Why Is SEM Important for Non-Profits? The American Cancer Society and Honest Conversations
Why Is SEM Important for Non-Profits? The American Cancer Society and Honest Conversations
Not long ago, I had the chance to meet with a nonprofit to talk about search engine optimization and marketing. Though not initially brought up, I found myself wondering: how exactly does a nonprofit organization go about SEO and SEM?
Although the value of SEM can be difficult to quantify in some situations, my experience in the field has given me a solid notion of the market rate, and I still find it hard to believe that a nonprofit organization would spend money on it.
The following is an interview with the High Plains Division Director of Online Communications for the American Cancer Society.
Let's skip the nonsense and get down to brass tacks. Could you please tell me your name and work title?
The High Plains Division of the American Cancer Society employs my services as Director of Online Communications; my name is David Neff.
The director of digital communications is responsible for what?
In a nutshell, I'm in charge of overseeing the entire website, from design to maintenance, upgrades, and email campaigns. All of our online dealings fall within this category.
Are any of your websites optimized for search engines?
Not at all. We are not currently engaging in any search engine marketing beyond submitting to Google and DMOZ. Internet ads (such as Google Adwords and banners) and print ads account for the vast majority of our marketing budget. Out of the blue, we don't place ourselves.
Remember how we spoke earlier about how the American Cancer Society runs multiple websites? You said that you're primarily responsible for a couple of those. The Cancer Society should really put money into advertising.
Right now, it isn't a top priority for us. Offline promotion, which I indicated earlier, is keeping us fairly busy at the moment.
Is SEM not a priority for whatever reason?
Such decisions are made at a higher level, and the process is not well understood. There are no actual "baby steps" to begin with. Actually, I really doubt that management is very aware of it. They are completely oblivious to it.
It normally takes a "SEM Evangelist" on staff to get a SEM campaign started, at least in my experience dealing with major firms like yours. There is one individual who is the driving force behind the movement. Was somebody in your office making an effort to get it passed?
Not right now, but I am starting to see effects from the things we discussed, and they are looking really well thus far. And I've been thinking about it because of other media I've come across. Perhaps we should begin advocating for a SEM campaign in 2006.
You have already stated that you engage in several forms of online advertising. Could you tell me the kind of online ads that you run for the American Cancer Society?
Banner ads have appeared on a PDA gadget in addition to numerous prominent websites. Discovering PDA resources that physicians utilize, such as http://www.webmd.com and http://www.pdamd.com. We reached out to http://www.motricity.com as well; we ran numerous advertising on numerous partner sites offering a complimentary product, but we still had to pay full price.
Our next move is to offer a golf pass that will grant you lower green fees at any of Texas's golf courses. Which is why we will also be advertising those very shortly. When the time is appropriate, we will also use Google to advertise these.
Google Ads are usually effective traffic tools, as any search engine marketer worth their salt can tell you. Tell me how well they worked for you before.
During the holidays, we had a lot of clicks from Google advertisements, which were a huge success. From a certain angle, they've been superior to banner ads.
Could you please describe those parts?
Profit margin. Some banner advertising used to get a lot of clicks and impressions, so we decided to keep them. Although we did see an increase in views, we did not see a corresponding increase in purchases throughout the holiday season.
So basically, you're claiming that Google Ads are yielding better results?
Without a doubt, sure.
To whom does Google's program management report?
I do, sad to say (with a chuckle).
How come you use the word "unfortunately"? Is the work challenging?
I have too much on my plate already, so I only look at it when I receive a bill; otherwise, it's not hard. There simply isn't enough staff for us to handle it well.
When creating your Google Ad campaign, how did you decide which keywords to use?
In the communications division, we gathered as a group and set out to find anything. Simply put, we compiled a list of the terms we believed customers would use to find our goods online.
We built our campaign after consulting the Google sandbox for further keyword suggestions.
Google has met your expectations, then. Does that constitute your sole paid advertising platform? Also, are you familiar with Yahoo?
No, we simply haven't had the time to do any sort of investigation. I wish I had the time to do it now, but as I mentioned before, I'm the only one doing it.
Do you manage a number of sites?
I am responsible for nine animals in all.
Do you manage only cancer-related websites?
No. We have a blog site for college-aged kids called http://www.quitnowblog.org. It eases the withdrawal symptoms that patients experience when they try to stop smoking. Also, you can visit http://www.schoolhealth.info/. We are about to relaunch the site after redesigning it. Kids can benefit from more parental involvement in their education and better health outcomes when they use that website. Not to mention a plethora of others.
What about these websites?
A lot of people are responding to the "quit now" blog. Among our intended consumers, it appears to be rather popular.
Do you engage in cross-promotion with all these sites?
Sure, without a doubt. By way of illustration, we guarantee that all printed materials, including brochures and advertisements, are consistent with the website when we launch a quitnow blog and print campaign.
Another one of our sites, http://www.texasgolfpass.com/, has also undergone redesigning to better complement our other marketing materials. In order to keep the themes consistent throughout, we make sure to run full campaigns.
Using this branded strategy across many media, do you think they've been successful?
Under no circumstances. To make sure our websites are consistent with our print ads, we've really ramped it up. At the moment, it's one of our strongest suits.
In retrospect, what aspects of your internet marketing strategies would you change?
My primary obstacle is a lack of time, which would allow me to thoroughly examine Yahoo ads and any other competitors to Google.
Search engine optimization is something else I'd like to look into, but I have to convince upper management of it. I require a single page that explains the importance of search engine optimization so that I can present it to them and convince them to take further action.
Is your company's upper management against search engine optimization?
Absolutely not. It's purely related to schooling. I am at a loss as to how to begin explaining to them, on a level that is not technical, why it is so crucial.
Please accept my sincere gratitude; speaking with you, David, has been an honor. Also, please tell me what one action our community members could do to help the American Cancer Society.
Oh my, You have no idea. As much as I hate to admit it, there are a lot of places where we could use some assistance. We are a non-profit organization, thus we are usually on a restricted budget. All it will do is help us become better known, I suppose. There are some sites that we use to raise money and others that we use to convey positive health messages. It would be tremendously appreciated if we could receive any assistance with these.
They could definitely use your assistance with this noble purpose, as he mentioned. They would greatly appreciate it if you could utilize your search engine optimization knowledge to spread the word, even if it's just by linking to lesser sites like golf pass sites or stop now site.
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