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Internet Marketing Jan Knight Research Specialist, Senior. What We’ll Cover. Website Design & Usability Getting your site found (SEO & SEM) Viral marketing Email marketing Website Traffic Reporting. Challenges for Non Profits. Different NP’s = different communication & marketing challenges
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What We’ll Cover • Website Design & Usability • Getting your site found (SEO & SEM) • Viral marketing • Email marketing • Website Traffic Reporting
Challenges for Non Profits • Different NP’s = different communication & marketing challenges • Challenges transfer to websites & online marketing • Types: • Arts organizations, political, charitable, government • Audiences: • Patrons, general public, legislators, media, volunteers, other politicians • Purposes: • inform about organization, obtain donations, buy tickets, provide resources, educate, solicit new and renewal of membership
Website Design • Purpose of the site – multiple? • Audiences – separate portals/entry points? • Preference for one – slighting another? • Functional headings: resources, membership • Audience headings: volunteers, legislators, kids • Identify purpose of site • Navigation labels – expectations of information
Website Design (cont) • Brand your site • Consistency of design & with other materials • Logo & tagline consistency • Language – keep simple, clear • Look & feel match image want to convey • Create an emotion • Be memorable
Make site ‘sticky’ • Create a site people want to return to • Maintain up to date content • Put updated news on home page • Provide resources & links so users think of you as “key” resource on a topic • Link to useful resources • Example: Downloadable updated statistics & data. Aggregate others.
Interactivity • Get people involved in activities • Create forums for discussion • Educate through quizzes • Children’s sites – games
Writing for the Web • People don’t read…..they scan • Provide scannability • Bullets, short blocks of text, headers, subheads, bolding, links, • Don’t underline (looks like links) • Don’t capitalize everything • Avoid too many different fonts • Keep key text “above the fold” • Avoid long scrolling pages • Write for “your” audiences – not jargon
Usability & Accessibility Usability of Websites • Make user interface easy to use • Make content easy to find • Can users accomplish tasks first time they visit the site? • Improve “ease of use” for all audiences • Continue to create favorable impression so they’ll return
Usability Guidelines • Structure site to mirror users’ tasks - not the way the organization is structured • Keep copy brief & scannable • Make sure pages load quickly (1 second) • Avoid “irritations” splash pages, animation • Photos --Users connect with photos of “real” people –looking at them • Alert users of format & size of download • Rules & Regulations Checklist [PDF 62K] • Include Adobe Reader link on page or site
Usability Guidelines (cont) • Link Colors: • Unvisited links blue and visited links red/purple. Helps users know what they’ve visited & aids task accomplishment • People Links: • People expect information “about the person” (e.g. a bio) not an email to “communicate with them” • Link to short bio instead
Usability Guidelines (cont) • Online forms for membership, registration or donations • Provide formats for dates, credit cards etc. • Dates - mm/dd/yyyy • Make it clear & easy what to type • Use clear drop down menus for options • Asterisk or color code mandatory fields • Confirm “submit” with immediate page
Usability Guidelines (cont) Hyperlinks on page NO “Click Herefor information on volunteer opportunities” YES “Be sure to check out our volunteer opportunities.
Accessibility • ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act • 508 Mandate – requires Federal Agencies to be incompliance • Visual, Auditory, Motor, Cognitive, Seizure • Screenreaders, Magnifiers, Assistive Tech • Alt (“alternative” tags) for graphics/photos
Usability Testing • Qualitative testing of 5-7 people • 5 people will find 80% of what you need to know • Representative of your audiences • Expectation of navigation labels • Ask them to accomplish tasks • Speak aloud protocol • Be objective in asking them questions • Iterative process -- tweak site -- retest
Usability/Accessibility Resources • Usable Web http://usableweb.com/ • Useit.com: Jakob Neilsen’s Website http://useit.com • WebStyle Guide www.webstyleguide.com/ • WebAIM-Web Accessibility in Mind www.webaim.org • Accessibility Evaluation Tools www.webaim.org/articles/tools/ Q&A
Advanced Internet Searching • Searching for… • Sponsors for events - companies • Donors – companies, executives • Competitors/partners • “Best practices” for non profits • Marketing information • Data for sharing with constituents via website
Search Tips TIPS: • Pick 2 or 3 search engines: sometimes only 30% overlap between search engine results • Google & Yahoo account for 76% of searches • Google.com – always trying new things • Ask.com – allows to “narrow search” • Use specialized Search Engines & tools • Use Country Search Engines when necessary (www.google.com.au/ (Australia)
Advanced Internet Searching Keep up with Search Engines www.searchenginewatch.com www.searchengineshowdown.com • SEO & Web search tips • Newsletters • Articles on trends in search • Search engine updates Search Engine Chart http://www.ihelpyou.com/search-engine-chart.html
Search Strategies TIP:Use “advanced” search page Provides Specificity & Boolean logic Internet marketing = 636,000,000 results Internet marketing non profits =75,900,000 “non profit” AND“internet marketing” NOT politics, political = 25,000,000
Finding Connections TIP: “reverse look up” Shows who is linking to a site Useful for identifying partnerships, sponsors Example: To see who links to Red Cross link:http://www.redcross.org
Looking into History TIP: “WayBack Machine” • Shows past versions of websites • Useful to see growth, executive changes, changes in marketing strategies www.archive.org (half way down home page) • Example: Red Cross
Internet Search Strategies • Trade Associations & Journals • Newspaper & Magazine Articles • Market Research Reports • www.marketresearch.com • Government Resources • White Papers • Conference Proceedings
Invisible Web Invisible Web” also known as “Deep Web” http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/InvisibleWeb.html • Not found by most search engines • Dynamically generated • Password or fee protected • Bigger than the “surface web” that you typically search Experts: Chris Sherman & Gary Price
Internet Search Tools Government sites: First Gov: www.firstgov.gov Search.Gov: www.searchgov.com Uncle Sam: www.google.com/unclesam Lists: www.specialissues.com/lol Engineering: www.globalspec.com Business: www.business.com Executive Library: www.executivelibrary.com Demographics: http://adage.com/americandemographics/ Census: www.census.gov
Viral Marketing “A strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence.” …WilsonWeb.com • “Word of mouth” “Buzz marketing” • “hand along" poem, graphic, video, article, animation, newsletter • Something unique that people want to forward • Term coined in around 1997
Viral Marketing (cont) • Spreads like a Virus • Start with colleagues, friends & grows • “Referred by a friend” • Customers do the selling • Geographic spread from local to world
Viral Marketing (cont) • Hotmail (email service) • Free, advertising supported email • Appended an advertising message to outbound mail “Get your free email at hotmail!” • 1 ½ years signed up 12 million subscribers • Was largest e-mail provider in India and Sweden but did no marketing • Subservient Chickenwww.subservientchicken.com
Viral Marketing (cont) • Be careful with “Included text” on “Tell a Friend” Example: www.GiffordsforCongress.com “I was impressed by her, and I thought you might be interested in checking out her website.”
Viral Marketing (cont) • University of Maryland ZOOM Campaign • Keep alumni up to date • Seed group of alumni were sent email directing them to Zoom site • Asked them to “zoom” other alumni to site • Sweepstakes to enter • Multi prong approach – tv spots
Viral Marketing (Resources) • Marketing Sherpa’s Viral Hall of Fame www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=27305 • Biggest & Best Virals on the Net http://viral.lycos.co.uk/ • Viral Marketing – Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing
Getting Found: SEO & SEM • Submitting site to Search Engines • SEO – Search Engine Optimization • Optimizing content & design to attract search engine traffic • SEM – Search Engine Marketing • Posting advertisements in search engine paid listings based on selected keyword phrases • “Pay-per-click” (PPC) advertising
Submitting sites to SE • Search Engine – Indexing • Google – every 28 days • Doesn’t guarantee ranking but they know you exist • Submitting to Directories (Yahoo) • Different levels – free & fee based
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Optimizing content & design of website to attract search engine traffic • Combination art & science • “Organic” search results • 80 % of online visitors use SE’s to find services & products • Make site SE friendly • Build links “to” your site from others • Partner with similar organizations or “listings”
SEO (cont) • Metatags • Words users don’t see • Search Engine Crawlers use • Know words your users search on • Keywords & phrases related to your organization • Different keywords for different pages • Keyword location on text is important • Higher on page better & bold some
SEO (cont) Hunger Banquet Metatags: oxfam, oxfam america, humanitarian, hunger banquet, fast, fast for a world harvest, hunger, banquet, poverty, fair trade, social justice, nonprofit, world harvest“ TO FIND METATAGS: In browser – click on “View” >> “Source”
SEO (cont) • Choose a short domain name similar to keywords. • Avoid using frames • Give title to every html page • Make sure all pages link to home page • Include HTML on each page – crawlers don’t search graphics • Blogs and RSS feeds aid in SEO