Somebody else owns your homepage

All that work getting your nonprofit's homepage just right? It may be beside the point, according to Web Strategy by Jeremiah: Your Corporate Homepage is Really Google.com.

Why? Because nearly everyone who visits your site gets their via a search engine (mostly likely Google) -- and there's a very good chance they never see your beautiful homepage. So, says Jeremiah:

... be cognizant that your homepage isn't the website you own and manage, but actually Google Results. While you can shape that first few entries with search marketing techniques, but note that a influential blog can cause havoc or be a positive endorsement.

That doesn't mean ignore your homepage. It means pay attention to how you show up in Google searches. Do people seeking you or your cause find a sensible, non-confusing entrance?

Technorati Tags: fundraising, Google, nptech

Comments

[Joe]

Jeff, great post and great point. I work for a hospital and we need to remember that most people find us through Google, not by typing in our name. Joe

[Bill Kennedy, CA]

Hi Jeff,

When I Google a site that engages me (e.g. a nonprofit), yes Google will send me to the page most closely matching my search criteria, but my next step is usually to click on Home.

Your point is 100% valid. The trick is to make sure there's a Home icon on every page.

Bill

[Ted Grigg]

Excellent points Jeff.

As you know, there is actually a new breed of writer in the direct response field called an "SEO writer."

What good does a great looking web site with incredible direct response copy do for your fundraising efforts if nobody can find it to read that wonderful copy?

Good SEO writers write web sites for two primary audiences. The first is the ideal prospect or targeted donor. The other no less important target consists of search engines. So heavily researched keywords, page urls and the content must attract the search engines.

That's why Flash created home pages (the most important website page for search engines) should not rely on heavy graphics or Flash pages to tell the story. The other key component the SEO writer leads is the richness of the inbound and outbound links that relate directly to the subject covered by the given website.

Good web design revolves around the copy and not the graphics when optimizing the site for heavy Internet traffic. That is because the search engines cannot read graphics at this point (and they may not be able to do this for some time).

In fact, great SEO writers write heavy copy content using the keywords liberally and repeatedly in a way that increases response AND drives search engine traffic.

So your title really captures the website strategy at its best: "Somebody else owns your homepage."