Progress - the blogs are listed

Well, that was fast - which proves these methods work, I guess! The blogs - even the wordpress one that I quit posting on a month or so ago - have both been indexed in the search engines.

Not the Website yet, and neither blog has a google pagerank. Plus, I haven't optimized for my keywords. But - still, not bad for 24 hours.

So - why is it important that you get started blogging and working on a content Website for your nonprofit organization?

Because you want people - and not just any people - you want the RIGHT people to find your site and take action.

It all goes back to strategy. (Or at least, the chapter in the book on "Harnessing the Power of the Internet" goes back to strategy). What are the top 3 reasons you want to drive "targeted" traffic to your Website?
For example, you might want to:

• Inform your local community about your issues
• Recruit volunteers for an upcoming event
• Publicize your program, or attract donors

The thing is, you start there. Figuring out what you want to do, and why.

Then, every word you write needs to accomplish one of those three purposes.

And your next step is to begin optimizing your keywords - based on your strategy. That way, once people start doing a search for your keywords - they find you.

Pretty simple, right?

Well, guess what? There's a catch. If you do it wrong, one of two things could happen.

1. Nothing. Nobody notices, nobody comes, nobody does anything.
2. You could get banned from the search engines. It's called "black hat" SEO (remember SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization"), and it's not only wrong, it's stupid. Why go to all that work, and take chances on getting your Website banned, when you can use "white hat" SEO, and go after the "long tail" searchers.

Well, more about that later. I'm going to go and start doing my keyword searching. And this afternoon, I've got to write my first press release. Wanna watch?

So, where do you start getting traffic to your Website?

Okay, basically, there are some pretty simple things you can do. First of course, is getting links to your site. So, for example, if my blog was ranked or getting traffic, I'd put a link to the Website - http://www.activistguide.com

Or, vice versa - put a link to the blog from the Website. Unluckily, neither of them are known.

So, what I started doing instead is posting on some sites that are ranked. For example, I have a blog (okay, tonight was my first post) on "My Space". I added a link from there to here and to the Website.

Why "My Space"? If you remember from a post I did a while back, social bookmarking sites - myspace, U Tube and the like, are the places where people go to hang out, talk about their lives, their loves and (on U Tube right now) Lonelygirl 15...

So...if you've got an event, get somebody to tape it - and post the "movie" on U Tube. Create your own blog on My Space. Start getting the word out about your program, and your organization.

How To Get Your Blog or Website Listed on the Search Engines

Okay folks. In my book, "The Activist's Guide to Changing the World - for VISTA Volunteers" there's a chapter on "Harnessing the Power of the Internet". I give you some basic information about using blogs, RSS feeds and "white hat" SEO tools, to help you publicize your Websites, gain exposure for your programs and get the word out about what you're doing.

I've had some great teachers. And I've learned a lot. (I hope.) Why? Because it's time to put my money where my mouth is.

I'm in what is called the "prelaunch" stage of promoting the Website, and my book. Neither the blog or the Website are ranked yet, and they're not bringing any traffic.

So, I'm going to use the tactics I teach you in the book (and in some cases the book bonuses, written by experts in their fields), to see if I can get listed in the search engines and also, get the information out to the people I'm trying to reach - namely YOU.

And, I'm going to tell you what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. And together, we'll see if it works!

So if you want to get publicity for your program, your projects or your organization - stay tuned!