May 13, 2009
7 Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Web Site
Your nonprofit needs to reach out to new supporters, get them excited about your mission, communicate how you’re serving people through your services and programs, and then motivate them to take action or make a donation.
But first and foremost, you have to get these people to your Web site.
Before digging into some of the ways you can drive more visitors to your Web site, according to Kenan Pollack, senior interactive consultant at Convio in Austin, Texas, you need to review a few basic, but important, definitions:
- Unique visitor: A person goes to comes to a Web site during a specified timeframe. If the same person visits and leaves the site three times during this period, that person is counted as one unique visitor.
- Page views: The number of times a single Web page has been viewed during a specified timeframe.
- Site visits: The number of unique visitors to your Web site during a specified timeframe.
You should note, according to Pollack, that Web site traffic varies significantly from one nonprofit vertical to the next. For example, the number of visitors to the Web site of an environmental and wildlife nonprofit will be considerably greater than that of a nonprofit in the disease and health services vertical. Almost everyone cares about the environment, but a finite number of people have a particular malady.
Web site traffic is typically characterized by a series of troughs and peaks, the latter often generated by outbound marketing. For example, carefully structured email appeals (e.g. a series which has a beginning, a middle and an end), can present a cohesive message that drives traffic to your site. Similarly, email newsletters with clear calls to action (e.g. forward to a friend, donate now) can help bump the number of site visits, Pollack explained.
But you need to figure out what drives your Web site’s baseline traffic (daily traffic) because this is a measure of your URL “equity.” You’ll find that your baseline traffic comes from three main sources: typing in your Web site’s URL/using bookmarks, search engines and third party Web site links.
There are many tactics, both offline and online, that you can use to build your baseline traffic. Below is a list of numerous options you can explore.
- Promote your site offline. With offline communications, always think about the Web angle. Tie the offline and online world together by mentioning your URL in printed communications, telephone conversations or at events.
- Look at Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Conduct a search engine audit to ensure that you are maximizing your placement in organic search and paid search results.
- Pursue reciprocal links. Mutual links between two Web sites to ensure mutual traffic will increase your search engine placement.
- Explore viral marketing opportunities. Set up the content and have your motivated supporters spread the news for you.
- Think about ways to get some earned media. Look for opportunities to gain visibility with the local press or establish relationships with influential bloggers.
- Extend your presence to social networking sites. When evaluating potential sites on which to build a presence, be mindful of your target audience. Provide widgets for constituents to post on their social networking pages, or give them a reason to post a video about your organization or cause.
- Serve content via blogs and RSS feeds. Blogs and RSS feeds can require a fair amount of effort. However, in the long-term, they can generate a lot of site traffic and improve search engine visibility.
Each tactic requires a different level of effort and will have a different impact on your baseline traffic. Test a combination of techniques and track the results using Google Analytics or another tool that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to your Web site. Use the data you collect to determine the mix that works best for your organization and target audience.
Once a supporter connects with your organization online, you should start to build a rich profile of the person. You need to understand what brought them to your site and why they are interested in your organization’s mission. Equipped with this information, you can tailor future messages based on supporters’ interests and past interactions. This strategic approach to your communications will help you build life-long relationships with your constituents.
For more information on the topic, email Kevin Pollack at kpollack@convio.com
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This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times.
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