperlinks in your content, it's important to make sure the anchor text
is relevant to the page being linked to. Avoid telling users to click here.
The word "here" will mean nothing to a search engine and your optimization
efforts will be wasted. Instead, tell users to visit your Ontario real estate lawyers
directory
- Content
(keyword density/prominence) - It's important to place relevant keywords
within the body of the written content on your page, so when prospective
customers search for terms, they get what they're searching for. A good rule of
thumb is to use your keyword at least twice on the page, and one of those times
should be in the first paragraph.
- Meta Descriptions - These
are used by many search engines, including Google, as the description of your
site in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) they generate. Meta descriptions should highlight searched keywords,
give your page a suitable description, specify some benefits and include a call
to action. Essentially, the description should be looked at as an ad for your
site. In other words, think of it as a way to convince searchers to click your
ad ahead of all others on the page.
Site
Structure: This internal linking of your
web site includes the site map, page file names, directory structure,
navigation links, links in the content, anchor text of the links, etc. Although more of a technical nature, site
structure is of critical importance because it lets the search engines know
what the site is about. It also provides information to the search engine about
the relative importance and hierarchy of the information on the page. You
should place your most important pages in your navigation so that they are
linked from every page.
- Navigational
links - Optimizing
hypertext links and anchor text brings keywords that users are specifically
searching for into prominence. It's worth putting extra effort into how you can
get your keywords into the navigation to provide value for visitors and search
engines because the navigational links are some of the most important links on
your site. For example, why have a navigation that says "Home, about us,
directory, etc" when it could say "OREL Association Home, Real Estate Law in
Ontario Directory of Ontario Real Estate Lawyers, etc." Obviously you'll want
to avoid being repetitive. However, being more descriptive and using your keywords
is better for users and is much more useful for search engines.
External Links: These are links from other pages and sites pointing
back to yours. These are arguably the most important component of SEO because
external links are difficult to manipulate and, therefore, considered by most
search engines as the best measure of a site's true trust and relevance.
For example, if the Globe & Mail newspaper wrote an
online article about your association being a good source of information about
real estate law and provided a link back to your site, it would provide the
signal that your site is trustworthy (The Globe & Mail wouldn't link to
just anybody) and that it is relevant to the term "real estate law".
One
inherent advantage most associations and non-profits have in this regard is
that they can enlist their members and supporters to provide links back to the organization
web site. For example, some organizations create branded ‘badges' or icons and
encourage their members to place them on their web site with a direct link back
to the association member directory. For example, the icon might say "Proud
member of OntRealEstateLawyers.com".
Your site must also have a
comparable number or trust level of links to compete for search engine ranking
on a particular phase. Link development is critical in this regard.
All in all, search engine
optimization is an extremely valuable marketing device for any organization
with an online presence. The key to making it work effectively is to choose
your keywords carefully, and blend it in with a strategically sound content
development plan that addresses the information needs of your organization's
primary audience... your members and supporters.