This document outlines the process of listing your site with search
engines and directories, so visitors can more easily find it.
Introduction
You've created your website, but now you need to get it noticed.
Putting your Web address on email correspondence, on your business
card, and in your project's printed materials will help. But to really
spread the word, you'll need to get your site listed by Web directories
and search engines. Although SEO (search engine optimization) is a
complicated field, there are some basic things you can do to greatly
aid your cause:
- Get the right domain name - Sometimes a really good domain name alone can get you noticed
- Use
keyword groupings - Creating a theme for each section of your site and
using keywords accordingly will make your site appear more often, and
in a higher order on searches
- Get linked to by other sites - Most search engines use relevancy ratings based on how many pertinent sites link to yours
- Obtain a listing on Yahoo - For many sites, Yahoo accounts for half or more of all referrals
- Monitor
site traffic - By reviewing traffic reports at least once per month,
you can track progress and fine-tune your search positioning
Get the Right Domain Name
During the late 1990s many people went on domain-buying binges so
that they could reserve the best, easiest names for themselves. The
right domain name could mean far more visitors to .com websites and
therefore more revenue.
Although the revenue part didn't always follow, they had the right idea about generating traffic with a good domain name.
Because most Senior Corps projects are affiliated with local
government and nonprofit centers, their websites are usually hosted on
the same server as the hosting organization. While this is convenient,
it can lead to URLs (Web addresses) that are anything but easy for
outsiders to remember.
If possible, try to obtain a domain name that is descriptive of your
project and the area it serves. If you can't obtain your own domain
name, at least try to obtain a URL that isn't horribly difficult to
remember.
Use Keyword Groupings
Imagine what words potential visitors might use when coming to your
site. For example, if you're a Foster Grandparents project in Smith
County, New York, the keyword combinations "Foster Grandparents,""Smith
County" and "New York" are all important.
Figure out what the three or four most important keyword groupings
are for your home page, and be sure that these keyword groupings appear
in the first 25 words at the top of the page. While this seems
contrived, it's not. You're not only telling search engines what your
site is all about, you're also informing visitors to your site that
they are at the right place. Note that this text needs to be actual
HTML text, not graphics text.
It's also helpful to incorporate those same keyword groupings
towards the bottom of the home page, because this shows search engines
that the page really contains the content it "advertised" at the top of
the page. You might therefore start the page with text saying "Welcome
to the Smith County, New York Foster Grandparents Project." Then
towards the bottom of the page, you could place text that says, "Thanks
for visiting the Foster Grandparents of Smith County, New York! Please
follow the links to find out more about our project."
Follow the same process for interior pages in your site, and try not
to overlap with the keywords you used on the home page. For example, in
your "About Us" page, you might use the keyword combinations "Bob
Smith" to highlight your well-known Director, "Adamsville Children's
Health Center" to highlight the location of your volunteer work, and
"Governor's Award" to highlight the fact that your project won the 2001
Governor's Award for Service.
Diversifying your keyword groupings gives your site wider exposure
to search engines. Someone looking to see if there is a Foster
Grandparents project in Smith County, New York using a search engine
like Google will find your project's home page. Someone else, looking
for information about special programs at the Adamsville Children's
Health Center, could enter your site through a search that took them to
your "About Us" page.
Get Linked to Other Sites
Search engines have become better at delivering relevant search
results primarily through methods that incorporate "relevancy ratings."
Basically, a relevancy rating establishes the credibility of a given
website by determining how many other sites link to it. As an example,
a Google search for "national service" returns the Corporation for
National and Community Service site. This is primarily because the
Corporation site is linked to over 5,000 websites, most of which have
to do with national service.
Thankfully the pool of relevant sites for your Senior Corps project
is more limited, so even a few links will really help your search
engine visibility. Try obtaining links from local government sites,
regional volunteer sites, newspaper sites, and other sites. Make sure
the Corporation knows your site's URL and puts it in their online
program directory.
Obtain a Listing on Yahoo
This is not an advertisement for Yahoo. It's a simple fact that for
many sites, half or more of their visitors come in through searches in
the Yahoo directory. A listing on Yahoo also increases your odds with
search engines, because Yahoo is so well-trafficked and therefore links
on Yahoo carry more weight.
Businesses pay $200 or more to get listed on Yahoo, but non-profit
entities can be listed for free. It is worth taking the time to visit
the SelfPromote.com site listed in the Resources section below, and to
read the excellent primer on submitting to Yahoo.
Aside from Yahoo, there are many other smaller directories, some of which can provide traffic to your site. AllSearchEngines.com, is a good starting point.
Monitor Site Traffic
Your web host, ISP (Internet Service Provider), or system
administrator should be able to provide you with a monthly traffic
report showing which pages on your site were viewed most, where
visitors came in from, what search terms they used, and so on.
Take a look at this information each month. In particular, pay
attention to which search engines are "spidering" your site (indexing
it so that your site will come up in pertinent searches on that
engine). If one of the big search engines such as Google, Excite,
AltaVista, or Lycos isn't spidering you, you may have to go to the site
and use the "submit URL" link to have the engine spider your site. |
