Conference notes from the "SEM for Non-Profits & Charities" session at Search Engine Strategies New York '07.

Moderator:
Anne Kennedy, Beyond Ink

Speakers:
Ettore Rossetti, Senior Manager of Internet Marketing, Save the Children
Nan Dawkins, Partner, Red Boots Consulting
Kevin Gottesman, Founder, Gott Advertising

Ettore Rossetti, Senior Manager of Internet Marketing, Save the Children

Pareto principle - 20% of the inputs drive 80% of the action. Figure out what drives people to the actions you're looking for (donation, etc.)

Being small, niche and narrow is more important than big and poorly focused. When someone types in "donate to xxx" they're looking to take action.

Be aware of unintended consequences. "The Brad Pitt Effect" - if you're mentioned accidentally, it can lead to traffic and donations -> 5% of the search queries for Save the Children last year were related to Brad Pitt...

Know the seasons for donation and target them with your PPC campaigns...

Figure out the intention of the searcher and match the message of the landing page to what they're looking for by typing in that keyword. Connect with them quickly and you'll have better "conversions". "Donate Now" ads should take them to a donation page, not the home page.

Know your promise 'cause it's your "product".

A click is not a customer, nor is it even a lead - it's at best a potential prospect... Focus on conversions, not clicks.

Figure out campaigns that bloggers will pick up and endorse.

Have minimal registrations (with opt-in) for things like downloads.

Don't look too narrowly at analytics - see ripple effects of "non-conversions". Look at multiple stimuli - not just the last stimulus that results in a conversion. For example a generic term might get the person to the site the first time and then they come back with a branded search, but it was the generic term that got them there the first time and made them aware of your brand. To do this you need persistent cookies for initial referrer, plus another cookie to know session referrer.

Kevin Gottesman, Founder, Gott Advertising

Google Grants - non-profits can run free keywords on the AdWords system - there are restrictions, but it can be really useful. Don't just drive people to the home page - drive them to a request to take action. Appeals for money usually don't work unless you're really well known - think of other actions. Keywords to match your campaigns are a good idea. Seasonal pushes are also good, but get in before December to understand how things work. Getting people to sign petitions is always good, but put in a call to action (donation, etc.) at the end.

Case Study: Amnesty International - Budget: $85,000, Donations: $300,000, plus side benefits like awareness and 1300 new donors (20 new major donors). It took a while to raise ROI on the campaign. That same strategy has failed for other clients - so find what works (e.g. list building campaign).

Case Study: American Jewish World Service wanted to get people aware of a Washington event about Dafur... Event did well and the relevant words were cheap to buy.

Case Study: Humane Society - PETS Act (bill in front of Congress). They're an easy client because everyone loves animals. Broad appeal and bill passed easily. So it was less about getting the bill to pass and more about raising awareness of their organization while discussing the act.

Don't think of your home page as the front door - the search engines are the front door and people may land on any page on your site.

Nan Dawkins, Partner, Red Boots Consulting

Their business is about 50% non-profit clients.

Top 5 Missed Opportunities

#1 - PPC - Be careful about your campaigns (negative contexts, poorly focused, etc.) - keyword optimization, ad copy optimization -> big benefits

#2 - Multi-Channel Visibility - PPC costs are going up (even for non-profit keywords), so you need to do organic as well. The more times you appear on the page the more likely people will click thru and know of your brand.

#3 - Social Media Strategy - This is the future, not a fad. People in the social media arena are going to be creating content anyway, so they might as well be doing it for your cause. Be really careful for negative commentary - know when it starts to show up - try to keep it off page 1 of the SERPs. Social media coverage can lead to mainstream press coverage. If celebrities have been involved with your organization, get links from their Wikipedia pages to your site. The Edwards campaign is doing a good job with social media - they let people start their own blogs and post to the main blog and people vote the articles up or down... Flickr is great if you're involved with kids or animals (make sure you get links back). Video is also good, but it can be used against you as well. But more than anything else - don't start in social media without a good strategy.

#4 - Testing - Test your landing pages and tweak them to make them perform.

#5 - Tracking - Analytics are important. There's a lot you can do with just log files and with inexpensive tools.

Q&A

When budgeting for search advertising, use analytics to determine what's most effective (for example vs. direct mail).

Always start with a strategy that's based on an audit of where you stand now. Know the two words that are most important to you and go after them.

When combating negative social media articles have people (not organizations or employees) get into the mix and engage the people who don't like you.

Google Grants only work on the search network. They stay away from politics and religion and they can say no to anyone they want. The bid limit is $1/click.

Tags: non-profit, online-advertising, SEO/SEM, SES-NY, Social Media
Categories: SEO/SEM