Here are the tips that the SEOs shared when we went around the room for introductions at the June 2009 DC SEO / Social Media Meetup. I’ve grouped them by category for your convenience…ooh, another tip—subheadings are a great place for keywords.

Tips for Getting Links and Ranking Better

• You don’t want to be #1 in the SERPs (search engine results pages), you want to be the page. (Dominate the listings with your site, your blog, your LinkedIn profile (mine) and SEOmoz profile (mine), etc.)
• Bloggers don’t want to pimp your press release, but they will feel like they’re doing a community service to write about your upcoming events. (This came from a diamond seller.) Reach out to them about events you sponsor and make sure the main URL includes your RSVP information.
• Chat me up at an SEO Meetup and I’ll throw you some link love. That’s what Chris (@trentiles on Twitter) did. So, let me just say, are you looking for healthy recipes? Check out www.keepitsimplefoods.com.  Chris highly recommends it. While you’re at it, if you’re looking for VW, Audi, BMW forums—especially in Buffalo—check out www.dubsinthebuff.com. And if you like to grocery shop for healthy food in a fancy schmancy car, check out both sites.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled post.

Google SEO Tips

• Create a Google profile (mine) as another way to get your name higher in the SERPs. www.google.com/profiles
• When adding new clients or sites, link to them from your highest public Page Rank page, such as shown in Google Webmaster Tools. (I’d add do it from your home page as well.)
• Add Google Analytics to your site so Google will visit you regularly — even if you use another analytics package.
• Similarly, run Google AdSense links on at least some pages so Google visits your site regularly. (Along the same lines, upload an XML sitemap regularly.)
• The updated AdSense policy might require a change to your privacy policy.  Generate a new one using (kudos to our host @1p for finding that link during the event).
• Google Search Appliance Version 6 is out.

Blogging SEO Tips

• Guest post on a blog for traffic and a link to your site. Make sure you have some good posts lined up for newcomers who check you out as a result – this might be your only chance to wow them. On your own blog, expand on your guest post or cover another aspect of the topic.
• If you’re going to use Blogspot, make sure you register your dotcom name and use it on the site. A few attendees who started with Blogger later switched to WordPress with some difficulty. But if they had used the Blogspot address instead of their own domain name, they wouldn’t have been able to redirect traffic to their new host. (Hmm, maybe the lesson is really to start with WordPress in the first place.)

Site Tips

• Get Internet liability insurance for your startup. Bonding yourself might not provide enough coverage. (Can I say “bonding yourself” on a site visited by church web teams?)
• Use a flat site architecture with good, descriptive bread crumbs to help with spidering.
• Try the www.thirtydaychallenge.com to see how you can make money online. My natural reaction is to be suspicious, but the tip was greeted with some affirmative head-nods by other attendees. Your call. Let me know how it goes if you try it. (Unless that’s asking for some sort of Amway-type invitation—then don’t let me know.)

Social Media Tips for Twitter

• Register all of your brand and product names on Twitter (defensively). Try to make as many active as you can.
• Register “yournamesucks” as a defensive move on Twitter. (I’d treat this one carefully or with humor since you risk the page ranking for your name.)

DC Job Outlook for SEO

• A corporate recruiter in attendance said that the DC area job market is picking up. 80% of the openings she sees are Web-related in some way, such as programming, SEO, copywriting, etc. (Secondary tip, if you’re looking for a job then show up prepared at a Meetup; sometimes recruiters and hiring managers are here.)

There you go. It’s almost like you were there, at least for the introductions.

Last time, my write-up of the SEO Meetup was primarily tips I had shared with others. This time the round of introductions helped all of the attendees participate in the information sharing. So what do you think of these tips–are you going to try some? Any that you think you should skip?

SEO Answers From the May 6, 2009 SEO Meetup

The conversations at the May 2009 DC SEO / Social Media / Affiliate Marketing Meetup (whew, that’s a mouthful) covered a range of topics. Here are the questions I heard along with recommended answers.

How can my law firm’s events show up better in the search engines?
Submit to eventful, upcoming.org, zvents, craigslist and Google Base.

• http://eventful.com/washingtondc/events
• http://upcoming.yahoo.com/place/Fz2_YE6bBJ2_FxtS
• http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/cal/
• http://www.zvents.com/search?st=event&city=Washington
• Google Base – DC Legal Events (URL is too absurdly long to show–we’re talking Lotus Notes link long)

What’s that URL you just shouted across the table – is it plural or singular?
Someone asked our host, Miles, whether his security alarm systems in Washington, DC domain was singular or plural. UrbanAlarm.com is singular, but after taking a look at the handy dandy mobile version of AjaxWhois.com, we saw the plural was available and Miles snatched it up.
Tip: If a plural of your domain name is how someone might hear it, grab it.

How can I get links to my blog?
Come to the next Meetup and chat me up! I’m always happy to share some link love and drop some sweet anchor text.

• Remember Dean Megginson, NovaHomeGuy.com, who we profiled before? He’s added DullesHomeGuy.com to his publishing empire. Take a look.
• Looking for graphic illustration in Washington DC? Check out Will Carroll’s www.Geoill.com

Why is your hand resting on my thigh?
This one wasn’t directed at me, but I think it’s best if we move on to another question.

How can I tell if I have duplicate content penalties? I have an old site I copied from one platform to another. Both sites are still out there, but I change the headlines and added pictures to the newer one.
It’ll probably take more than that to look different in the eyes of the search engines. One way to tell is to conduct some searches on unique phrases from an article that appears on both sites. Do both show up in the results? If so, you may be okay for now. If you see the following, you may have problems:

In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the x already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.

It’s always good to 301 redirect, but that’s not always an option if you’re using a free blogging service rather than your own hosted site.

How can I get in touch with the social media scene in DC?
Follow @1p on Twitter. Paul hosts a bunch of social media events and is usually at these SEO Meetups.

How can I tell how well the search engines are picking up my Flash pages?
Search for site:yourdomain.com to pull up all of the indexed pages on your site.
Do you see all your pages listed? Are there descriptive headlines and blurbs that would make a newcomer want to click? If so, that’s good.

Or, are you seeing

[FLASH] Loading:
File Format: Shockwave Flash
Loading:

If it’s the latter, go fix it.

How do I handle SEO for Flash?
How can I make Flash show up better in searches?

• Embed Flash using SWFObject and JavaScript. You’ll have one version for Flash users and a back-up one for search engine spiders and other HTML-only visitors
• Fill in meta tags in Flash editor
• Read How to SEO Flash http://www.hochmanconsultants.com/articles/seo-friendly-flash.shtml
• Review: http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/wiki/documentation
• Read: http://searchengineland.com/080411-101105.php 
  http://www.beussery.com/blog/index.php/2008/10/google-flash-seo/
  http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/06/improved-flash-indexing.html
  http://www.seomoz.org/blog/flash-and-seo-compelling-reasons-why-search-engines-flash-still-dont-mix

How can I leverage my photos better for SEO?
Label them well in Flickr, geo tag them, include links back to your post, pick appropriate rights for sharing (Skelliewag has a handy overview).

I’m trying to get more leads from PPC. Any other ways to track these?
Try displaying a unique phone number or extension used exclusively in your PPC ads. Or a coupon code.

What’s the conversion rate for real estate agents using social media to generate leads?
One attendee reported about 5 percent of contacts become actual clients.

What’s the best way to learn HTML?
I recommend http://w3schools.com/html/ because you learn by coding HTML on screen and immediately see the results.
(I’ve heard good things about http://htmldog.com/guides/htmlbeginner/gettingstarted/ , too.)

Is there a course or program I should enroll in to learn SEO?

• Use SEOmoz.org’s expansive free resources to get a great understanding.
  • http://www.seomoz.org/articles/difficulty/1 and the blog http://www.seomoz.org/blog
  • Beginner’s Guide to SEO (an oldie but a goodie)
  • Beginner’s Checklist
• Try SEOBook if you want to invest a little money
• The best way is to learn by doing. Start your own blog or website.
• Another attendee recommended Hubspot http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-resources/
  I follow Hubspot’s Mike Volpe on Twitter, who shares some good stuff.

There you go — you get all that for the cost of a Cosi sandwich along with a dollar donation to the Meetup facilitator.

Anything you want to add? And are you gettng questions ready for the next SEO Meetup?

Do you have any designers volunteering at your church? I unwittingly set one up for failure by not spelling out the only two approaches that can lead to success. Make sure whoever is working with your creative talent reads Seth Godin’s “A Clean Sheet of Paper” post before the next assignment comes up (and follow these rules below). He totally nails the unfair situation that volunteer artists often find themselves in of trying to guess what the church leaders want without any real guidance.

If you don’t spell out a strategic vision for the assignment and offer some guidelines then Seth correctly states that “you have an obligation to use what you get, because your choice was hiring this person, not in judging the work you got when you didn’t have the insight to give them clear direction in the first place.”

The Set Up
I brought in a new volunteer who was a professional graphic designer for what seemed like the perfect first assignment: coming up with a logo for a series of new events that would take place over 10 months. No legacy issues, the design didn’t have to last forever and it was a quick turnaround. Just go to this meeting, find out what they want and crank out a great logo.

A few weeks later I received an email with the new logo. But it wasn’t a PSD, EPS or even a JPG. It was a Word document with an image consisting of WordArt text and a Microsoft drawing object.

Maybe it was just a draft I thought. No, the committee decided they didn’t like the professional’s first draft so they literally took matters into their own hands without getting back to her.

At this point I had one understandably upset designer and a low resolution graphic that wasn’t going to show up well on a website or on a sweatshirt. Fortunately, another friend who’s an artist reverse engineered the WordArt into something scalable. It wasn’t easy, but we did it and learned some lessons along the way.

Here are some guidelines to follow so this doesn’t happen to you.

Rules for Working with Church Creative Types

1. Explain in writing the purpose of the design, how it fits into your church’s strategy, the goals for the project and what you hope to communicate.
2. Figure out ahead of time what you want. Find examples from other churches or even other industries that catch your eye. Identify some that you hate. Provide these up front.
3. Agree on the review and submission process up front. Are you getting three comps and two rounds of edits? Who has a say? This should be as small a group as possible. Their evaluation should be in light of the first two points.
4. Be honest. Does the pastor have veto power? Don’t waste the designer’s time with the committee if the decision-making power doesn’t truly reside there.
5. Agree on a timetable up front for deliverables and decisions.
6. Keep the right perspective. Your logo is ultimately serving a higher purpose. It’s not an end in itself.
7. Determine ahead of time who “owns” the final product, whether a creative commons license or copyright is appropriate, and how you’ll attribute credit.

You’ve probably run into these challenges. So what works at your church? Share your tips in the comments.

By abac077 via Flickr

When my boys’ school called to announce an early close because of snow, two thoughts came to mind:

1. Why are you closing over a couple of inches snow? (The former New Englander in me)
2. If my church closes, we can put our Twitter account to good use.

My parish soon canceled that evening’s events. Here’s how we got the word out quickly online to parishioners.

I called the parish office to find out a status update. (Ideally someone on staff should be on point to initiate such messages.) We then sent the word out through these channels:

• Home page
• Church Twitter account, @StCharlesChurch (See tweet) 
• The parish’s breaking news email list, one of the 3 email newsletters every church should publish. (See message) 
  • We used a descriptive subject line, Office Closed, Activities Canceled for Wed., 1/28. Recipients didn’t even have to read the body to get the gist, particularly since everyone already knew it was snowing.
• Parish online calendar (See entry)

One channel we missed was the outgoing message on the parish office’s voicemail. Alas, the phones fall outside of my Web Ministry, but I’ve made the recommendation.

So that’s how St. Charles does it. What works at your church for sending out short messages quickly?

Looking for ways to improve your church’s email marketing in the coming year? Here are the top marketing ideas and how they apply to churches from ExactTarget’s 2009 Marketing Almanac. 
 

Marketing Almanac 2009 from ExactTarget includes insight for churches

 
1. It’s going to get harder to get parishioners to notice and open your emails as more organizations turn to email even more.
Email is becoming more attractive as a relatively cheaper channel compared to other options. Your competitors—other churches, entertainment venues and ecommerce—are going to crank up their email output and you might pay the price.

• Keep focused and helpful.
• Don’t pollute your lists with message creep. (Hey, we need more fundraising—how about sending the contributions appeal to the volunteer openings list? Um, no.)

2. Today’s savvy audiences expect you to offer choices for keeping them informed.
Users want to get updates on their own terms, not yours. They might choose email, RSS, Twitter, text messages, mobile and who knows what’s next. Pick flexible, free options such as Google Groups so your congregation can self select.
 

3. Cloud computing is here to stay so take advantage of it.
Now’s the time to use distributed services such as Google Groups and Google Analytics.
  
 

4. Customization and personalization become must-haves.
Start looking at good sources for more information about your audiences. Try your front desk staff to see the kinds of questions that come in and the needs that you should be meeting. Or run a free survey on your church site such as 4Q from iPerceptions

5. Prepare to face more pressure in the workforce.
Rampant layoffs have many on edge. Those still working are expected to do more with less. You may find it harder to hold onto volunteers in such an environment. But, you might also have opportunities to reach more people who turn to God in times of trouble. Make sure you’re ready to support your current volunteers and to welcome those who are in need.



That’s my take on how your church can make the most of ExactTarget’s predictions. What are you going to focus on next?

Looking for techy gifts and gadgets for the geek who runs your church’s website? Say thank-you with one of these top ten and you just might have a prayer of getting your next feature request moved to the front of the queue.

1) Google Chrome-Themed Beanbag Chair

Google Chrome-themed beanbag chair

Your church webmaster can connect with the youth group while slouching in this colorful beanbag chair without losing the techy cred that comes with using an alternative browser.

2) I’m Following You…to Coffee & Doughnuts

Mug-shot of your Twitter followers

Even if your loner coder doesn’t have opportunity to meet with flesh-and-blood friends or parishioners, that’s no need to miss out on the warmth of true friends that comes from holding a hot cup of coffee, especially in a mug adorned with the avatars of virtual friends. Gift one of these Twitter mugs and you’re sure to receive a direct message of thanks.

Suggested by @ValerieStevens

3) Linux Nativity Set

Penguin Nativity Set for the Linux Lovin' Webmaster

Imagine the smiles when your webmaster Tux in the Baby Jesus for a good night sleep on Christmas. A stable OS is possible with the Linux-inspired Penguin Nativity Set.

4) C-3PO USB Drive

C3PO-USB

Your webmaster might not be able to answer the question, R2-D2, where are you?, but there’ll be no question as to where your church’s data is backed up with this handy Star Wars-themed USB thumb drive.

5) Log Pillow and Lap Protector

Review logs in comfort

All-night coding with a sizzling laptop on your thighs is asking for trouble. Help your programmer keep cool with these log pillows that leave room for the Holy Spirit between a geek’s Macbook and crotch.

6) Leggo my Watcho

Star Wars Lego Watch

Your church webmaster will never be late for a web team meeting again when sporting a Star Wars Lego Watch. This accessory goes with any mismatched outfit while adding a touch of sci-fi style and DIY flair.

7) Life Begins at Confection

Fetus Cookie Cutter

Give your pro-life programmer (or 2001 fanboy) a festive fetal treat that says all life is sweet.

8) A Tweet in the Desert

Bring a new meaning to church planting

Your HTML addict can’t always remember to tend to houseplants when the pastor is insisting on updates to the sermon page. But through the DIY Plant Twitter kit, those ferns can simply tweet a reminder when the soil starts to get dry.

9) Concordance

Labels for a rat's nest of cords

The apostles may have been of one a-cord, but your church webmaster has too many of them. Mark them with these seals and keep the lines to God organized.

10) Let My People Glow

Kensington Portable Power Outlet and Adapter

Not enough plugs by the baptismal font to run the laptop, camcorder and lights while trying to recharge an iPhone?  This miracle devicemultiplies the outlets and USB ports so everyone can get energy according to their needs.

Need more ideas? If your webmaster is a hardcore developer, try gift ideas from Smashing Magazine. Or as you might have guessed from my header, the Atari 2600 is always a good choice. So, what gift would work for your favorite church webmaster?

This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for the new friends I’ve met on Twitter, the micro-blogging social network. Since it’s time to update my original collection of Thanksgiving prayers for Catholics, I turned to Twitter for inspiration. Try one of these yourself or share with a fellow parishioner. 

• @nunblogger Thanksgiving grace in color (http://ping.fm/gVlaq) and black and white (http://ping.fm/sGLR3) for your Thanksgiving guests.
  
• @CatholicMeme  RT @BarbInNebraska Listening to: Catholic:Under The Hood – A Spanish Thanksgiving http://tinyurl.com/69lejm fr @FrSeraphim.
  
• @CatholicMeme  Thanksgiving: Saints @ the table, Native American saint & Catholic prayers http://is.gd/8ihj What are your blessings?
  
• @MyCatholicVoice ¡Grita De Alegría! – Salmos para el año litúrgico – A collection of Catholic thanksgiving songs in spanish at http://tinyurl.com/5ohcuj.
• @BobbyGilles Prayer For Illumination and Prayer Of Thanksgiving For Advent Season: Advent is a time of hope and a .. http://bit.ly/q0UO
• @TobyDiva  @gourmetstation posted thanksgiving poem/prayer http://tinyurl.com/67ax9r
• @ChuckWarnock  Just posted tomorrow’s sermon, A Thanksgiving Prayer, at http://tinyurl.com/5w6kn5
• @BloggingForMich  A Thanksgiving Prayer for Activists http://tinyurl.com/62nt9m

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving prayer to share? And are you thankful I refrained from using the word “Twanksgiving” here?

Update: This post is included in Catholic Carnival #200 at Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering. Check it out.

Update: November 15, 2008: St. Mary’s site is restored, although it looks like the bulletin with Fr. Newman’s letter is unavailable.
Update 2: Diocese of Charlston Repudiates Fr. Newman’s Comments (PDF and video); and Catholic News Service article and Fox News article

It’s been a busy week on this blog for older posts. The latest one getting a spike in traffic is my review of St. Mary’s of Greenville, SC. As I type this, the St. Mary’s site is unavailable. If you are looking for more information about the South Carolina priest denying Eucharist to Obama voters, try these sources:

• AP Story: SC priest says no communion for Obama supporters – AP story
• Fr. Newman’s letter to his parishioners from the Google cache/last snapshot of site before it went down, reprinted below

My post, Veterans Day Prayers for Your Parish Website, from a previous Veterans Day is getting some serious search engine traffic. I’ve updated the list with new resources and to adjust some URLs that changed over time (another good reason to 301 redirect your pages!).

By PlayingWithBrushes via Flickr

Someone stopped me at my church’s Volunteer Fair today to ask, “Is the parish web site up to date? Are you having a hard time keeping it accurate?”

In my mind I checked off the many updates we recently completed, but quickly surmised that such a list would be devoid of relevance to the questioner. If you’re asked this question, know that the person is focused on a particular omission.

It didn’t matter that she hadn’t even visited the site herself. A fellow volunteer had complained to her—with justification—about finding outdated information regarding our elementary school’s Oktoberfest fundraiser. In her mind, the entire site’s reputation was shot based on this second-hand account.

Oh, I could have explained that the school hadn’t emailed me this year’s update, or that the information should actually reside on the school’s site instead of the church’s site, or that the site had 100 other features that were timely, or that my dog ate my server. Do you think such explanations are going to change your visitors’ opinions of your site? Nope. [Full disclosure: I don't have a dog.]

Tomorrow I’ll track down the Oktoberfest organizer at day two of the Fair so that I can get the latest facts and begin to make amends.

I was fortunate to attend an unrelated event where I could receive this feedback. Will you have the same luck? Is there an old page out there that’s the weakest link for your site’s reputation?