Indexing
Once you've published a new article, you'll want to let Google know so it can add your article to its index and give it the appropriate page rank.
The good news is that Google automatically spiders your website on a regular basis. It follows all the links from your homepage, then all the links from those linked pages (called "spidering") and adds any new or updated pages to its index.
If you add content more regularly, Google remembers that your site is regularly updated and spiders your website more often.
Once indexed, don’t change the URL of your content, or else the link will be broken. Google will eventually remove broken links but they will hurt your rankings and will prevent people from reaching your website.
If you're going to move your pages around (for example, if you redesign using a new Content Management System) use special code on your website to inform Google of this change so that its index is updated accordingly. This is called a "301 redirect" or a permanent redirection and there are several different ways to create them. Ask your webmaster what happens to all your old links if pages are moved to a new URL.
Don’t create duplicate pages of the same content, you'll risk Google deprioritising your page and you'll struggle to keep every version up to date.
Get links
Links are the technology on which the Internet is built and are the lifeblood of your website.
Not only do linkis help you increase the traffic to your website but you improve your new article's Google ranking as you increase the number of pages linking to it.
With every respected, quality website which links to your article, Google improves its page rank and drives you further up the list in search engine results pages.
Remember that internal links help too, so if you have older articles on your website related to your new one, link them. This has the added benefit of providing simple "next steps" for readers when they get to the end of your article.
Easy ways to get links are:
- post comments on blogs that allow you to link back to your article. Make sure these blogs are relevant and that your article directly addresses the topic being discussed, otherwise you're link spamming and could be penalised by Google if the blog owner complains.
- use social media sites like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to cross-promote your content. Posted a video case study to your YouTube channel? Why not tweet about it and post a link, or post it to your Facebook Group's wall, or to someone else's Facebook Group related to your subject?
- Ask people with similar websites to link to you in return for a link to them. This helps build the trust and reputation of all the sites, helps you network with your peers and could provide writers for a specialist article at a later date.
- Write great stuff that people want to share on facebook and make it easy to share by providing widgets such as "Share on Facebook" buttons.
Remember, the web is a conversation, return the favour when people promote or link to you where possible, or at the very least thank them, publically if possible.
Let people know
Don’t forget to e-mail people you know and your newsletter subscribers with the best of your new writing, they might share it or link to it.
If you use Twitter, make sure you tweet a link to your new article, especially if it’s topical (keep an eye on Trending Topics and hashtags) or is a direct response to another Twitter conversation.
But don’t be a bore, respect what people are interested in, and how often they like to hear about your cause, or else they’ll quickly stop listening.
Build relationships with influencers
Find out people you know, or people who support your cause, that are known by lots of other people. They may have large numbers of followers on Twitter or a large number of fans or friends on Facebook. Look for interaction and engagement rather than pure numbers. Are these people real influencers or they just collecting friends for no reason?
Celebrities are one example of influencers (everybody knows that Stephen Fry is a technology champion and a Twitter user), but you're likely to know lots of other people who have hundreds of connections on social networking sites.
Bloggers and activists are another good example of influencers. They will often be experts in their field, has very specific knowledge and will have regular, engaged readers who may also be interested in your work or your cause.
Build a relationship with these people. This is called Influencer Relationship Management and is a growing trend in the corporate use of social media.
If you don't know any influencers, start networking - there are lots of discovery tools and directories which can help you start connecting to influencers in your field of interest, such as WeFollow and Twellow. You can also make use of Twitter lists to grow your network.
Show an interest in what they’re doing, name check them, retweet theit messages, recommend them, and they’ll repay the favour.
Offline promotion
You can also promote your online articles and campaigns using offline media. Putting links on relevant printed materials can help not only drive traffic to your website, but can also, with the help of analytics, help you identify the most successful adverising spaces for your print campaigns.
Turn print readers into web users and they are more likely to be persuaded to interact with your organisation. The process of donating is more instant online - clicking on a "donate now" button is much easier than completing a form in a paper leaflet, tearing it out, sealing it in an envelope and posting it back to you. Concentrate your efforts and your copy on driving them to your website instead.
Paying for links
Another way to get inbound links to your website is to pay for them. This is generally a bad idea and won't usually be a worthwhile investment. The quality of clickthroughs is often poor, and google punishes this behaviour by delisting your pages or excluding your website altogether.
The best way to pay for links is to use Google Adwords. These are the ads which appear at the top and down the side of Google's search results pages. You can pay to appear in this sponsored section when someone searches for certain keywords and you pay each time someone clicks through to your site.
Some keywords are more expensive than others, so the more specialised and niche your organisation, the lower your advertising costs are likely to be.
Since you're paying per click, it's importnat that your ad is written as persuasively as possible and that the very brief number of words you use accuratley convey the benefits of visiting your organisation's website. This way, you're not paying for unecessary clicks or wasted visits from people you're unlikely to convert into supporters, volunteers or donors.
Writing effective Google AdWords is a whole artform in itself and is beyond the scope of this article, but there are plenty of books and online guides on the subject.
Google provides a certain amount of free advertising every month to charities and nonprofits as part of its Google Grants programme. In return, nonprofit organisations are expected to actively manage their ad campaign and log in monthly to check their progress and the results of their campaigns.
Next: Step 5: Evaluate