5 SECRETS TO GROW NON-DUES REVENUE

WITH YOUR WEBSITE & DIRECTORY

webl ink internat ional . com

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WELCOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

SECRET 1 « Use Friendly URLs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

SECRET 2 « Get Some Link Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

SECRET 3 « Improve Local SEO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

SECRET 4 « Get Insights from Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

SECRET 5 « Drive Traffic to Your Directory . . . . . . . . . . 14

BONUS « Track ROI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

WEBLINK « About Weblink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 5 SECRETS TO GROW NON-DUES REVENUE

WelcomeTHE RACE IS ON!Associations are under increasing pressure and competition for members’ attention. Some years ago, before Google infiltrated everyday life, people often sought to do business with other reputable people by consulting an association. Now, the Internet has facilitated the proliferation of online directories such as Angie’s list, The Yellow Pages, Home Advisor and more. The race is on to be the most reliable resource for your members.Fortunately, as an association, you already have an advantage. Associations are widely accepted as reliable and reputable, and they have been doing online directories for years. In fact, Search Engine Optimization companies often suggest that businesses join and link to an association to get higher Google rankings on their websites.In this eBook, we will uncover five secrets with a dual purpose — to drive traffic to your website and enable you to promote your members. By accomplishing both of these tasks, you will have essential tools to increase your non-dues revenue.

Let’s get started!

Welcome

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Your online directory is intended to create added exposure for your members, but if your URL structure isn’t user friendly, it’s not search engine friendly . According to Google, “Overly complex URLs, especially those containing multiple parameters, can cause problems for crawlers .” This section will give you tips for naming your URLs to optimize your search engine results .

HOW TO MAKE YOUR URLS FRIENDLY » Think short and descriptive. URLs that make sense to humans are more friendly to search engines as well . URLs containing a lot of characters and numbers, also known as multiple parameters, are not recommended . For example, myassociationwebsite .com/directory .aspx? dir=67&pg=h&bn=223JDSOYWW3ER3SF2 is not short or descriptive, nor does it make sense to humans . Instead, use myassociationwebsite .com/directory .

» Use fewer folders. Too many folders overcomplicate your directory . It makes sense that the online directory main page for Utah Technology Council is located at the web address, www .utahtech .org/directory . And smartly, their categories within the directory are not a subfolder of the directory . Instead of adding an unnecessary folder such as utahtech .org/directory/advertising, they simply use www .utahtech .org/advertising for their advertising category within the directory .

SECRET 1 « Use Friendly URLs

Use Friendly URLs

The Utah Technology Council uses descriptive URLs with fewer folders in their online directory .

5 5 SECRETS TO GROW NON-DUES REVENUE

» Place necessary numbers at the end. There will be times when you must use distinguishing numbers in your naming system . If this is the case, place them at the end of the URL to minimize their impact on legibility .

» Use hyphens, not underscores. Hyphens are the preferred method of separating words to be more user-friendly . Because underscores can’t be easily seen in an underlined URL, it is recommended that you not use them . For example, myassociationwebsite .com/my_category_name becomes myassociationwebsite .com/my_category_name when the URL is underlined as a hyperlink .

» Don’t use iframes. Putting your directory into an iframe does not give your members the opportunity to increase search engine rankings because their URLs are not being crawled by search engines . Plus, sometimes they don’t show up in users’ browsers, rendering them useless .

SECRET 1 « Use Friendly URLs

Use Friendly URLs

The only thing showing up on this directory is the bottom scroll bar . There is no content appearing in the iframe .

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Not everyone agrees what it is that makes links so valuable to a website. Is it the popularity of the linking pages or the number of pages linking to your domain? Is it the trustworthiness of the links or relevancy of the content between linked sites? It’s safe to say that regardless of the reasons, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals will agree that having links does increase your search engine rankings. This secret will help you develop linking strategies that will boost rankings.

HOW TO GET LINK LOVE » Link with Google. Linking to Google Maps within your directory listings can significantly increase your

directory listings’ Google rankings.

SECRET 2 « Get Some Link Love

Get Some Link Love

Here, you see that Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce provides links to both The Fallon’s website and its location on Google Maps.

When searching for “The Fallon Martha’s Vineyard,” the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce online directory listing shows up on the first page of Google results, above Expedia.

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» Link share with government sites. Linking to trustworthy sites, such as local, state and federal government sites creates link trust and can increase your search rankings. Driving up your association website’s search rankings also can increase your members’ rankings because they share your domain.

» Link share with media sites. Whether it is Fox News, CNN or your local television station or newspaper doing a web article on you or a member, ask that they link back to your website or member listing. These links are not only relevant and natural, they are from sites with established authority, all of which are good for SEO.

SECRET 2 « Get Some Link Love

Get Some Link Love

If you offer advocacy for your members, you have an excellent opportunity to link to government sites that will in turn boost your site credibility.

The LA Times provides a hyperlink to the California Restaurant Association website in this article.

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» Make it easy for members to link. Provide members with a badge (linking to your website) that they can display on their website. The link provides mutually beneficial search engine trust and authority. It gives your members credibility as a reputable organization, and it gives you an incoming link.

» Link to social media sites. Offer your members links to their social media sites within their membership listings and connect with them socially on LinkedIn, Facebook and other social media sites. Recommend that they provide links directly to their member listing on your association website for improved credibility.

SECRET 2 « Get Some Link Love

Get Some Link Love

The Sarasota Chamber of Commerce provides a members only section where members can download the chamber logo.

Offering links to social media is an added value that you can offer with your membership listing. You may be surprised how often users click through to a social media site to “get to know” your members.

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SECRET 3 « Improve Local SEO

Improve Local SEO

According to a Google report, “4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information.” Moreover, consumers are searching for local information on every type of device at all hours of the day . As searches become increasingly focused on location specific results, organizations should work to improve their local online presence . NOTE: Don’t ignore this secret because you are not a location-centric association . When you set up your address on your Google+ account, you will have the opportunity to enter the zip codes that you serve, allowing you to be “local” for your members .

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LOCAL SEO » Claim your local listings. Visit Google+, Yahoo Local and Bing Local to add your business listing in their directories . While you are at it, secure listings on other directories such as Yelp, Citysearch, foursquare and industry specific business directories .

» Mind your NAP. The most common negative local ranking factor with Google is having inconsistent name, address, phone number (NAP) entries . It is very important that all your local listings are consistent . For example, if you use “Street” on your website, maintain that structure everywhere . Don’t use “St .” elsewhere . Although that rule may seem extreme, it is important to remember that search engines are not human and highly value data consistency .

Snyder Online Marketing offers a scanner to see if and how your local listings appear across a variety of directories . Simply enter and submit your NAP information to see the report .

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SECRET 3 « Improve Local SEO

Improve Local SEO

» Add location specific content. Perform a Google search using keywords that relate to your industry or organization along with the geographic location you’re targeting . The easiest way to see what keywords people are searching is by using Google’s autocomplete feature . The autofill results on top are those that have the most searches . You may also want to generate keyword ideas by using Google’s Keyword Planner . It is free, but you must have a Google Account to access it . Use your findings to create location specific content to add to your website .

» Get reviews. Reviews can positively impact your search results on local search engines because people use reviews . Put links on your website and in your email signatures that allow your members to review your organization .

Google’s Keyword Planner allows you to research potential keywords in a number of ways . Consult Google’s help topic for ideas on using this valuable tool .

Moz experimented with eye-tracking heat maps to see the importance of local information and reviews for local businesses .

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» Keep your reputation in check. It’s unrealistic to think that you will always have all good mentions about your organization online . It is wise to monitor your reputation by keeping tabs on what is said about your organization and its people online . This will allow you to address any problems immediately and properly thank those who praise you at the same time . Google Alerts and Social Mention are two free services that allow you to see what people are saying about you online . In addition to seeing what people are saying about you, you can also look up what people say about your competition . Ask yourself if competitors are doing something you are not to earn loyalty .

SECRET 3 « Improve Local SEO

Improve Local SEO

Google Alerts gives you options for how often, in what language where and how your search terms appear .

To get results containing exact words, place quotation marks around your search words .

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Your AMS and Google reports often contain invaluable, relevant information about what people are searching for and finding as well as what people are searching for and not finding. Using the reports at your disposal, you can decide how to best funnel traffic to your website and member listings.

HOW TO USE REPORTS » Look for trends in your AMS reports. Do you know which of your member categories get the most attention? Are there specific times of the year that one category performs better? Use your AMS reports to identify trends and capitalize on these results. Use your website’s member spotlight section, or develop quicklinks that will help people find what they are looking for faster.

» Check your site search results. If you have a search box on your website, Google Analytics provides reports telling you what terms and pages resulted in searches from your users. Find out what people are searching in your website’s search box and make adjustments to improve their experience.

SECRET 4 « Get Insights from Reports

Get Insights from Reports

Reports from your AMS can help you identify important trends. Explore which members and member categories get the most referrals and use that information to optimize your directory and website to increase traffic.

From the Reporting tab in your Google Analytics page, navigate to Behavior, then Site Search to access these reports.

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» Check your optimization reports. If you have a Google WebMaster Tools account linked with your Google Analytics, you can now access search engine optimization reports from your Reporting tab . Navigate to Acquisition then Search Engine Optimization to see the top queries, landing pages and geographical locations driving traffic to your website URLs. You can use insights from these reports to identify opportunities to increase the amount of traffic to your site.

» Check out in-page analytics. Google offers the Page Analytics Chrome Extension to help you see your analytics data in an overlay on your website . With this extension enabled, you simply load your website into your Google Chrome browser to see analytics data in your website .

SECRET 4 « Get Insights from Reports

Get Insights from Reports

Navigate to your online directory with the Page Analytics extension on and see which categories, organizations and contacts get the most clicks .

Use the Queries report to identify which Google search queries generated the most impressions for your website along with how high up your URLs appeared in the results .

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Once you have implemented the tips from the previous four secrets, you will be ready to drive traffic to your directory. The key to getting people to use your directory is to make it easy for users to access . This section will demonstrate ways to make your directory stand out .

QUICK TIPS AND EXAMPLES » Make it easily visible. Simply giving your directory home page real estate can drive traffic to it . If it’s not easy and obvious, you may lose viewers, so give your directory a prominent place on your website .

» Have options . Use links, navigation, interesting images and other ways for users to find your directory . Even better, offer multiple ways all on the home page .

SECRET 5 « Drive Traffic to Your Directory

Drive Traffic to Your Directory

The San Antonio Chamber of Commerce website offers three completely different ways to access the directory from the home page .

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» Be clever with your navigation . Wherever it is logical, add ways to navigate to your directory . In the example below, most of the top menu navigation links to the directory .

» Use quicklinks. You may choose to call this section Quicklinks, Top Categories, Top Searches, or even What’s Trending. It is simply a list of your most popular directory items . If you place this list in a sidebar, they will be quick and easy to access .

SECRET 5 « Drive Traffic to Your Directory

Drive Traffic to Your Directory

Navigating from the top menu to Wedding Consultants puts the user into the directory .

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BONUS « Track ROI

Return on investment (ROI) is a best-seller. If you can show your members and prospects that your website and directory drive traffic, you will have a great selling tool for your association — one that increases retention, sales and revenue.

TRACKING ROI» Use your AMS. Pull reports from your AMS such as the one below to show members and prospects

how your online directory results in impressions and leads to their websites.

Track ROI

We hope you found value in this eBook! To locate additional association-specific resources, visit us online at www.weblinkinternational.com. And if you would like to see how we could help your association grow and retain more members, visit us at www.weblinkinternational.com/demo.

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WEBLINK IS A SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE COMPANY, pro-

viding membership management software to chambers and associations. Based in Indianapolis with

nearly 60 employees, we’re proud to have such a talented team. With a 94 percent customer retention

rate, we are recognized for taking care of our customers.

Our comprehensive association solution includes membership management software, responsive

website design and development, non-dues revenue programs for chambers and associations, and the

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HIGHLIGHTS

All brands mentioned in this eBook are registered trademarks in the United States and/or other countries. Other than using these services, WebLink International is not affiliated in any way with these organizations, and WebLink received no compensation for creation of this eBook.

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