Tuesday, May 17, 2011

"Field of Dreams" Makes A Better Movie Than A Website Strategy

Everyone remembers the 1989 hit movie Field of Dreams. The most famous scene, of course, is when an Iowa farmer (played by Kevin Costner) hears this haunting voice tell him "If you build it, they will come." He then proceeds to use all his money to build a baseball diamond in the middle of a cornfield and risks foreclosure as a result.

Many nonprofits today approach their website design in just the same way. An executive will say, "This Internet thing is taking off, we need to be online too." They then hire someone to build them a site and wait around for the lines of donors to log on, satisfied that they're properly represented on the Net.

I think they've gone to batting practice without their helmets one too many times.

With over 175,000,000 web sites existing online and millions more added every month, how is your nonprofit going to attract visitors and keep them coming back? This is the question that has plagued many a fundraiser who's taken their nonprofit online. The answer is not too different from a traditional method you all know: e-mail newsletters.

Health Check
Sites with Anemia
  • Site is static for long periods.
  • Site doesn't make new content known.
  • Can't subscribe to an e-mail update.
Sites with Vigor
  • Site adds new stories or articles continually
  • Site draws visitors with compelling e-mail.
  • Newsletter sign-ups are found throughout the site.



Newsletters have been used for years by nonprofits to increase visibility and to let donors know what's happening. They also allow you to communicate with your donors in a more detailed fashion. E-mail type newsletters do much of the same thing, with some very important differences.

First, because people approach e-mail with a limited attention span, long newsletters don't work well. Instead, you need to use short synopses of your newsletter articles and provide a link to that article on your website. This allows people to read what they're interested in and skip what they're not an important benefit in today's time-strapped lifestyle.

Also, the linking to articles on your site brings the donor onto your playing field, if you will. They're usually online already because they must be connected to receive their mail. Once they've clicked onto your site, they're just one click away from your donation process (if you've set up your site properly). Also, though one story may not compel them to give, you now have many more stories within their reach and another may resonate with them.

Finally, an e-mail approach allows donors to pass the e-mail onto their friends and family, creating a viral effect and giving you more eyes for your efforts. These are the best kind of leads; not only are they free, but they're pre-endorsed by a trusted source - the sender.

Next month, I'll be discussing ways to approach your e-mail strategy. Until then, I hope you'll continue to go the distance.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Optimize Your Site For Search Engines

by: Lenny Esposito

Reality television is all the rage. From American Idol to the Apprentice to Survivor, some people don’t seem to mind being publicly humiliated by a game show host for a shot at the top prize. No matter what your position in life, you can be dismissed without a second thought.

However, there are some bits of information a web designer should know in order to achieve a better position –better ranking position in Internet search engines, that is. I'd like to take some time here to explore the basic do's and don'ts of search engine optimization techniques. The higher you rank, the more likely you'll attract people to your site who need your services and also people who are potential supporters of your organization.

The first mistake made by most organizations is they pick a couple of generic terms for their service and try to key off those words. Let's assume that a fictitious nonprofit, the Museum of Foolish Fads, wants to drive more traffic to their website. They hope to raise more funds to support the new Parachute Pants display being built. Their director, Mr. Mullet, has tried to get a high ranking for the words "museum" and "fad" but nothing seems to work.

The main reason the Museum has a hard time is because museum and fads are so general in their scope that almost everything can fall under them. Google brings up 7,570,000 entries for the term "museum," so Mr. Mullet would have a lot of work to do to get a high ranking there. More importantly, though, the searcher for "museum" is probably more interested in the Louvre.


It's important to remember what your ultimate goal is in this process. You don't want people to just see your site; you want people to get involved with it! Therefore, I suggest that Mr. Mullet reexamine exactly who his supporters and patrons are. Also, it's important to remember that people rarely type just one or two words into a search engine. They usually are very specific, so you should be too.

In other words, make sure your Web site in some way participates in your agency's primary services or activities. If you're a relief agency, list places and times you will be having a food distribution. If you're a missionary organization, make sure that you have materials available online for missionaries to use in their efforts. If you're an Arts organization, have teaching materials available to help expose youngsters to the wider world of the Arts. Most corporate executives will tell you that any project approved in the boardroom or the president's office is first measured against how well it fulfills on the corporate mission statement. Nonprofits should be just as discerning, if not more so. Your Web site project will be more justified if you can demonstrate that it serves multiple purposes, including serving your clientele.

Here's what I suggest to get started on choosing the right keywords to target for your site:

• Look for phrases that describe your nonprofit or its service. "Fads of the 50's" will give you less searchers than "fads" but each one will be interested in your organization - as well as a potential supporter.
• Make a list of every phrase you think people would possibly type in to search for an organization like yours and then start eliminating possibilities.
• Look at other nonprofits with a similar mission, especially those who achieve high rankings already. The Mood Ring Museum and the Pet Rock Palace may be targeting phrases you haven't thought of yet.
• Compare your list to your mission. The more exact the match, the better the phrase, and the more likely you will give a searcher just what he or she wanted.

So when your nonprofit gets ready to embark on an Internet strategy, make sure that an integral piece of your Web design includes your mission. It will benefit your project, your constituency, and your bottom line.

Now that we have all these great keywords, how do we implement them to get better results? In next month's article, I'll show you some strategies to make sure the search engines are reading your keywords effectively. But before you can make keywords effective, you must use effective keywords.

Although trying to generate a list of keywords and phrases seems like something that should take just a short time, I would caution you not to rush this first step. Targeting the wrong keywords is the biggest mistake most people make, according to search engine specialists. A list of words that are specific and accurately represent your organization goes farther than anything else in getting you new, qualified visitors to your site. Use the wrong words for a search result listing and you may not be a Survivor in the search engine jungle

Monday, March 21, 2011

Don't Forget Your Mission in Your Website

by: Lenny Esposito

The evolvement of the Web from those basic grey pages when I first started writing HTML in 1995 to the bright, multimedia format we see today is nothing short of amazing. In fact, because good Web pages have become so attractive and create such a buzz, nonprofits increasingly understand the need to be represented online.

Unfortunately, many nonprofits make a crucial mistake right at this juncture. They see that most Web pages are text and pictures, and they assume they should develop an electronic version of what they would normally send to their print house. Thus, their Web site becomes an online substitution for their paper brochures.

Not only is this a huge misunderstanding of the purpose of the Internet (people get on the Web to do stuff), but it fails to take into account the most critical aspect of any nonprofit – the reason they exist at all. Nonprofits are neglecting their mission when they go online!


Your mission as a nonprofit is the single most important aspect of your organization. It's why the organization was created in the first place. Therefore, if you are entering a global communications medium such as the Internet, why would you want to confine your web site to only an "About Us" brochure or a donation reply device? Wouldn't it be better to capitalize on the power of the Internet to advance the objective of the nonprofit as well?

In other words, make sure your Web site in some way participates in your agency's primary services or activities. If you're a relief agency, list places and times you will be having a food distribution. If you're a missionary organization, make sure that you have materials available online for missionaries to use in their efforts. If you're an Arts organization, have teaching materials available to help expose youngsters to the wider world of the Arts. Most corporate executives will tell you that any project approved in the boardroom or the president's office is first measured against how well it fulfills on the corporate mission statement. Nonprofits should be just as discerning, if not more so. Your Web site project will be more justified if you can demonstrate that it serves multiple purposes, including serving your clientele.

Now, doing this has an added benefit: potential donors who visit your site will see that you are about more than just getting money. They will see your nonprofit in action doing something that they care about, and they will be more likely to donate because of it.

So when your nonprofit gets ready to embark on an Internet strategy, make sure that an integral piece of your Web design includes your mission. It will benefit your project, your constituency, and your bottom line.

If you would like to find out more about optimizing your Web site presence, contact Genesis Integrated Technologies at
info@genesisintegrated.com.