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Search Engines

What is a backlink?

The most effective means to improve your Google ranking, has always been and still is, generating backlinks to your content. Sounds easy enough. But first, you must understand what a backlink is. Then you can avoid accidentally causing more harm than good.

A backlink is when a site other than yours hyperlinks their users to your site. In order to count as a backlink, it must be on a different domain. Each time someone else links their users to your content, it’s like a vote. A vote for your content being the best on the internet for that topic. The reason you’ve heard the name “Google” is because they were the first to realize this as a ranking factor. They use backlinks to bubble the most popular content to the top – a system called PageRank.

What makes one backlink more valuable than another

But not all votes are equal. A backlink from a very reputable website is worth more than one from an unknown. A single link from whitehouse.gov or apple.com could be worth a hundred or even a thousand regular links. Some backlinks can even have a negative impact if they’re from spammy or malicious websites. In that case, disavow them to tell Google you didn’t ask for nor do you want those backlinks.

There are two important aspects of a backlink – the URL and the anchor text. The anchor text is the actual text you click on to follow the link. Typically that would be blue and underlined. If the anchor text relates to the URL, title, metadata, and content, it’s like a boost to the vote.

How to generate more backlinks

It sounds easy enough to generate a few backlinks to your content. You can ask your friends with websites. You can leave a few comments on some open forums. Or even easier, you can hire one of those link building services online. What’s so hard about that? The problem is that every ranking system is eventually reverse engineered and gamed. So Google has ways of detecting malicious attempts to disingenuously improve your rank. Not only can it be ineffective, it can actually result in penalties being levied against your domain. Most SEO services promising quick rank increases or miracle jumps to page 1 are using networks of spammy websites. They only care about creating a temporary short term bump. This will have a negative impact long term.

That’s not to say that you can’t reach out to relevant and related webmasters and request a backlink. But, the best way to generate backlinks is always to write great, engaging content that people want to read. Then they will want to share. It can take longer, but the benefits of playing by the rules are bigger, better, and longer lasting.

Social Media

Build a basic audience for Facebook Ads

One of the most powerful aspects of advertising on Facebook is the ability to tailor your audience. Now you can take it to the nth degree. That’s the reason Facebook is free. Users trade their personal data for an engaging social platform. Advertisers purchase that data to find audiences who resonate with their message (read: buy).

In non-profit and charity fundraising, dedicate your precious advertising dollars for donors and volunteers sympathetic to your cause. The focus needn’t be myopic. However, audience consciousness makes a difference in the effectiveness of an ad.

Building a basic audience is easy. There are a few things to consider:

  • Location
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Language
  • Connections – whether they like or follow your page
  • Detailed targeting – this is where it gets fun!

Detailed targeting allows you to find pet lovers, runners, or social warriors. Users either gave this information willingly or performed telling behaviors on the platform. Some audience examples might be:

  • Women aged 55+ in Dallas, TX who speak English and list knitting as a hobby
  • Anyone 18-40 within 20 miles of Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio concerned with LGBTQ equality
  • Spanish speakers in Texas who like BBQ

Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, who you’re trying to reach is a huge part of success!

Graphic Design

Hex color codes explained

Even if you’re relatively hands-off with your website or graphic design, chances are you’ve encountered hex color codes before. They can seem like garbled computer code, but there is a method to the madness. I’ll try today to demystify these codes and give you one more digital tool in your toolbelt.

First, if your eyes are already glazing over, don’t worry. There are many color pickers online that will do this for you. My favorite to use is by Google and is available right within Google search results. Just search for “color picker” and there it is.

Google search results color picker
Google Search results color picker

Just pick a color and this will reveal the hex code to you. “Hex” is short for “hexadecimal” and is a base 16 representation of numbers 0 through 16. In hex, when you count to 9 instead of resetting to 0, it increments to A (10), B (11), C (12), D (13), E (14), and F (15). A two-digit hex number can thus range from 00 to FF.

You’ll see in the screen capture that a hex color code, though, has 6 digits. This is because it is comprised of 3 different 2-digital hexadecimal numbers. Each value represents how much of each primary color for a pixel is present. Unlike when mixing paint the three primary colors when mixing light are red, GREEN, and blue.

The rich green color shown in the example has a red value of 32. You don’t necessarily have to calculate its base 10 equivalent. Just recognize that 32 is relatively low on the scale. So this color doesn’t have much red. The green value is A8. Not surprising that there would be a lot of green here. And last the blue value is sort of middle-to-low at 52. If you’d like to know their exact values, look no further than the RGB code displayed just below. RGB, if you haven’t guessed, stand for Red, Green, Blue, and gives a base 10 decimal number between 0 and 255 for each value instead of hexadecimal. Our guesses of low red, high green, and middle blue are confirmed by the code RGB(50, 168, 82).

If every value is zero (#000000) then the color is black. If every value is as high as it can go (#FFFFFF) then the color is white. So if every value is low, it will be a dark color. If every value is high, it will be a light color. The relative balance between them dictates which color is dominant within the hue and value. Color mixing is similar (but a bit different) to what you learned in preschool. Red and green make yellow. Green and blue make cyan. Blue and red make magenta.

Give the color picker a try and see if you can start to recognize generally what each code represents. Then you can impress your friends and coworkers when you say, “I think we should use #C41440 instead of pure red.”

Search Engines

Optimize every image for SEO

Optimize every image, every time. Make this a rule for your website. You’d be surprised how much image optimization can influence SEO – not only for regular search engine queries, but especially for image-only searches. To date, Google has not formally released any image or optical character recognition (OCR). That means there are only a few ways it can query images.

  1. File name
  2. Alt text
  3. Page content

Optimizing images for SEOTake this picture, for example. I’ve left the file name unedited for better attribution to the artist on Pexels.com. But if you were using it on your website, you could consider the context, placement, and keywords you are attempting to rank for. It might make sense to rename it with one of these methodologies:

  • Literally what is in the image: stethoscope-pen-appointment-book.jpg
  • What it might be used for: making-medical-appointments.jpg
  • What keywords you are targeting: doctors-without-borders.jpg

Use dashes in place of spaces. If you make it a habit every time to stay disciplined and choose a descriptive file name for every image, your site will be higher quality overall.

Alt text can be a bit more free form, but follows the same methodologies. You set it in the image tag like <img src=”stethoscope-pen-appointment-book.jpg” alt=”Stethoscope and pen on top of an appointment book”> Alt text is good for both SEO and site readers for the visually impaired. In our example, additional alt text examples might be “Making medical appointments,” or “Doctors Without Borders taking appointments.”

The rest is based on the content of the page. Keep images relevant, and supporting the central theme of your page. That will help your images rank giving you another stream of organic traffic to discover your message – both image searches and knowledge tiles!

Social Media

Instagram Stories for Nonprofits

A social media presence for your charity or nonprofit organization probably means you have a Facebook page, Twitter handle, and Instagram account. To use each one to the its full potential, you should learn about how to use the platform, but also a bit about how other people prefer to consume content. That can vary based on your target audience, but in general Instagram Stories are a popular and fun way to stay relevant and share in a fun and informal way about your team.

How to post a story

The technical how-to on posting stories is the first step. The easiest way to do this is to swipe right from your Instagram account’s main timeline. This will open up the tool to share stories.

Instagram Stories Editor
Instagram Stories Editor

From here you have a few options:

  1. The button on the far left of the bottom opens your stored images and videos. You can select something from your gallery to share. Both still images and videos are available.
  2. The big white circle in the middle will take a photo. Press it quickly to snap a photo to share.
  3. Hold down the white circle to record short snippets of video

There are many other options you can explore in the menu along the bottom. Share bright colored text, your favorite songs, go live, or add a plethora of filters to your story. Explore!

What to share

Now that you know HOW to share, the next question is WHAT to share. I have two general rules if you’re just starting out:

  1. Don’t over-share. Your stories will queue up in the feed of all of your subscribers and they’ll need to tap through each of your videos. If you post too much, you run the risk of being muted.
  2. Don’t over-think. Videos expire after 24 hours, so if it’s not perfect, that’s okay! Think about videos as being a little more spontaneous and a little less curated than your photos.

If you are having a fund-raising event, a few videos during the event can make those who couldn’t attend feel more a part of the fun. If you just received a big donation, a shout-out thank you can let your followers know about other great organizations contributing to your success. Introduce the team! Let your followers know who is behind the account and all the great work you are doing for your community.

Most of all, have fun! Instagram Stories are a fun and informal way to engage your audience, remind them of your mission, and share your success.

Search Engines

Google My Business without an address

Google My Business is a great way to reach your customers when they are looking for services near them. You might have heard the term, “Local SEO,” before. Showing up for searches “near me” is a big piece of maintaining your local SEO profile.

But what if you don’t have a physical location? Maybe you’re a massage therapist who does in-home sessions with clients. Or a physical trainer who works out of several gyms but doesn’t necessarily have a store front. Are you still able to use Google My Business?

Luckily, yes! Google has an option to verify your business with a service area as opposed to a physical location. It’s easy. Just select the option, No, in response to whether you want to add a location customers can visit.

Google My Business without a physical location
Google My Business allows for you to advertise your business without a physical location customers can visit.

You do still need to provide an address to Google, however. They still need to verify your identity using a post card sent through snail mail. You can provide your home address, since it will never be shown on your business profile (unless you decide later to change your settings). Once verified, you can define your service area so people within range of your services can find your business.

Client Profile

VoyageDallas features Dijon Marketing

On June 5, 2019, VoyageDallas released a story highlighting Dijon Marketing. They profile as many inspiring stories in Dallas as they can. It was an honor to spend some time answering their questions about the business. I enjoyed relaying some success we’ve seen in the nonprofit space in and around the city. Click below to see the full article:

Meet David Fisher of Dijon Marketing in Oaklawn | VoyageDallas.com

Working with several different charities around town has allowed us to connect them to each other and to a wider audience in the DFW metroplex. This gives them the volunteers and resources to continue to improve the lives of those most in need right here in our community. That has been truly humbling and my proudest moments at Dijon Marketing.

voyagedallas.com

Thank you to the staff at VoyageDallas for providing the opportunity to tell a bit of the Dijon Marketing story! This will help us connect even more good people to people doing good!

Best Practices

Vector vs. Raster Images

There are two main types of images when working in graphic design – vector and raster. Knowing the difference between the two can save you some headaches when working with a graphic designer and switching between web and print assets.

Vector images use paths to describe the shapes they represent. In the example of the Dijon Marketing logo, there are a few circles, a few lines, and a solid color where they intersect. It doesn’t matter if this logo is tiny (like the favicon in the address bar of your browser) or printed on a billboard the size of a building. The image can scale and redraw the circles, lines, and fill colors crisply at any size.

Some examples of vector image file types are PDF, AI, EPS, or SVG.

On the other hand, raster images use grids of colors, or bitmaps, to describe an image. You can generally get away with sizing a raster image down, but things get tricky when trying to size up. The pixels that describe the image are fixed, and sizing them up will end up with a “pixelated” result. That is not to say that there aren’t perfect applications for raster images. Most web applications or certainly any photography will be presented by raster images.

Some examples of raster image file types are JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP.

The best thing to do when working with a graphic designer is to discuss which kinds of files you expect to receive. You can always create raster images from a vector file, but it’s much more difficult to go the other way. So ask for vector source files and you will always have the best of both worlds.

Search Engines

Moz Link Explorer for Nonprofits

Moz.com is one of the leading authorities on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). How well your site performs on Google, Bing, and other major search engines can directly impact how much traffic you receive. The more traffic you receive, the more opportunities you have to convert visitors into new donors or volunteers. Monitoring and managing your SEO performance is an important contributor to your organization’s success in today’s digital landscape, and Moz is just one tool that can assist you.

Moz is free to use, and has a host of SEO tools that can help you monitor and maximize your performance. Link Explorer will tell you a lot about your website’s reputation. After you’ve registered for a free account, click on “Free SEO Tools” in the header, and then choose “Link Explorer.”

A free account is limited to just 10 searches per month, but if you are just maintaining one domain, that should not be a problem. Enter your root domain (your web address without https, www, or any folders, like example.org). Link Explorer will give you a few pieces of data.

Domain Authority

Domain Authority is a unitless number from 0-100 that predicts how well your site will perform on major search engines. It is mostly a measure of how many other domains link to yours, as well as how authoritative those domains are. A high domain authority score means you are likely to rank well for a lot of different keywords.

Inbound Links

You can see exactly which domains and pages on the internet link to your content, and what content they link to. This can help you identify your most valuable content and tell you where to spend your limited time. Does your canned food drive page have the most backlinks? Then it makes sense to hire that photographer for the next event, add some picture and videos to the page. A big button calling for volunteers can tell your users which call to action you want them to take.

Ranking Keywords

If you are ranking for certain keywords – even if you’re not ranked #1 – this can tell you where to focus your attention in the future. Add more content around keywords that you’re already ranking well on to boost yourself onto page 1. It’s a lot easier to know what to target by what you’re already doing quite well and push it to great! Page 1 rankings will give you significantly more traffic than anything below Page 1.

Explore Moz’s full offering and see how the data it provides can help you direct your efforts on advertising and content. Need help interpreting the report? Contact us today!

Google Ads

AWQL Example: Pause One-Word Keywords

Automated scripts are the best and easiest way to comply with Google Ad Grants compliance requirements. Use this AWQL example to keep yourself from receiving unexpected non-compliance reports in your inbox. Especially if you aren’t the only one adding terms to campaigns, or have many different campaigns to monitor.

In Using AdWords Query Language (AWQL) for Google Grants Compliance, we detailed an AWQL script. That script finds any terms whose Quality Score falls below the required 3/10. Now we’ll look at another requirement of the Grants program – no one-word keywords. One-word keywords are too generic. Broad match (or broad match modified) amplifies this. Therefore, you are required to have at least two words in every term.

The AWQL example script below generates a list of non-compliant keywords. You can then pause the single-word keyword. By not automatically pausing them, you get an opportunity to brainstorm modifiers. Then replace the offending term.

function main(){
 	var singleWordKeywords = AdWordsApp.keywords()
	.withCondition("Text DOES_NOT_CONTAIN ' '")
	.withCondition("Status = ENABLED")
	.withCondition("CampaignStatus = ENABLED")
	.withCondition("AdGroupStatus = ENABLED")
 	.get();

	while (singleWordKeywords.hasNext()){
		var kw = singleWordKeywords.next();
		Logger.log(kw.getCampaign().getName() + " - " + kw.getAdGroup().getName() + ": \"" + kw.getText() + "\" " + kw.getQualityScore() + "/10");
		Logger.log("");
	}
}

This finds any keyword that does not contain a space, which signifies that it is just one word. It then ensures the keyword, ad group, and campaign are all enabled before adding it to the list. The console log will output a formatted list of keywords that need your attention.

To use this AWQL example:

  1. Navigate in the header to Tools and Settings > Bulk Actions > Scripts
  2. Hit the blue circle with a + sign in it to add a new script
  3. Authorize the script to run on your account
  4. Give it a name and paste the code above into the body. Save it.
  5. In the Frequency column, choose how often you’d like to run the script. Anywhere between once per day or once per week is sufficient.

If you’re running into any trouble getting the script to work contact us. A little bit of automation goes a long way.