Originally appeared in AFP's Advancing Philanthropy magazine, May/June 2010 edition. Please follow the Attribution and Sharing rights assigned to it by AFP. http://www.afpnet.org

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Tools and Tips ,". .... ,.. .
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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 Foundationstudy 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.
34Determining 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
r ech Talk,
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
TRENDS,
'7.
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.

2. 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, t research a new topic or to gain
o 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 - ~. l visitinavour siteand not vourcom~etitor's
w e -. 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
can yon enhance your presence in search engines?
Search Engine Optimization ISEOl
I k
a search engine to find wehsites containing the information There are several key categories rhat SEO comprises, includ-
they seek. Companies and nonprofit organizations focus on ing meta ngs, websire copy or content, sitemaps, back links
three major search sires-Google, Yahoo and Bing-with and keyword strength.
the occasional niche search engine that may fir within their Mcra rags. Meta rags are codes in the website program
field. Additionally, people a s may rake into account the next
lo language that provide informadon to your web browser,
two largest search engines, Aslr.com and AOL. However, search engines and people who view websites with accessible f
,
. Advancing Philanthropy

3. technology, such as a Braille screen reader. These tags can up on a search, even if it is identified as a paid placement or
tell you the title of a page, some keywords you will find on a advertisement.
page, who designed the page and how often a robot used by Pay-per-click (PPC). PPC is a marketing method where
search engines should visit the site. you buy ad space on a wehsite, but - pay only for the ad if
~
Sitcmapa. Search engine robots index a webpage most eas- someone clicks on your advertisement. This includes banner
ily by re~iewing sitcmap page. It is common for web page
a ads and sponsored search results. Sires such as Google allow
-
desinners to add a siteman * - to a website for this verv
- Dane vou to bid on kevwords. as in an auction. so that vour ad for
reason. The sitcmap page indudes links m all of the pages you a product comes up when someone uses a search term that
want a visitor, and in this u s e sea& engines, m see. Because 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 sponsored search results at the top of a re-
your page can affect whether o r not your Employing a sults page. The links look very similar to
page will be brought upand what your
rank on the search results will be. If
SEO and SEM plan the organic search results; however, they
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 fundraisiug? Simply put, if your web-
terms 'Pittsburgh" and "disability' overall agency 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 will pay for on a search result from the first page of
of the terms. results morc than 60 percent of the time
It is important to study the words itself. 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
build their rank in search engines is increasing the number
words and copy, one can increase the chances of a top search
ranking. Because the search engines constantly change their
I
I
of websites that link to their own. Back links are sometimes
thought to be a measure of the importance of the page be-
algorithms to increase quality of results and increase speed
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
s,
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-
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.
Advancing Philanthropy -
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