3-page PDF handout with tips for the "Preparing for a Pandemic: Raising Campaign Online Visibility" presentation at UnTech10, Friday Feb. 12, 2010

1. presents
Preparing for a Pandemic:
Raising Campaign Online Visibility
Friday, February 12, 2010
1:00 – 2:00
COntent LeadeRs:
Larry Himelfarb, Asst Director, Online Services,
American Nurses Assn
Jessica ek, Web Communications Editor, American Nurses Assn
don Baker, Partner, NSI Partners
The unofficial alternative to the canceled Tech10
Washington, dC

2. PrEPArINg fOr A PANDEmIC:
rAISINg CAmPAIgN ONlINE vISIbIlIty
A Search-Marketing Strategy Overview
The following eight steps will help you start (plus popular variants) into the pages’ Title tags,
optimizing your website for higher search rank- Meta description tags, headlines and important
ings and more conversions. text. Search spiders from Google, Yahoo! and
Bing will scan these elements of your pages to
1 establish Campaign Goals & Metrics help them determine the pages’ topics—better
Decide upon your search-marketing goals. These optimization will help produce higher search
can include increasing website traffic (total or to rankings.
specific site sections/pages) to improve brand
reach, or increasing visitor conversions (e.g., 6 Pursue Inbound Links
sales, downloads, sign-ups or leads). Getting links to your site from other quality sites
will tend to boost its rankings on Google. Getting
2 determine Keyword-Phrase sets such links—from partner and complementary
Specific keyword phrases are the heart of your sites, press releases and online news—is impor-
search-marketing campaign -- you will use them tant to your site’s success.
on your website and all other searchable content.
Determining your phrase set will involve your 7 Pursue social-Media Links
staff, your website statistics and other research. Links to your site from social-media sites can
Search consultants can help by using specialized have an important impact on search rankings,
tools to help uncover additional and unexpected and serve as fresh traffic sources. Be sure to
phrases used by consumers, who often are include social media in your total linkbuilding
unaware of industry jargon. campaign. (See Page 2 for social-media tips.)
3 establish Baseline site 8 track Progress
Visibility vs. Competition Use website-analytics tools to slice-and-dice your
Running searches with your new keyword-phrase site’s traffic data and gain valuable insights re-
set will help benchmark your site’s current visibility garding traffic sources, time-on-site, bounce rates
level, and identify competitors’ websites you can and much more. In addition, track your search
be examine to understand how they’ve acquired rankings for important keyword phrases, plus new
their high rankings. friends/follows from social-media sites. Reviewing
trends over time helps you tailor your site devel-
4 Run a targeted Pay-Per-Click opment and marketing campaigns.
ad Campaign
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are displayed when
searchers type your important keyword phrases
into search boxes at Google or other search
portals. The data collected in a PPC campaign
provides real-world evidence of the relative
popularity of specific phrases, which will help you
further target your phrase set. The campaign also
gives you a jump-start against your competitors,
as it provides instant first-page visibility as your
organic (free) rankings improve.
5 Optimize Important site Pages
Here’s where you really begin to apply what
you’ve learned from keyword research. Map your
most important phrases against your most impor-
tant/relevant site pages, and work those phrases © 2010 NSI Partners
Larry Himelfarb Jessica Ek Don Baker
Larry.Himelfarb@ana.org Jessica.Ek@ana.org Don@nsipartners.com
301.628.5115 301.628.5110 719.328.0042

3. PrEPArINg fOr A PANDEmIC:
rAISINg CAmPAIgN ONlINE vISIbIlIty
10 Best Practices For social-Media success
1 establish a social-Media strategy 6 Claim Your Brand
Determine your organization’s goals for social Register your business identity on social networks,
media use. In addition to promoting your organi- if only to keep squatters from claiming them. Keep
zation or industry, remember the importance of your eyes open for new social networks, and reg-
reputation management. Being alerted to poten- ister your identity as soon as you can.
tial public-relations problems spreading through
social media helps you respond before they 7 Join In
morph into public-relations disasters. Get involved in your chosen networks, and build
your reputation there. Put on a human face by
2 Identify & Follow Important Voices identifying the employee(s) speaking for your
Listen to what is going on in the social media company. Find ways to position yourself as a
space. Find and monitor your industry’s important leader in your space, by sharing your expertise
blogs, forums, Twitter users. Tracking your repu- and answering others’ questions. At the same
tation online can involve simple tools like RSS time, adopt an informal, personable voice that
feeds, or a comprehensive tracking tool or service makes it easy for others to interact with your
to help manage the process, e.g., Reputation- organization.
Connect (www.nsipartners.com/repcon-
nect.html). 8 Promote Yourself—and
Others
3 establish a Corporate Policy While a primary goal will be to share your
Develop a complete workplace policy own ideas and content, social-media con-
on social media for your employees. versation is a two-way street. Ask your
Beyond marketing communications, find followers for feedback and ideas, thereby
ways to use the cost efficiency of social including them in the decision-making
media for improving internal commu- process and building personal connec-
nications. Make sure your employees tions. Engaged followers are more likely
know the official company policy for social-media to become your “evangelists” who share with oth-
participation. ers their passion for your ideas and goals.
4 Develop a Network and 9 Stay Active
Content strategy Unlike traditional public relations, your engage-
Once you identify and begin tracking online con- ment with social media must be continuous to
versations relevant to your organization, you can reap long-term benefits. You should blog, tweet,
decide what networks in which you’ll participate. comment, and/or share links every week. You can
Whether you use a blog, Facebook or Twitter repackage posts for other media, direct friends to
pages, Squidoo lenses, Stumbleupon or YouTube new website content, guest-blog -- the possibili-
accounts depend on where the important conver- ties are nearly endless. What’s important is to stay
sations are occurring. You also need a process engaged in active dialogue with your audience.
to develop, review and deliver your content to the
chosen social networks. 10 Measure and track Results
Use website analytics and a social-media track-
5 Define Success Metrics ing tool to track and report on social media’s
Every organization or campaign will have unique impact on your website traffic, plus the share and
goals for social-media engagement. You may sentiment of online conversations relevant to your
want to increase website traffic, develop a large organization and topics. Over time, you’ll notice
blog or Twitter following, or publish your con- the impact of your efforts, and learn to target your
tent on as many social networks as possible. resources more effectively.
Set goals and decide on ways to track progress
toward those goals. © 2010 NSI Partners
Larry Himelfarb Jessica Ek Don Baker
Larry.Himelfarb@ana.org Jessica.Ek@ana.org Don@nsipartners.com
301.628.5115 301.628.5110 719.328.0042