Why Facebook, Twitter and Google Are Your Non-Profitʼs New Home Page

Until now the prevailing thought among non-profit marketing folks is that your websiteʼs homepage is the primary target in most campaigns. Hence the focus on design, call to action and content. That was then, when the web was all push – all about destination sites.

What is your homepage? 

When was the last time you went to the home page of a non-profit you were interested in supporting? Maybe the first place you went was Facebook, after a friend shared something with you from the non-profitʼs Facebook Page. Or maybe you googled the name of the non-profit after hearing about it at a party. Or maybe you clicked a link someone shared on Twitter. In all cases, your first visit was not the non-profitʼs home page. Frank Reed, of  Hubspot writes: “So many factors go into the creation of that perfect ʻfront doorʼ to your site that many companies forget that visitors donʼt always enter through the front. Search engines have given your prospect the power to find your site based on what keywords youʼre optimized for or based on what social channels you take part in.”

Building more home pages 

Take a look at your web stats and Google Analytics. What words are people using to find your site? What pages are being visited the most? If youʼre not happy with what you find, start optimizing each page on your site with the words you want to people use to find your organization. And if you want to get even better rankings, start blogging!

Google loves blogs 

A blog does two things that helps your non-profitʼs rankings on Google:
 · Google prefers fresh over stale. A blog enables you to regularly create fresh content for search engines.
· Google lets links decide whatʼs valuable. The more inbound links from reputable sites a web-page has, the better chances it will rank high in google. And blogs tend to receive more inbound links than traditional websites. Especially when the content is fresh, remarkable and highly relevant.
· Google loves specificity. A blog allows you to quickly create a single web-page (also called a post) around a specific subtopic. Think about these two search terms: “1952 Red Ferrari” and “Cars made in Italy”. Which one will have the least amount of competition of Google and have higher relevance to the user? Read more about WordPress SEO in  @remarkabloggerʼs post called “ SEO for Beginners“.

Referring Traffic 

After search traffic, look at referring traffic. What sites are referring the most traffic? And are you happy with the amount of traffic youʼre getting? Inbound links, Facebook and Twitter give me the most referral traffic. What about you?

Your homepage on Facebook 

There are 350 million people now using Facebook. If donʼt have a Faceobook Page thatʼs optimized for search and social media, now is the time to get one ( I can do that for you if you donʼt have the expertise or time).

Your homepage on Twitter 

Your homepage on Twitter is the conversations people have about your non-profit. They share links to various sites – sometimes yours. Are you part of these conversations? Your homepage on smart phones Finally, make sure your site is optimized for smart phones. If you are using a WordPress blog, check out the Wapple plug-in. This makes your website more easily consumed and shared on mobile phones. The last thing you want is a potential donor at an event who canʼt read your site on their iPhone.