How visible is your agency’s website?

By Rose Reinert
Guest blogger
Happy Monday, everyone! This week, we look at Chapter 18 of Lon Safko’s “The Social Media Bible” focusing on Search Engine Optimization. This week’s chapter resonated with me greatly because I had just dealt with it at work!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a complicated practice, but a very simple concept. In a nutshell, SEO is the way to impact the visibility of a website or webpage in a search engine, in a natural, unpaid way. The benefits are obvious . . . when someone searches for you or what you do, you want to be on the list and on the first page.
I experienced this first-hand!
Over a year ago, I started as the Community Outreach Liaison for an area non-profit serving the medical and dental needs of all, regardless of the ability to pay. Our website had a lot of heart behind it, but it was clear we could use a make-over!
So, we did just that.
We discovered, if you jumped on Google or Yahoo and typed in, “pediatric dental Medicaid” that our site we would not pop up! Why? Because we had not a one page dedicated to our dental clinic.
It is still an ongoing process as we continue to focus on our content (e.g. the words we use and how we would want to have people find us).
If you want people to find your website, start by looking at your website and seeing what is in the content. Include key phrases that describe your organization and what you do. The best way to impact your SEO is to pay attention to your content and ensure it is current.
If you want to learn more about SEO, you will want to pick-up a copy of  The Social Media Bible and devour chapter 18. Here are a few additional resources I suggest checking out online:

• Joanne Fritz at about.com: “Simple SEO for Nonprofit Writers — 12 Tips“
• The Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University: “10 Tips to SEO Your Website on a Shoestring“
• LunaMetrics: “How Non-Profits Can Use a Blog to Improve SEO“

What has been your non-profit experience with SEO? What phrases do you use to optimize your SEO? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment box below.