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Nonprofits & Search Marketing: Missed Opportunities

April 2007

SES New York

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Our clients have serious issues…

global warming, pollution, genetically modified foods, equal pay, labor rights, corporate misconduct, predatory lending, medical malpractice reform, death penalty reform, right to die, gay marriage, abortion, illegal immigration, stem cell research, school choice, foster care reform, child poverty, wilderness protection, energy policy, biotechnology, youth voting, public health, Iraq war, privacy rights, AIDS, social security, animal born disease, civil rights, separation of church and state, community development, affordable housing, youth violence, teen pregnancy, homelessness, microenterprise development, higher education reform, disaster relief, poverty relief, family planning, violence against women, racial profiling, welfare reform, campaign finance reform…

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50% NPO 50% .com

Budget for experimentation

Branding PLUS Lead Gen/Sales

ROI/Measurement Focus

Advantage in organic

Easier to leverage breaking news

Better infrastructure for WOM,

social media

Training and In House Set Up

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Top Five Missed Opportunities

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#1: PPC

• Overly broad keywords & terms

• Generalized copy

• Insufficient keyword research

• Failure to leverage spikes in search terms that relate to content, issues, causes

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Autopilot PPC

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Autopilot PPC

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Other Common PPC Mistakes

• Failure to fully utilize Google Grants

• Analysis of costs/clicks/conversions once per month (maybe)

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Recent PPC Audit Example

RB’s First Steps:

• Implemented keyword tracking code

• Ran existing campaign with no changes for one month in order to establish baseline ROI (new tracking code)

• After analyzing results, RB began to optimize

Bids

Position

Keywords

Free (Google Grants) vs paid mix

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PPC Campaign OptimizationGoogle Grants

• Created 7 new campaigns & expanded keyword list for existing campaigns

• Moved some paid campaigns to Google Grants

• Significantly improved results from Google Grants:

› 6,155 average monthly visits before

› 63,368 average monthly visits after

› Improved conversion rate – no significant changes to site!

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• Better keywords, bid management, improved copy, campaign management:

› January PPC spend down 65% from November

› January PPC visitors up 128% from November

Cost vs. Clicks

$12,847.04 $14,470.81 $10,650.63 $5,047.8412,258

15,832

93,127

36,116

$-

$2,000.00

$4,000.00

$6,000.00

$8,000.00

$10,000.00

$12,000.00

$14,000.00

$16,000.00

October November December January

Cost

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

90,000

100,000

Clicks

Cost Clicks

PPC Campaign Optimization

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• December: 187% increase in donation value from November

• January: 65% increase in donation value from November

Cost vs. Donation Value

$6,124.00

$17,567.00

$10,105.00

$14,470.81

$10,650.63

$5,047.84

$5,000.00

$7,000.00

$9,000.00

$11,000.00

$13,000.00

$15,000.00

$17,000.00

$19,000.00

November (Projected) December January

Cost

$4,000.00

$6,000.00

$8,000.00

$10,000.00

$12,000.00

$14,000.00

$16,000.00

Donation Value

Donations Cost

PPC Campaign Optimization

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#2: Multi-Channel Visibility

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So What?

PPC is easy

PPC gets results

Why do I need a multi-channel strategy?

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Average Price per Click for US Paid Search, 2003 - 2009

$0.29

$0.36

$0.40$0.42

$0.44 $0.45$0.47

$0.00

$0.10

$0.20

$0.30

$0.40

$0.50

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Source: JupiterResearch, August 2004

$-

$0.50

$1.00

$1.50

$2.00

$2.50

Diabetes Charity Diabetes com Global Warming Sponsor a Child

CPC 2005

CPC 2006

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Why Multi-Channel?Research shows:

• Multiple exposures = higher click rate

• Multiple clicks = higher conversion rate

• Frequency of exposure impacts brand recognition…• Visibility under multiple keywords, multiple search channels will drive more

brand recognition, more brand searches• Traffic from brand-related searches almost always converts better

• ROI will be higher with a multi channel strategy because each channel has its own efficiencies; A combined approach enables you to leverage those efficiencies

Esp important for keywords & terms .coms are targeting

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• 45% of adult Internet Users have created content online

• 54% of adult Internet Users have watched video online

• 28% of adult Internet Users have tagged content online

• 77% think Blogs are a good way to get information about an organization

• My Space gets more traffic than Google

• Triple digit percentage increases in number of visitors to SN’s in 2006

NOT A PHENOMENON…SOCIAL MEDIA IS HOW WE USE THE INTERNET TODAY

#3: Social Media Strategy

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Social Media

What does it have to do with search?

• Brand Recognition – improves CT’s dramatically (PPC, SEO, online advertising, etc.)

• SERP Shelf space and REPUTATION MANAGEMENT!!!

• Social Media can boost quality links which boost your organic rankings…in other words, BETTER SEARCH VISIBILITY

• Social Media increases chances of conventional media coverage, which appear in SERPS

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Social Media Examples

• Wikipedia

• Blogs – your own, your supporters

• MySpace/Facebook (local organizing)

• Vertical SN’s: Change.org, Hot Soup; 43 Things

• Ning

• Flickr – photos from events, discussion

• Second Life

• Video

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A Word About Social Media

• DON’T start without a strategy

At best you will waste valuable time and effort, at worst you could alienate a community and be the target of backlash

Social Media Training Workshop: Toronto SES, June 2007

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Reactions by search advertisers to a scenario where the cost of paid placement steadily increases over the next two years

71%

30%

17%

3%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Try to improve site's

efficiency at converting

Increase # of key words we

bid on

Grin and bear it

Cease paid placement

Source: SEMPO, Intellisurvey, December, 2005

#4: Testing

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#4: Testing

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• Testing for NPO’s should not be focused solely on conversions. Testing is critical for sites where engagement is necessary to achieve goals. NPO’susually fall into that category (advocacy, charity, even membership/association NPO’s). If you want users to come back, let them design the pages.

• A/B Testing possible without sophisticated tools

• New Free Tool for PPC Landing Page Optimization:

http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/

Testing

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#5: Tracking

-0.1%23.6%23.6%

Donation Form to Donation Completion

-0.8%15.4%15.3%Landing Page to Donation Form

Path Analysis

16.8%646.5%777.1%ROI

Return on Investment

-0.9%3.6%3.6%Donation Conversion Rate

12.3%$ 55.30 $ 63.08 Average Gift Amount

30.6%$ 18,250.50 $ 26,304.00 Total Donation Revenue

20.9%330417Number of Gifts from PPC Traffic

Donations

-3.9%$ 0.27 $ 0.26 Average Cost Per Click

18.5%$ 2,444.71 $ 2,998.95 Total Media Spent

21.5%9,07411,565Total PPC Traffic

Difference (%)Feb-06Mar-06Traffic

Overall Conversions

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