Have you ever wondered how to get your nonprofit listed near the top of Google or Yahoo's search results for a specific search term (for example, breast cancer)? Ever wondered how to get your organization listed in the paid search results that run along the top and the sides of search pages? The answers to these questions is the domain of search engine marketing. According to Wikipedia's definition, search engine marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages.

While the later form of SEM, paid placement, may seem cost prohibitive to nonprofits, there is a way to secure in-kind paid placement for your organization through the Google Grants program.

If you've been recently awarded a Google Grant, Google has just started a blog to help your organization make the most of AdWords, which includes the following tips:

  1. Your first step: sign in to your AdWords account using the email address and temporary password you received in your welcome email. You may want to bookmark the sign in page for future reference.

  2. Then, select My Account > Account Preferences > Edit in Google Accounts and update your password to one you will remember.

  3. With that housekeeping taken care of, you can revisit your account set-up and make changes or updates to your campaign at any time. Here are a few items we'd recommend you review right off the bat:

    * Keyword list: Make sure your organization name is included, as well as any relevant cause-related terms (e.g., breast cancer, childhood leukemia).
    * Ad text: Check to see how well the ads represent your mission and whether the destination URLs link to specific pages on your site.
    * Ad Groups: It's always a good idea to have your Ad Groups match the organization of your website (For example, if you accept donations, consider a 'Donations' Ad Group.)

  4. Remember, all Grants accounts are capped automatically at $10K/month, and all keywords are capped at a $1 maximum CPC. If you have any questions about the guidelines, please visit the policy page.

  5. Once your account is set up to your satisfaction, start thinking of ways to make it even more useful in promoting your organization's mission. Check back here regularly (or add the feed to your reader) for ideas and information about making the most of your Google Grant.

If you would like to learn more about the program, visit the Google Grants blog: http://googlegrants.blogspot.com/