Website Promotion for Associations -- 8 Free Tools

Website promotion is a large topic that occupies many Internet marketers full time, and it may seem intimidating -- to the point of paralysis -- for people given small budgets and charged with building, managing and promoting a professional or non-profit association website.

Managing a professional association is often a thankless job anyway, but if you're going to build a website for your association, website promotion is a must. Did you know that most visitors leave a website within 10 seconds of landing on the home page? And that they may never return to the same site? There's nothing more frustrating than going to the trouble of creating a professional association web site that nobody visits!

So how do you get visitors to come to your association website, stay longer, and return often? The quick answer is that you need to engage them, but what exactly does that mean? Well, it means that your website, and your website promotions, need to be of interest to your target audience, provide useful information, and encourage interaction -- both with the site and with other association members. Here are 8 free tools to simplify association website promotion.

Free Tool #1: Blog 

Weblogs or "blogs" are websites that take the form of online journals, and which can be updated easily and regularly for Web users to read. A blog is absolutely the easiest way to provide regular information updates to your members. The key to a successful association blog is to make it fun, interesting and useful. Fresh blog posts covering upcoming association activities and industry-related happenings keep members coming back to your site to check for new content. For website promotion purposes, your blog should have permanent links to your association website, and you should take every opportunity to link to existing content on your website.

Here are a few examples of non-profit blogs:

•    First Book (http://blog.firstbook.org/)

•    ASPCA Blog (http://www.aspca.org/aspcablog/index.html)

•    SOS News and Views (http://soscs.blogspot.com/index.html)    

Visit Blogger.com to get started.

Free Tool # 2: Podcasts / Vodcasts

Podcasts and vodcasts (video podcasts) are a great way to reach out to  members and serve as a benefit to new members who may have missed that great speaker or event. All that is required are basic tools for clear audio, basic mixing and editing – and most of these tools can be obtained online for free.  

Here are a few examples of association podcasts/vodcasts:

•    American Heart Association podcast

•    American Dental Association

•    American Water Resources Association     

Check out Techsoup’s article on how to record, edit, and promote a podcast to get started. Turn to Britt Bravo's 7 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Podcasts for tips and ideas.

Free Tool # 3: RSS

RSS stands for "Rich Site Summary" or "Really Simple Syndication".

Simply put, it is a way to deliver frequent web content updates. By plugging links into something called an RSS feed reader or aggregator, your visitors can retrieve the newest content offerings from your website while saving the time it takes to visit each site. Many RSS feed readers are available, and  they all allow you to display content for reading at your leisure. To find out more about RSS, read this article.  Make sure that your website offers RSS feeds where relevant - typical examples are blog and news pages, event pages.

Free Tool #4: Polls

Incorporating polls into your website is a great way to engage and connect with your visitors. Polldaddy.com provides near limitless features at no cost.  The service is ad-free and you can create a poll and customize t to fit into your site design. (Check out the polldaddy widget on the Wild Apricot blog (in the right column).

 

Free Tool # 5: Surveys

Similar to Polldaddy, SurveyMonkey.com gives you the ability to post free surveys on your Web page to help you connect with and understand those visiting your site. The free service allows users to add logos and banners, change colors and customize in many different ways. Basic subscribers are limited to a total of 10 questions and 100 responses per survey. The basic subscription is free. If you want to go beyond 100 respondents, and up to 1000 and gain access to many more features, there is a cost.

 

Free Tool #6: Tell-a-Friend LinkMake sure that all your email newsletters and articles contain a link that visitors can use to send to a friend. In other words, make your site forward friendly. Including a Tell-a-Friend link is a very effective way to get new visitors to your website.

Free Tool #7: Flickr

Flickr is an easy-to-use online photo-sharing site that uses tags to facilitate finding people and photos. Encourage your members to share their event and meeting photos by posting them to Flickr and tagging them with key terms related to your event. In addition, you can add these photos to your site, along with interesting and updated content. Photos are a huge traffic draw, so you’ll be guaranteed some extra member visitors. 

Good Examples:

•    The American Library Association's•    Online News Association

•    Fullbright Association Alumni Event photos on Flickr

See also: Five Ways Nonprofits Can Use Flickr to Reach New AudiencesFree Tool #8: Social Networking

Sites Facebook (www.facebook.com) and MySpace (www.myspace.com)provide a tremendous tool for driving traffic to your website. People use these sites to keep in touch with friends, but they are also very effective networking tool for associations and other non-profits to create Beginners Guide to Facebook awareness and connect with their community. You can also use them to publicize an event, raise awareness for a cause, or promote your blog. With MySpace you can enlist and create weblogs and photo galleries, make unique design changes to the MySpace template for a more personal look to their individual pages, and above all connect with other people.

Take a look at the Humane Society's Facebook page and MySpace page, which integrate multi-media, event management and more. Get started today to promote your association's website. Assign a few people to join and set up profiles, find out what communities there are and start participating. Turn to  and Beginner's Guide to Facebook and Promote your cause on facebook for details and how-tos. There are many other website promotion techniques. If these tools don’t work for you, then find others -- but do something. And remember - the secret to winning more web traffic is by making your site informative and user friendly.

Resources

Wild Apricot Membership Software -- Powerful, easy-to-use  membership software with friendly and knowledgeable support.

Wild Apricot blog -- This blog is for volunteers, webmasters and administrators of associations, clubs, charities, communities and other groups. We discuss issues and trends in modern web technologies that help your organization achieve more with less.