BY STACY DYER When it comes tofundraising. the old adage 'Simplicity is key' is true. Several free tools can help turn your next fundraiser inloa successfuldonation-a-thon. Apply these ideas to promote maximum engagement with you sponsors, event participants, donors and community.

33 Top 10 Things Donors Want From Your Nonprofit's Website BY GAIL PERRY. MBA. CFRE Did you knew that most donors check out yourwebsite before they make a gilt, whether they are giving online or through the mail? A Kellogg Foundation study founc thal potentially up to 5 0 percent of your donors are going lo check out your organization online before the: give, whether they end up actually donating anlineor not.

34 Determining tho Best Approach to Social- Media Marketing BY ROBIN FISH How do nonprofits knowwherelostart and how do they determine what components fit into their social- media marketing strategy?

34 Online Giving and Rapid Response Trends BY STEVE MAcLAUGHLIN The Haiti earthquakedisaster has once again brought to the forefront the role that new giving channels play in helping those most affected. The combination of online giving and mobile giving was the first-response channel of choice by donors.

36 How Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing Affect Fundraising BY DAVIOTINKER. CFRE People first turn lo the lnternet when they are trying to learn about a new program, research a newtopic or gain background information prior to making a donation. Search Engine Optimization ISEOI and Searc Engine Marketing [SEMI are two equally important yet different methods to promote your website-and thus promote your cause or product.

38 Manage Increasing lnternet Liabilities

BY JEANNE OEBUS There is noquestion that the Internet playsan important rolein a nonprofit organizalion's marketing and development activities. Using sound cyber-risk management practices, nonprofits can continue harnessing the power of the lnternet for these purposes while avoiding unnecessary liabilities.

Onl~ne Resources Seethe fundraising technology chart lisling products from more than 50 companies, available in the digital edition ol the MayIJuneAdvsn"ngPh1fenlhmpyin the Publicationssection of the AFP website [login requiredl and in PDFformat on the Advancing Philanthmpy page in the Publications section of the AFP website, www.afpnet.org.

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L How Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing Affect Fundraising

DAVID TINKER. CFRE

People first turn to the Internet when they are trying to learn AOL uses Google to boost irs search results. This means about a new program, to research a new topic or to gain rhar Gooale's results are combined with AOL's and thus will - - . background information prior to making a donation. Search have a very similar end result. Additionally, Bing and Yahoo Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing forged a partnership in 2009 to share search results. (SEM) are two equally important yet different methods to SEO is the art of enhancing your website so that it ap- promote your website-and thus promote your cause or pears 'above the scroll" in search engine results. SEM is a product. SEO is part of SEM. Website rank can affect your formof markningusing search engine rcsult pagestodisplay revenue, your brand strength, and the community's sense of advertisements. The main difference between the two is that respect for your organization. SEO and SEM increase the SEOdoesnotnecessarily requircspendingmoney t o g a your number of w ~ l e visitinavour siteand not vourcom~etitor's websire at the tor, of search results while SEM doer. So how - . -. site, thus increasing the opportunity for on-line and off-line donadons from visitors to your site.

When on the Internet, donors and prospects first turn to a search engine to find wehsites containing the information they seek. Companies and nonprofit organizations focus on three major search sires-Google, Yahoo and Bing-with the occasional niche search engine that may fir within their field. Additionally, people also may rake into account the next two largest search engines, Aslr.com and AOL. However,

can yon enhance your presence in search engines? I k Search Engine Optimization ISEOl There are several key categories rhat SEO comprises, includ- ing meta ngs, websire copy or content, sitemaps, back links and keyword strength.

Mcra rags. Meta rags are codes in the website program language that provide informadon to your web browser, search engines and people who view websites with accessible f

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technology, such as a Braille screen reader. These tags can tell you the title of a page, some keywords you will find on a page, who designed the page and how often a robot used by search engines should visit the site.

Sitcmapa. Search engine robots index a webpage most eas- ily by re~iewing a sitcmap page. It is common for web page desinners to add a siteman Dane to a website for this verv - - * -

reason. The sitcmap page indudes links m all of the pages you want a visitor, and in this u s e sea& engines, m see. Because

up on a search, even if it is identified as a paid placement or advertisement.

Pay-per-click (PPC). PPC is a marketing method where you buy ad space on a wehsite, but pay only for the ad if - ~

someone clicks on your advertisement. This includes banner ads and sponsored search results. Sires such as Google allow vou to bid on kevwords. as in an auction. so that vour ad for a product comes up when someone uses a search term that you have identified. Many companies will buy pay-per-click

some navigation menus are written in code that is difficult advertising m make sure that when someone does a scarch for a robot to decioher or view to find links. a sitemao al- for a cornvetitor their ad comes UD. An examole of this would lows a robot to retrieve information in one place. When a be an ad for Ford that comes up when someone searches for person submits domain URLs to search engines to add to a Honda. their robot queue, they sometimes add only the top level Banner ads. Some search engines are moving to bigger ad domain, e.g., www.youragencynamc.org instead of www. placements. Banner ads are another type of ad that allows youragencyname.orp/semnd.html. However, search engines, you to make sure your company's link or information comes such as Ask.com, will index a page only if you submit the up when someone performs a search. Many companies will siremap page. A sitcmap URL might look like this: www. buy this type of advertising to promote their goods when youngeucyname.org/sireindex.xml. someone searches for a competimr.

Keywords and copy. As search engines index pages, Sponsored search results. Sponsored search results are they sometimes read all of the text on the page. similar to banner ads, except the links arc the ad- They remember all of the words. When a vemsemmt. Google, Bing and others will place person does a search query, the words on Employing a sponsored search results at the top of a re- your page can affect whether or not your sults page. The links look very similar to page will be brought upand what your SEO and SEM plan the organic search results; however, they rank on the search results will be. If are slightly different. someone is using the search "Pirts- as part of your So how do SEO and SEM affect burgh disability" and your site has the overall agency fundraisiug? Simply put, if your web- terms 'Pittsburgh" and "disability' site is not coming up in search results, on it, your page would have a higher marketing plan then people cannot click to your site. score on the search engine's algorithm According to Weitzel, people will click than would a page that had only one wil l pay for on a search result from the first page of of the terms. itself. results morc than 60 percent of the time

It is important to study the words without scrolling down m view more results. people use to find your site. These ate not Also, people will click on a link on the first always the words or terms you use within your three pages of the search results more than 90 per- organization or company. Knowing the keywords people cent of the time. use to find your sire will influence what words you build

I into your keywords meta rags and your web pages. Major The Importance of SEO and SEM PLans ! search engines such as Google and Yahoo insist they are SEO and SEMare bothimporcant to increasing an organiza-

i not using these keywords meta tags, however other search tion's ability to come up first when someone docs a search. i engines, such as Googk, do. By paying attention m meta tags, sitemaps, hack links, key-

1 Back links. Auorher technique that people try to use to words and copy, one can increase the chances of a top search

I build their rank in search engines is increasing the number ranking. Because the search engines constantly change their of websites that link to their own. Back links are sometimes algorithms to increase quality of results and increase speed

I thought to be a measure of the importance of the page be- of results, it is difficult to ensure that a page will always be ing linked to by another site, according to April Weitzel, a the top result. SEM is a method that ensures your ad or link Piteburgh-based SEO consultant. Because of this, it is im- appears at the mp of a search result. While different, both can portant for other websitcs to link to yours to build your produce the desired outcome: being at the top. Employing a ranking and increase the chance that a scarch engine robot SEO and SEM plan as part of your overall agency marketing will find your links. This can include news sites, blogs and plan will pay for itself by allowing you m see an increase in social-media tools such as Twitter. web visitors, brand awareness, the number of people who

purchase or otherwise use your programs and services and, Search Engine Marketing [SEMI most importantly, the number of people who make a dona- s, Like SEO, rhere are a few key categories that make up SEM. tion because of your wehsite. O These indude pay-per-dick (PPC), banner ads and sponsored search results. Depending on your budget and the websites David Tinker, CFRE, is director of development for you wish to market on, SEMcan ensure that your link shows ACHIEVA in Pittsburgh, Pa., dtinker@achiewa.info.

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