Second Search Engine Optimization Article

Make Your Art Organization’s Website a Top “Hit”: A 30 Day Step by Step Guide to Dramatically Improved Search Engine OptimizationPart 2 of 4

By Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson Lance@TicketPrinting.com www.TicketPrinting.com

Week 2: Objective:Your week two objectives are to implement a sitemap and create and maintain a successful blog.

What you need to know:

Sitemap- Having a sitemap that connects the entire website will eliminate the need for having multiple links on the homepage and will make the pages more crawlable by search engine spiders. A sitemaps purpose is to provide a central link hub for the website, allowing search engines or users to easily navigate the various pages. Search engines recognize new pages by following links from existing pages, so having a sitemap will ensure all pages are indexed properly. While this will have no effect on the websites SEO campaign, it is an important element of any successful website and will also help when introducing a blog (below). To download software to create your own sitemap, visit Site Map Pro.

Blog- A blog is basically an open forum where participants can discuss various topics. Nonprofits can utilize them to tell readers about organization projects, outreach programs, and upcoming events.

Reason for a Blog- In my article “10 Reasons every Art Organization Must Have a Blog,” I emphasize the important role blogs play. For SEO purposes, a blog is beneficial because other sites/blogs link to read the blog’s content and therefore the websites overall pagerank (level of importance) increases. However, blogs are not only important for SEO purposes, they are also excellent tools for marketing, fundraising, and allow organizations to convey the true “heart” of their efforts.

Create a Blog- Starting a blog is not only easy, but also inexpensive. There are dozens of free or nearly free services to create a blog including Blogger (recommended), Blog-City, EasyJournal, Blogeasy, Typead, Grey Matter, Userland, or Movable Type. Simply follow their step-by-step instructions to create your own blog today.

Blog Directories and Related Blogs- Once you have created a blog, you will need to spread the word about it. To do this, begin by submitting your blog to directories. Good blog directories include Technorati, Blogcatolog, Topblogarea, and Bloghub. The directories will categorize your blog and make it available for others to read about it. Next, use one or more of the listed directories to find other blogs focused on similar topics. Identify what blogs are most closely related to art organizations, and read posts to gain a better understanding of their blog format and writing style. One of the best ways to get new people looking at your blog is to post entries on other blogs with a link back to your own. According to the March, 2007 Blog Readership Report, 67.3% of bloggers found information by following links from other blogs. However, bloggers do not appreciate worthless entries with the sole intention of back links. When you make a post, be sure to add something useful to the conversation and explain why your link will be worth following.

Subscribers- Arguably the greatest measure of blog success is the number of subscribers. Subscribers are usually consistent readers and often post entries onto the blog. The greater number of subscribers your blog has, the more easily you can promote an upcoming event or inform constituents of a recent projects success. Copyblogger’s article, “10 Effective ways to Get More Blog Subscribers,” gives great tips for how to increase the number of blog subscribers. You will want a RSS feed for your blog to allow subscribers to receive updates when you add new blog posts.

Blogs True Purpose- Blogs have helped a countless number of organizations achieve their SEO objectives. More importantly however, blogs have allowed art related organizations to connect with their supporters in a completely new way. The stories, issues, and projects surrounding the organization reach a number of people who would otherwise not have been exposed. To learn more about how to put blogs to work for your organization, read one of the many informational articles on problogger or copyblogger. For examples of other nonprofit organizations that have successfully used blogs visit:

http://www.aspca.org/aspcablog/index.html http://network.bestfriends.org/Blogs/ http://www.waterconserve.org/blog/water_conservation/ http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blog/ http://www.intelligentgiving.com/the_buzz/the_blog/ http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/

Week 2 Checklist:

• Create Sitemap
• Find blog provider
• Create your blog
• Visit topically relevant blogs and post entries
• Submit your blog to directories
• Get subscribers
• Research other ways to harness the power of the blog

First in a series of Search Engine Optimization Articles

We are pleased to present the first in a series of four articles written by Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson from TicketPrinting.com related to search engine optimization. Read on...

Make Your Art Organization a Top “Hit”: A 30 Day Step-by-Step Guide to Dramatically Improved Search Engine Optimization Part 1 of 4

By Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson

Lance@TicketPrinting.com www.TicketPrinting.com

Do you ever wonder why some websites seem to steal the top positions on search engines? No, it is not magic, and yes, your art organization can do it too. The “secret” to achieving this success for your website is by harnessing the power of search engine optimization. By following this step-by-step guide, you will be well on your way to drastically improving your websites standing in only 30 days.

Overall Objective:

The overall objective should be to improve your websites position on search engines.

What you need to know:

Despite what some companies may want you to believe, there are no tricks or shortcuts to SEO and you will not top the list of search results overnight. Three major areas should be focused on for a successful SEO campaign. These areas include:

1. Keywords 2. Website design 3. Links

Week 1:

Objective:

Your objectives in the first week include submitting your site to several link directories and improving your websites keyword structure.

Let’s Get Started:

Directories- Submitting to nonprofit directories such as CharityNavigator, Yahoo Health, idealist.org, and fundsnetservices or general directories such as Business.com, Best of the Web, and DMOZ will immediately affect your websites search rankings. While listing your site on directories is worth your time, the links are of little overall value and will only have a minimal impact on your ranking.

Keywords- Keywords are the words/phrases that tell search engines about the purpose of your site. It is important to identify which words are most advantageous to your organization so they can be optimized in your content. Begin selecting keywords by brainstorming every word/phrase that is topically relevant to your organization. Remember, put yourself into the shoes of the searcher and avoid industry jargon. Be sure to include the name of the organization and the main service the organization provides. Additionally, when selecting keywords try to avoid general terms such as “theater”, “art”, or “fundraiser” and select keywords that are unique and relevant. Two problems arise when general keyword terms are used:

1. The phrase becomes more competitive and harder to rank well on.
2. The site receives traffic from people who are looking for a different service than your organization provides.

Art organizations in particular need to include action keywords such as “donate” or “contribute” to make their fundraising campaigns more successful. If you are still unable to generate keywords, browse through websites of similar organizations and look which keywords are used on their sites.

Keyword Tracker Tools- Once you have developed a starter list, you are ready to test the words using one of the many online keyword tracker tools. The best free online tool today is yahoo’s Overture. This will show the popularity of the keyword entered during the last month and give a rough idea of what additional keywords may work for the organization. However, for the organization that wants to launch a more targeted and successful SEO campaign, Wordtracker is the correct instrument to use. Wordtracker has additional features such as the inclusion of plurals and misspellings in its search. Most importantly Wordtracker includes the competition for each of the keyword phrases. The trick here is to select keywords that are popular searches but not commonly used by other organizations.

Keyword Density- There has been a great deal of hype regarding keyword density and finding the correct density for each search engine. Keyword density refers to the frequency that the keyword is used. According to the most current and accurate articles written on the subject, such as the Unfair Advantage (within searchenginenews.com), keyword density is in fact much less important than originally predicted. The only standing rule of keyword density is not use “keyword stuffing” techniques where the phrase is repeated multiple times. Search engines now monitor this tactic and will actually lower your sites ranking if they detect stuffing. Search Engine Land’s article, SEO “Don’ts”: 20 Fatal Mistakes You Must Avoid to Succeed, gives an accurate list of pitfalls such as keyword stuffing that you will want to steer clear of when implementing your SEO strategy.

New Website Content- When incorporating keywords into the websites text, be sure to look at the content from the users’ point of view, and strike a balance between the user and the search engine (priority always goes to the user), making content friendly for both. For further reading on how to layout your website to optimize its effectiveness with search engines read Matt McGee’s 21 Essential SEO Tips & Techniques or one of the many articles on the subject in Search Engine Land.

Title and Header Tags- The most important keywords identified should be included in the websites title and header tags. A title tag is a short html code that tells search engines about your site, while headers are viewed by users on the top of each page and tell the purpose of the page. The 7 Essential Title Tag Strategies of High Ranking Web Pages in 2006 has further information about how to improve title tags to optimize your search performance.

Week One Checklist:

• Submit your website to directories
• List keywords
• Test your keywords with online tools
• Research title and header tags
• Improve your websites content by adding keywords

A few good articles...

One thing that's consistently true about information technology is that you can't trust what was true today to be true tomorrow. If it's hard to identify and articulate the scope for your technology project, it can be even harder to find the tools that match up with your requirements. Founded in November 2005 by a brave woman named Laura Quinn, idealware.org is a nonprofit organization that publishes unbiased articles about technology tools in a wide variety of areas, from electronic newsletters to blogging to Constituent Relationship Management. Laura seeks input from a wide variety of technology professionals and all the authors involved strive to provide honest, plain-talking information about a given subject, and in my humble opinion, they're doing a great job.

Check out Idealware.org's "A few good tools" report series on topics like Web Analytics and CMS, or more theoretical articles like "In Search of CRM" or "Building Peace Through Information and Communication Technologies."

Web 1.0 is so ten years ago...

I happened upon a great blog entry on Slayerment.com about upgrading your Web site to Web 2.0. It provides 12 ways to move that pitiful static thing you created using a Geocities account back when Vanilla Ice was cool into an honest to goodness interactive online tool. Yes, "Web 2.0" is just one of those annoying buzz terms, but this entry is funny AND insightful, a great combination:

12 ways to turn your Web 1.0 site into a Web 2.0 site | Slayerment

Powered by ScribeFire.

Keep Your Inbox Clean...

Here is a great presentation by Merlin Mann of the popular 43 Folders digital organization site on his Inbox Zero concepts. Basically, he discusses keeping your inbox completely clean by processing email in one of five ways: Delete, Delegate, Respond, Defer, or Do. It's a great method of dealing with email, and I encourage everyone to take 30 minutes to watch the main portion of his presentation.

Almost one year ago today...

I blogged about the issue of data loss many organizations and individuals, myself included (I can kiss all those undergrad research papers saved on 3 1/2 inch floppy disks goodbye) experience due to outdated file formats. I came across an article posted to the Americans for the Arts Cultural Policy listserv detailing the same issue. The article originally appearing in the BBC News Web site, "Warning of data ticking time bomb", can be read in full by clicking on this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6265976.stm

Part of me feels that the idea of a "ticking time bomb" is a bit on the sensationalist side. Surely large organizations with the resources to handle that much information will figure out a way to keep the data accessible. I think the people who will get the short end of the stick unfortunately are those without the labor and/or money to figure out. Having worked in a variety of arts organizations from five-person outfits to mid-sized organizations, my impression is that there is often not enough emphasis on proper data storage.

My challenge to you is to think of how you will safeguard your organization's vital information - data about your constituents, grant recipients, financial transactions, donor histories, etc - how will you ensure the information is still easily accessible thirty years from now? It is our responsibility to make sure as much of the organizational history as possible is passed on to our successors. It would be great if we could pass it on in such a way that they can actually use it to further the mission of the organization.

Press Releases and Web 2.0

Recently, Erika Block with www.blockwork.org steered me toward an article from Entrpreneur.com titled "PR Trends: A Press Release for Social Media," which discusses how the PR field is attempting to respond to the "social web" phenomenon by adapting the age-old press release to create a new template for social media containing the following items:

• A brief description of the news announcement
• Quotes from the CEO or other execs, customers and analysts, if applicable
• Photo/video attachments, or links to web pages that host these items
• Links inside the release copy to background information, and relevant links to other news stories or reference sources
• Digital tags (used to link to web tools such as Del.icio.us and Digg)
• RSS Feed links
• Links to podcasts and MP3 files, graphics and video

The article states that the social media release is primarily used by those in the tech industry, which makes sense as they are obviously early adapters to changes in technology. There is a lot of potential here for arts organizations dealing with any discipline. Are any of you using this new template for media releases? Have you seen an impact in the consumption of your press materials?

Click here for another take on press releases and web 2.0 from Ericka's blog.

Social Networking Technology and Arts Organizations

Recently in the Artful Manager blog, Andrew Taylor discussed how social networking technology evident in popular user-driven sites (MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Dandelife, etc.) is rapidly changing the nature of the web and how we use it by enabling individuals to share their voice, vision and story with the wider world. For many months now, I have been ruminating over how to (a) strategically integrate the use of social networking technology into my programs and services, and (b) convince my organization's leaders that we need to move in this direction.

I know many artists are finding ways to utilize this technology as a tool for furthering their artistic endeavors. Comedian Dane Cook has used his MySpace network to catapult himself into the national spotlight as today's top-selling comedian on tour; Boston painter Jeff Hayes produces a successful painting-a-day blog to sell his work on a daily basis; hundreds of filmmakers post their trailers and short films on YouTube to promote awareness and generate buzz for their work.

So what can social networking technology do for arts organizations?

• Given the current trend in the field for arts organizations to market the "artistic experience" coupled with contemporary audiences' desire for greater interactivity, social networking technology has great potential to assist arts organizations in deepening their audience's experience by providing more avenues for engaging with the art, the artists, the organization, and each other. For example, check out Chicago Classical Music (CCM). Founded by nine classical music organizations, CCM launched in March 2006 as a six-month pilot program under the auspices of the Arts & Business Council of Chicago. This online community is dedicated to connecting its 11 current membership organizations with classical music enthusiasts through a blog, interactive forums, a chat room, a ticket swap feature, an events calendar, and more.
• Due to the "tell your friends, who will tell their friends, etc." nature of this technology, another benefit for arts organizations is the viral expansion of their reach and awareness. Earlier this fall, I started a weblog for our Southern Circuit - Tour of Independent Filmmakers program wherein touring filmmakers post about their experiences on the road in the South. Even in its nascent phase, the blog has been viewed throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America; thereby providing our program with a reach and awareness we could never afford to garner through another channel.
• A third potential function for social network technology is to galvanize a virtual community around a mission, goal or issue to spur positive change in the real world. Take a look at how the New Orleans Video Access Center has been using YouTube to answer the question "Why should New Orleans be rebuilt?"

These are just a few ways in which these sites and online services can benefit arts organizations. With every passing day, further innovative uses are realized. So why stay behind the curve? What could social networking technology do for your organization?

Starting a Podcast, Part 5

Now that I have some actual mp3 files from my interviews with CAMT staff - check them out and subscribe to the podcast - it's time to release them to the world. My first attempt to build a listenership - yes, that's a real word - is to use a site called Feedburner, which facilitates the distribution of blogs and podcasts.

First, I added to our blog site a "Podcast" category where my new CAMT mp3 files can live. It is important to add each podcast in its own post. Otherwise, a feed reader such as Feedburner or iTunes will only recognize the first audio file in the post and skip the rest.

Next, I registered for a free account on Feedburner. There are fee-based services, such as enhanced subscriber tracking, but I don't imagine this thing will take off fast enough for us to worry about that just yet. I'm charming, but I'm no Bill O'Reilly. (Disclaimer: The previously linked site is not my own, nor do I endorse it. I simply searched "Bill O'Reilly" and that is the funniest result.)

Once you sign up for a Feedburner account and enter the URL for your "Podcast" blog category, Feedburner will automatically create a page where visitors can either download your content or get your feed URL for use in their own podcast aggregators.

Learn more about Feedburner.

Starting a Podcast, Part 4

Yesterday I interviewed three of my fellow CAMT staffers: Guillermo Marinero (Senior Information Systems Specialist), Haebin Kim (Information Systems Specialist), and Melody Fleishauer (Systems Administrator). These interviews are roughly 5 minutes each and aren't thrilling, but you can hear a little about each of their backgrounds and how they became intrigued by technology. Listen to the interviews in our Podcast category.

Next week: I will discuss how to get these mp3 files out into the world as Podcasts.

EDIT: After publishing this post, I caught a mistake: I posted three mp3 files to one post. In order for a Podcast aggregator like iTunes to catch your audio files, it's important to post them as separate links. Since this blog is meant to be instructional, I thought I'd call myself out on this error publicly, so we can all learn from my mistake. I have added two more posts in the Podcasts category of this blog forHaebin and Melody, so iTunes will snag them for me. More on this next week...