#TECH: Title Tags Can Make Or Break Your Site’s SEO
SEO success starts here
Oh, the last official weekend of summer, and it’s three-day long one to boot! You might be itching to get out of the office a bit early today and make it a three and a half day weekend. Before you do, please read some salient advice we took from online marketing specialist John Haydon as soon as it hit our Inboxes. The issue is the placement of Title Tags, the snippets of text − usually the title of the blog post or of a website − that is the first thing search engines scour for the keywords that make your site visible on those engines. With an afternoon of work, you could dramatically improve the ranking of your nonprofit’s site. Here’s what he suggests:
| Category Advice, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Education: General, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Publications, SEO, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Strategic Marketing, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Web and Print, Web Design, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: Presidential Candidates Ramp Up Mobile Giving
With the (delayed) start of the Republican Convention in Tampa earlier this week, the really officially serious campaign season starts. For the next 10-odd weeks, most American start to focus on the candidates, their platforms, and their messages. There has been much talk about the low level of discourse that has driven the campaign thus far, but − unlike Senate debates in the 19th century − no one has been caned.
This is the first post-’Citizens United’ national election, so the astute political junkies are paying attention to the money flow from corporations and unions that need report their large donations until after the voting has been counted. But what about at the other end of the giving scale? This is also the first national election that offers opportunities for texting donations to candidates. How might that change the fundraising landscape?
| Category Advocacy, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Events, Fundraising, How-to, iDevice, Marketing Skills, Mobile, Mobile, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Politics, Social Marketing, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#DESIGN: How To Follow The Branding Guidelines Of Twitter
No. No. And no.
Birds of a feather? Not for that poor Twitter bird: perhaps no other icon in modern business is both better known and abused well beyond the company’s style guide. Even more than the Facebook logo that we discussed a couple of weeks ago, the icon for the social-media site Twitter comes in all shapes, sizes, and numbers − almost none of which are official or legal. If you want to have a good relationship between your organization and the folks at Twitter who have done so much to get news of your organization out to their millions of users, you best check out their corporate style guide.
| Category Advice, Branding, Communications, Design, Education: General, Graphic Design, How-to, Marketing, Resource, Site Administration, Social Media, Social Networks, Twitter, Twitter, Web and Print, Web Design | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALNETWORKS: Sweat The Details, But Focus On The Big Picture
In cyberspace, no one need hear you scream.
Ever feel like your nonprofit or small business is doing some pretty interesting stuff online to share the really interesting stuff you are doing in the real world − but no one seems to be hearing you? You are not alone in having those feelings, especially on a Monday − on a week that sees back-to- school for many kids and the start of the political convention season. We all could use a little pep talk.
Plenty of research shows that activity on social networks for businesses and charities pays dividends in many different ways, but what must be remembered is that some of those ways are not quantifiable. Which is not to say they do not have value. Consider this:
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Media Review, Nonprofit, Public Media, Public Relations, Publications, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology, Thought for the Day | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HOWTO: Establish Your Tumblr Account Preferences To Stay Organized
33 million blogs in 8 languages − Where's yours?
We have already presented videos on how to sign on to Tumblr and how to tweak the settings of your new blog − including how to ensure your activity on Tumblr is reflected in your Twitter account and on your Facebook page (though recent developments have limited the interaction between Twitter and Tumblr, alas). We want to continue with more how-tos associated with Tumblr both because we think the platform is an easy and flexible way to communicate with the larger world and because many have reached out with questions and ideas about the series. We appreciate your contacts and questions − thank you!
Today we present a video about Tumblr’s account preferences (to be distinguished from the blog’s settings).
| Category Blogs, Communications, Design, Facebook, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Public Relations, Resource, Reviews, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Software Review, Storytelling, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Twitter, Video | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#PROAGING: Technology Can Encourage Socialization & Longevity
Perhaps the greatest gift of life is the ability to share many its aspects with others. We have communication skills and empathies that can enliven mundane tasks and reinforce the greater joys and tragedies of the human experience. As social beings, we seek out these shared experiences from our earliest infancy to our later golden years. For many aging citizens, though, physical limitations and technological impositions can reduce opportunities for socialization, which in turn has been shown to decrease both life quality and life expectancy.
Most aging Americans want to live in their own homes as they age, but that desire also increases the likelihood of growing isolation and falling life quality. How might recent technological innovations keep seniors connected to their peers and their younger family members?
| Category Advocacy, Aging, Boomers, Civics, Communications, Community, Grandparents, Healthcare, Independent Living, Major Gifts, News and Current Affairs, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Resource, Retirement Living, Seniors Life, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology, Technology for Aging, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: Paul Jolly Inspires The Big Ask To Raise Big Money
If you ask for less, you'll get less (and work harder on fundraising than on your projects)
We welcome back Paul Jolly, Director of Jump Start Growth, Inc., a nonprofit fundraising and consulting firm in Washington DC. Today, Paul tells about the importance of breaking the sound barrier.
Many good therapists will tell you your achievements are limited only by your attitude. Organizations, as well as individuals, may have a mindset that limits what they can accomplish. Which means they work harder for less.
| Category Advocacy, Cause Marketing, Crowdfunding, Development, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Major Gifts, Nonprofit, Planned Giving, Public Relations, Storytelling | | 0 Comments
Written by: Paul Jolly
#MARKETING: Can Nonprofits Take Advantage Of Pinterest’s Open Platform?
We talked about Pinterest last week when we discussed the fact that the social-media platform has been opened to the public, who no longer need to wait for an invitation. The incredible growth of the platform, already the fastest growing social network in the brief history of such networks, is likely only to continue over the next few years. The questions for nonprofits and small businesses should focus on how to think about Pinterest as a tool to reach more donors, volunteers, and customers. In order to answer some of those questions − even to ask the right questions − one must appreciate what Pinterest ‘is’ and get a sense of what current users expect of each other and of the sharing that goes on. We’re here to help with just those questions.
| Category Advertising, Advice, Branding, Cause Marketing, Communications, Design, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Nonprofit, Pinterest, Public Media, Public Relations, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Web and Print | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#TECH: Sometimes A Security Breach Is Just A Phonecall Away
What's in your password?
The dog days of summer are upon us. We long for an afternoon at the pool or a weekend at the beach before schools and the NFL kick off. The security of our email and our online shopping accounts probably aren’t on the top of our to-do lists. And nefarious hackers seem to know this: July saw a striking number of high-profile security breaches and website hacks. Even the esteemed Reuters news site was hacked to allow a fake reporter to post that Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal died.
If Reuters’s services can get cracked, what’s a nonprofit organization or a poor individual who has no say in his or her cloud service‘s security standards to do? Actually, one can do quite a bit. But even then, vigilance and the occasional decoupling of online services are needed to avoid disaster, as poor Mat Honan of Wired.com recently discovered just a bit too late.
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Blogs, Civics, Education: General, How-to, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Publications, Resource, Site Administration, Social Media, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATIONS: Pinterest Goes Public Though Gender Gap Remains
All aboard?
The big but unheralded news in social networks this past week was the fact that Pinterest went public − not an IPO, but the hitherto ‘by invitation only’ site is now available to anyone who wants to establish an account. Facebook started that way lo those six or seven years ago. How has Pinterest fared? Pretty darn well: the site reached 10 million unique viewers in a month faster than any standalone website or service ever has. And that was before the doors were opened to the general public!
Which is not not to say all is good for the platform, which offers fabulously easy sharing of images on pin boards meant to be organized by topics.
| Category Advice, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, How-to, Marketing, Media Review, Pinterest, Public Media, Public Relations, Reviews, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Web and Print, Web Design | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#DESIGN: How To Follow The Branding Guidelines Of Facebook
Interesting, but incorrect, logo
Corporations, small businesses, nonprofits, and even some individuals brand themselves with a specific set of colors and a type font or two and a logo. Usually those entities want the general public to use their logo, etc, as such use can mean free publicity. And certainly in the world of blogs and social networks we see the use – and abuse – of organizational branding all over the web. But the fact is, almost any organization that took the time to develop a color scheme, logo, or other materials also worked with their design consultants to develop a style guide. Such style guides usually include a cease-and-desist claim on any one who improperly uses their materials.
Facebook has such a style guide, and many of us stay pretty close to it, probably without realizing it. But what can we do, and not do, with Facebook’s materials when we download or cut-and-paste from the wealth of materials that are online?
| Category Blogs, Branding, Case Study, Communications, Copyrighting, Design, Education: General, Facebook, Facebook, Graphic Design, How-to, Marketing, Nonprofit, Public Media, Publications, Resource, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Web and Print, Web Design | | 2 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATION: The Best Ways To Encourage Retweets Include…
What could be easier than writing a message in a mere 140 characters? Something grabs your attention, you copy the link, say something pretty relevant about the story/image/file linked, and hit ‘Tweet’. If you’re an occasional dabbler, such a process can be fine and you might indeed occasionally strike a chord with followers who respond or retweet. But for a nonprofit or small business, the odd hit won’t cut it and you should be having higher expectations. Twitter is about outreach, conversation, and engagement. Your organization should be striving to expand on all three counts. And suddenly, tapping out some 140 characters seems a bit more challenging. What can you do to make a bigger splash in the tweetstream?
| Category Advice, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Public Media, Public Relations, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Twitter, Twitter, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HOWTO: Set Up Your Tumblr Blog’s Settings & Connect To Twitter/Facebook
We continue our video series on setting up your nonprofit’s Tumblr blog account with a look at the two Dashboards within your account. We also explore the blog’s settings and what distinguishes them from your account’s preferences. Tumblr is a free platform and one that can give you an up-and-running blog in about 10 minutes − as well as powerful customization and design tools that can make your blog uniquely branded and connected. We’ll be introducing those more advanced features in future episodes.
What the Blog Settings offer that is worth emphasizing is the opportunity to connect your organization’s Twitter and Facebook accounts to your Tumblr blog. Once done, you can post something on Tumblr and have it announced on the other social-networking sites: three for the price of almost $0.
| Category Advice, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Design, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, How-to, Marketing, Media Review, Nonprofit, Public Media, Public Relations, Resource, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Twitter, Twitter, Video, Web Design | | 2 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#PROAGING: Olympics & Social Media Suggest Shrinking Digital Divide
NBC might have gotten some bad press for giving away results before showing them tape-delayed in the lucrative hours of prime time. These Olympics have both been the ‘first Social Olympics’ and the first to struggle to understand what such instantaneous communication can mean to corporate and sporting interests. And, as it turns out, most of the griping is coming from the world of social networks. According to the Pew Research Center, 76% of Americans find the NBC communications conglomerate’s coverage excellent or good.
What are the numbers when age is taken into consideration?
| Category Advocacy, Aging, Boomers, Civics, Communications, Grants and Funding, Independent Living, Internet, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Politics, Report, Seniors Life, Site Administration, Social Media, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology, Technology for Aging | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALNETWORKS: What Are You Doing To Improve Impact Of Your Facebook Page?
Facebook can be the nexus of a still more powerful network
So your nonprofit or charity has its requisite Facebook page up. You’re posting updates and tweeting about upcoming events. All fine-and-good (and important). But what else could you be doing to energize your Facebook presence? Let’s face it, Facebook has hit some hard times recently. Even before the public IPO Facebook was one of the lowest ranked companies in terms of customer satisfaction. Since then, the stock has fallen over half its original price, and you might have noticed the advertisements as you sign in and sign out of your account as Facebook engineers struggle to find income streams.
But even if a few million of the users are fakes, Facebook remains the heaviest hitter in the social-networking league and we need to use it. The challenge is efficient differentiation and outreach − But how?
| Category Advice, Campaigns, Communications, Crowdfunding, Development, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Nonprofit, Public Media, Site Administration, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Video | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#NONPROFIT: Some Models Of How Charities Use Tumblr
We’ve sung the praises of Tumblr a number of times on this blog, and today we want to present a few examples and ideas of just how nonprofits are using this free platform as a means to spread the word of their great work. One of the many great things about Tumblr is its simplicity of setup. That said, you don’t want to treat your organization’s efforts simplistically.
First off, you might want to consider Tumblr as your calling card to a larger audience, rather than as a venue for in-depth reports to your committed constituents. Tumblr loves images, quotes, and videos, but few go to their accounts to read long analyses. Your nonprofit definitely should have a place for such detail, but Tumblr might not be that place. How have nonprofits used it?
| Category Blogs, Branding, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Crowdfunding, Design, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Nonprofit, Public Media, Public Relations, Reviews, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology for Nonprofits, Tumblr, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HOWTO: Customize & Brand Your Twitter Account
Don't simply accept Twitter's defaults
Twitter is perhaps the go-to social-networking site for anyone looking to share interesting information, tawdry gossip, breaking news, or knee-jerk reactions. Nonprofits should not only be using Twitter to broadcast their own pertinent information about their current successes and their upcoming events but also to share similar information about the efforts of their peers. Even more so than Facebook, Twitter can turn a pithy announcement into a viral retweet.
Content is certainly king, so don’t simply slap down the occasional message just to keep your tweet stream trickling. That said, your organization’s tweets are competing against 400 million others every day. How are you going to stand out from the crowd? For one thing, don’t simply accept the generic colors and designs that Twitter offers its members. Let’s see how to brand your Twitter account with your colors and logo.
| Category Branding, Communications, Design, Desktop Apps, How-to, Nonprofit, Public Media, Public Relations, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology for Nonprofits, Twitter, Twitter, Web and Print, Web Design | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALMEDIA: How Young Is Too Old To Have Communications Expertise?
Would you hire any of these people for your social-media outreach?
Why don’t you all fade away, and don’t try to dig what we all say
I’m not trying to cause a big sensation, I’m just talkin’ ’bout my generation
The Who, “My Generation,” My Generation (1965)
Well, I’ve already dated myself. But I’m going to press on with this post anyway. Catherine Sloan, a recent graduate from the University of Iowa who already has byline credit with USAToday, posted an opinion blog at NextGenJournal.com with the title “Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25“. It has caused something of a ruckus − a sensation, if you will − and commentators and flamers have been debating her post for the last 10 days. Now that some of the heat has dissipated, we wanted to see if she cast any light on the generational and communications experiences of Millennials.
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Aging, Blogs, Civics, Communications, Facebook, Facebook, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Opinion, Public Media, Public Relations, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Twitter, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD