We’ve mentioned this before but we need to make it clearer. The websites that will continue to rise in search engine results are those which supply continually updated, relevant information and articles within their website.
We recommend folding most of your new copy into your news section. We recommend classifying many things as news – from new courses, to new staff apointmnebnts, awards, media coverage of your issue – the lot. This makes the news section a go-to area for regular visitors.
Abundant, fresh content helps in two ways – it gives people material to spread via their social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Google’s +1 which search engines love and it also gives people a reason to keep coming back to your site.
OK – so you haven’t got the time or inspiration to come up with fresh copy all day long. Here are some content suggestions:
Skim, condense and pour out media coverage. They'll drink it up.
Media monitoring: using Google alerts and your own media consumption, you can highlight media coverage of your issues (not your organisation necessarily, just your issues) to visitors. Throw in an explanation of the coverage (“The Courier Mail has a story about early childhood intervention waiting lists today: www…”) PLUS at least a line (would 500 words kill you?) of comment about the story. This adds credibility for both Google and the reader.
Hardcore SEO types will be sure to insert an image of the article onto your webpage and to fill in details for the image when inserting it. (WordPress has half a dozen fields to enter when inserting any image which is bothersome but helps search engines.)
Your readers will love you filtering the news for them and by offering a comment you look like experts. Media loves that too.
Report on your progress - or lack thereof
Regular monitoring and reporting
Transparency is sexy. No really. Too few organisations regularly boast about securing new donors, participants, subscribers, staff, volunteers etc. We’d recommend monthly updates on all these.
Why? Because monitoring these issues, highlights these issues. Eg: mentioning that you scored three new monthly donors is a reminder that you want monthly donors. Regular updates create good regular, fresh copy with lots of keywords. Do it now and stop coming across like an organisation that doesn’t need everyone’s help. You should appear to be a living, breathing entity.
Imagine writing a note to every pollie who speaks of your issue, every time. Good for your profile?
Hansard: do you listen to Parliament much? Shame on you. In that case why not run a regular search of hansard for mention of your key issues? Again, you can summarise key mentions of your issue and attach your expert comment. One thing for sure – the pollies making the comments will quickly learn that they have been mentioned on your site. You look important, you bring your readers information they’d otherwise have missed and you get noticed by the right people.
Magazines do it for the same reasons - simple, regular, easily-digestible content.
Q&A: create a regular Q&A of 20 questions like this from the Good Weekend above. Throw in some serious questions relating to your issues and some silly questions too. Ask interesting people to answer them. Publish the most interesting 12 answers and a headshot. Approach some VIPs as you’ll be hard to refuse and the process will get you noticed by them. Aim for one a month. Simple.
Roll out the poll.
Monthly polls: each month you ask a new question and report back on the results of the previous poll. Simple. Use Survey Monkey or, preferably a poll application from within your content management system.
Short on inspiration for copy? Take nuggets from your annual reports and magazines.
Annual reports and membership magazines: Once published and quickly forgotten; these labour-intensive obligations are just waiting to be rehashed as fresh copy for the news section of your website.
See? Content is easy. And once you have the content flowing, be sure to add Sexy Bookmarks, as we have below to make sharing your content easy. And of course feel free to share this.