Millions of Web surfers use search engines and Web directories as starting points to find content that they're looking for. Whether they're entering a keyword like "environment" or "save the earth" into a Web search engine such as Google, or browsing listings in a Web directory such as Yahoo!, people are constantly looking for things on the Web. Many nonprofits report from their data analyses that over a third of all daily traffic comes via a search engine or Web directory listing.
Getting listed with Web directories is straightforward, because they are set up to accept listing submissions from people and organizations that are launching sites. To get listed just go to their website and follow their instructions. Revisit all these Web directories and update your listing twice a year or when you do a major overhaul of your site. That way you can either improve the listing description or identify new listing categories that you fit into.
Getting listed with search engines is far more challenging, because these Web sites don't accept listing submissions. Instead, they've built highly sophisticated software robots called "spiders" that surf the Web constantly, looking for new and updated content to add to their search databases.
To get listed appropriately with a search engine, you must install meta tags on all the Web pages of your site. Meta tags are keywords and short descriptions of your content that are coded into your page and not visible to the naked eye. Meta tags will help you maximize your search engine placement and assure that people can find you using keywords that match the content of your web site. You'll want to create and maintain a list of meta tag keywords that covers all the issues that you work on.
Try to anticipate all the keywords that people will type into search engines when looking for content. Have a brainstorming session in your office to come up with a complete list of keywords for your meta tags. Try to be as concise as possible. Also don't hesitate to review and update your meta tag keywords several times a year to make sure that you're covering all your issues.
Without a meta description, the search engine usually displays the first few sentences of content it finds on your site, which often is not terribly descriptive. The <title> tag in the header is not technically a "meta tag" as it stipulates the content that is displayed in the browser header for your page. However, search engines do analyze the keywords there, so you want to make sure it is as descriptive as possible.
Our recommendation is that you regularly update your Web directory listings and your meta tags, and don't agonize about search result placement. Your real challenge is not merely to bring new traffic to your web site, but encouraging visitors to return again and again.
Search engine registration services: An alternative to personally visiting the leading search engines and Web directories is to use a service that offers registration for a fee. You may have gotten email solicitations from these companies, which offer to register your web site with hundreds of search engines and Web directories for about $50. (If you want to check one of these services out, visit Microsoft's Submit-It service at www.submit-it.com.) Our experience has shown that these services rarely benefit nonprofit organizations, because they're designed for businesses selling specific products or services. They're rarely capable of handling charities and advocacy groups and we think you'll be more successful (and end up more informed) if you do the registration yourself.
Paid keywords: Consider Google's AdWords service (www.google.com/adwords). Google places your ad on the right side of the screen on the search results page when your keywords are used by the searcher. With popular keywords, there are multiple ads that are displayed, with the pricier ones at the top of the page, going downwards. With cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, you pay only when a customer clicks on your ad, regardless of how many times it's shown. Minimum CPC's start at 5 cents and vary by keyword. You can't predict how many people will see your ad, but when the per thousand rate that you've paid for has been reached, you can opt to pay more to keep running your ad.
Source: Groundspring ITS Topic 5
