Media Outreach

SEO can be a complex subject for most but is an important factor when building a website. Some of you may be saying “what is SEO?”. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results means the higher it “ranks,” which in turn causes more searchers to visit your website.

The biggest misconception when purchasing a website is that when you search for the site that it will automatically appear in your search engine results. Unfortunately, the saying “Build it and they will come” does not apply when building a website. There are a few more steps that need to be taken.

First, let me give you a brief description on how search engines work. Search engines send out spiders or “crawlers.” These crawlers scan websites looking for different formulas. Once they have the formulas, then they build a massive list. When the search engine searches it’s index for relevant sites, they rank them, then display them where they deem fit. Every search engine uses different formulas for ranking words in its index. Although there is no way to guarantee a high ranking (besides paying money), there are a few things you can do to help boost traffic to your website.

1) Advertise
It is very important to get the word out about your website. The obvious step is to give out your web address to your members and have them tell everyone they know. Word of mouth is very important. Secondly, advertise your website by having your web address printed on all print material such as business cards, letterhead, newsletters, bulletins, invite cards etc.. Another way is to list it on your direct mail branding and seasonal campaigns pieces. Don’t forget to include it on banners and signs.

2) Utilize your Meta Tags
Meta Tags are defined most easily as “data about a website” which are not typically visible when viewing a web page. Mostly Meta Tags are for the purpose for search engines to index titles, keywords and descriptions about a site. Many search engines rely heavily on this type of Meta Tag.

Meta Tags are included with your faithHighway website. Your Meta Tags can be found under the “Website” tab of your Admin Panel. You will find three separate categories to fill in. 1) Title, 2) Keywords, 3) Description.

Title – Words entered in this category will display as the site name in a search engine result.

Keywords – Here is where you will list any possible keywords/keyword phrases used to help find your website.

Description – Search engines that support Meta Tags will often display a description along with the title in their results. The text of this should contain a brief summary of your church/ministry.

Here are some Meta Tag tips:
1 To help reach better rankings you need to have keyword-rich home page content and updated every 1-2 weeks.
2 Do not repeat keywords more than twice as overuse of a keyword is referred to as “keyword stuffing” or “spamdexing” and will cause your website to be blacklisted by search engines.
3 Sites that have graphic only home pages will not be crawled by search engine crawlers as crawlers pull only from text content and text link information. However, within the last 6 months Google’s crawlers also pull from flash text elements.
4 Submit data to the DMOZ directory for free, which is then used by Alta Vista, AOL, Google, Lycos, MSN, Yahoo, etc. Note that inclusion in the DMOZ index can take up to 8 weeks.
5 Make sure that when you add your Meta Tags that there is a comma and a space between each keyword or keyword phrase and use all lowercase.
6 Use keywords that you would use if you were trying to find a church/ministry in your area (always using your city or suburb as part of the key phrase).

Every search engine uses different formulas for ranking words in its index. Again, there is no way to guarantee a high ranking but site rankings can be “boosted” with some search engines by using the Meta Tags. If you want to learn more about SEO and Meta Tags, contact your Customer Relations Manager or our Technical Support Team and one of them will be happy to assist you.