Affordable, Manageable Joomla! Websites for your church or non-profit.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."  Luke 6:37-39 (New International Version)  This biblical direction is good practice for developing search engine friendly websites.  A church site emphasizes to search engines what its about when they find links to other church sites and sites with biblical, church, or christian resources.  The same holds true for non-profit sites and linking to other sites with similar topics, fields of interest, or additional resources.  And it's important to remember to give a good description which includes key words, if possible, in the link.  "Click Here" links tell search engines nothing about what the link is about, while "North American Baptist Association" and  "Church Softball League" can say a lot.

Most search engines companies ascribe to the idea that the internet is more about collaboration than competition.  So, while it's a very good idea to have a good site that provides good resources for people, don't selfishly focus on keeping people on your site.  No site can provide everything for everyone.  Your users will appreciate it and search engines will notice if you refer people to other helpful links and resources.

One of the best methods for determining good places to search for links is to do some search engine searches with your key words and see what sites are coming up before yours.  Often times the higher ranking sites will be directories or realestate sites or some other type of site that links to other sites.  Write those sites down and do what it takes to get your site on that list.

Most of these "listing" sites are free, particularly for churches and non-profit agencies.  You want people to find you and sites like these want to help people find resources on the web and in the community, so it's a great match.

I know we had started on links, but I had just a few more notes on Search Engine Key Words that I wanted to stress. Make sure you put your key words ..

In your page titles or, in Joomla!, your menu item names. Page titles are the text that shows up in the tabs in your web browser.  Search Engines pay attention to this text and look for it to be different on each page so that it gives a brief idea of what the page is about.  And, since Search Engines are looking there, it's a great place to put your key words.  It adds credence to the idea that the key words really are key to this particular page.  If you have your Search Engine Settings set on (More about this in a later post) in the Joomla! site configuration, then your menu item names will be come the page titles for most of your pages, so that is the text you want to pay attention to.

In your URL.  Ideally key words and a search engine friendly strategy is something you will be thinking about for your site from the ground up.  Search Engines also use the URL text to determine the content of the site.  For example, if a user types "Edmonton Church" into a Search Engine search, with all other factors being equal, www.edmontonbaptistchurch.org will rank higher than www.ebc.org or www.edbaptist.org.  It's not always a good idea to change a URL once it is established and known, but, if you have the option, you want to consider including key words in your URL.

In your headings. In Joomla! you can set headings on your content as "heading 1", "heading 2", etc.  Search Engines look to these headings, as well as phrases in bold and italic, to figure out what is important on the page.  So, if it fits in the context, you want your key words to be in these places.

In your alt-text for your images. When you are adding images to your pages, it is good programming practice to include an alternate text (Alt Text) for the visually impaired.  And, again, this is someplace that Search Engines look for text.  The Joomla! article editor allows you to put Alt Text in your images when you add them to the page, so it is easy to do.

Besides good key words and a good key word strategy, the other most important factor in getting search engines to recognize you is links to your site from other sites.    Search engines evaluate how significant your site is in your field or area based on how many other sites with similar topics link to your site.

It's important to remember that area doesn't just mean area of interest or business, it can also mean geographical area.  There are usually a number of directory sites for any given city or other location.  It's very important to check these out and see what it takes to get your site, as well as your address on them.

But, since everyone can get on directory, it's even more important to find sites directly related to your field.  For churches that can mean denominational sites, lists of local churches, sites welcoming new comers and showing them lists of local churches, real estate sites that list churches for the customers, and so on.  Non-profits will want to connect with other non-profits, and business with business associations as well as suppliers and customers if possible.  The more links you have in the more legitimate, related places, the more search engines will take notice of your site.

If you are stuck on finding key words for your website, or you want to make sure your words match up with what people are looking for, simply go to a search engine like Google or Yahoo and search on "key words".  In the list of sites that come up there will be a number that can help you with finding the best key words.  Some have services you can pay for, but most are free and, unless you are in a highly competitive market, will give you what you are looking for.

Along with including these words in your content, you want to make sure you include them in your titles as well.  It's also helpful to bold them and italicize them as context permits.  Search Engines are looking for identifiers like these to tell them what is important on the page, the more you continue to place importance on your key words, the more your site will be associated with them.  It's more important to communicate to human beings than search engines, but it's best if you can do both.