A Training Course
presented by Audrie Krause, NetAction
Michael Stein, Children Now, and Judi Clark, WomensWork
Success on the Internet:
Creating An Effective Online Presence
by Michael Stein
Presented at the Nonprofits and Technology Conference
San Francisco ~ June 23, 1999
Develop an engaging online content model for your constituency
Content is core
Combine email and Web for maximum effectiveness
Outreach to Web portals for maximum exposure
Schedule online content development & commit to immediacy
Drive more traffic to your content
Synchronize your content across all your media
Maintain your own Web site
Develop an engaging Web model (brochure, news, portal)
Put content on your Web site that meets the actual needs of your
constituency (flat HTML, searchable database directory, dynamic content,
audio and video streaming, Adobe Acrobat PDF)
Link your Web site content to your email outreach
Push your content at your constituency with email
Develop a regular email newsletter to deliver content
Combine email with Web for maximum effectiveness
Develop regular relationships with members & constituents that are online
Web links in email
Collect email addresses for your e-newsletter distribution list. Collect
from: your Web site, business cards, your email folders of saved messages,
people you meet at conferences, sign up sheets at events, your partners, etc.
Assess new technologies for your online presence
Email capture automation
Email sending automation
Online searchable databases
Dynamic Web sites
Web discussion forums and live chat events
Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF)
Audio and video streaming
Work with Web portals to disseminate content and drive traffic to your site
Identify portals and gateway that sites can help disseminate your content
Bay Area examples: CitySearch7.com, KQED.org, sfbg.com, sfweekly.com,
BayAreaNow.org, neighbornet.org, sfgate.com
Identify editors and decision-makers at Web portals and gateways and
maintain regular contact with them either by phone, mail, or with a
specially targetted email newsletter. (Example: about.com - Home/Family -
Parenting/Family - Parenting of K-6 Children)
The content you are disseminating can be: a link to your home page or a
specific page on your site; a news item or news story with option for
photos; a graphic banner or logo; a link to your database.
Use your Web referrer logs (see below) to evaluate effectiveness
Get listed with Web search engines and directories
The basics: Yahoo, Hotbot, AltaVista, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos
Visit every 6 months to review your placement and listings
Install meta tags on all the main pages of your Web site
Get linked with other Web sites in your issue area
Surf the Web and find other Web sites (not necessarily portals and
gateways) that will place links or other content for you. You should be
able to get several hundred link placements through this technique.
Highlight Webweavers for Web sites that should be on your "special" email
list for extra treatment.
Identify and approach potential partners such as organizations and
businesses (Example: ParenthoodWeb.com Board on "Talking With Kids")
Work out specific content and branding exchange with your partners
Use your Web referrer logs (see below) to evaluate effectiveness
Adopt a cross-medium approach to your Internet content
Use all media at your disposal to promote your Internet presence: print
newsletters, stationary, business cards, voicemail, email signature files
Create a paper flyer or postcard that you can stuff in all outgoing mail
envelopes that leave your office. Promote your Web site, your online
content and your email newletter.
Promote email on your Web site & Web site on your email
Train staff, board and volunteers to describe your Internet presence
Online fundraising partnerships with vendors and businesses
I recommend the new Online Fundraising Mailing List hosted by Michael
Gilbert, email to
with "sub fundraising" in the body
Evaluate the effectiveness of your Internet presence
Obtain usage statistics for your Web site: that's both the raw hit logs
and the referrer logs.
Own a copy of WebTrends software and do monthly and quarterly analyses
Answer these questions regularly: what content is popular? what isn't?
which portals, links and search engines are sending traffic? how does your
Web traffic overlap with the schedule for your e-newsletter? which months
of the year are most important for traffic?
Michael Stein is the Internet Coordinator at Children Now
(www.childrennow.org and
www.talkingwithkids.org) in Oakland, CA, a
national children's advocacy organization. He is the author of two books
about the Internet including
Fundraising on the Internet
with Mal Warwick and Nick Allen (published by Strathmoor Press).
Michael is a frequent advisor, consultant and lecturer on Internet strategy
to nonprofits nationwide and can be reached at
or
510-883-9530.
with "