Picture this.
A donor who likes to shift her funding every few years is looking to find information on “charities benefiting the homeless”. You have a terrific organization that specializes in that very mission.
Unfortunately, your website is on page 33 in her Google Search. She never gets past page 1. Another organization that understands the importance of search engine optimization just picked up a new donor.
Your website and worthy cause, doesn’t even get noticed. In fact, your website is so quiet it might as well have a background soundtrack playing cricket noises.
Lesson #1 in successful real estate investing is about the “3 Rules”.
The 3 rules are: Location, Location, Location.
Simply put: In real estate, you are better off investing your money into a good neighborhood than a bad one, despite the fact that you must pay a higher price to buy the property.
The same applies to your website.
For those new to marketing on the Internet, SEO means Search Engine Optimization. It’s a big deal.
People use any number of search engines to find things on the Internet.
Why?
It’s simple. It’s the easiest way to find what they are looking for. They type in a few words and hit “Google Search”. In seconds, literally millions results appear.
With thousands of pages to choose from, most people stick to the very first search results page. If your website is on page 4 or page 4000 of the search results, you will never be seen. Your goal is to get and stay on the first page and preferably ranked toward the top.
Try this test.
Pretend you are a potential donor who has no idea of the name of your website. Type in a few key words into a Google search. Be careful not to type in the name of your website. Remember you are pretending to be a donor. Put in layman terms for words that reflect your mission.
Now see where you show up. If you don’t see your website, try a few different key words or phrases. If you still can’t find your website on the first page, then neither can a potential donor. Studies show that the only people who go past page one of their search results are students and people with OCD. You are effectively invisible to anyone who does not have your web address.
Fortunately, this is a problem that you can fix. Although the details of SEO are beyond the scope this article, competent professional help is only a click away.
Good SEO can make the difference your organization needs in a down economy. Imagine how great it would be to know that when a potential donor who does not know about your organization types in a few words into her favorite search engine that your organization shows up high in the rankings on the first page. And when she finds your website at or near the top of the Google Search, whose site is she going to click.
Yours!