PC(USA) - Examples - Web Editors - Getting your message out


	Getting Your Message Out Create the right message Help the search engines see your message Spread the word

	Create the right message for the Web People read information on the Web in a different way than they do most print publications. Reading on the Web is closely related to reading a newspaper. People tend to find the section of a Web site they are interested in and then scan that section for headlines they’d like to read. They tend to want smaller bites at a time and like to follow what they are interested in. Long articles with no breaks don’t usually work on the Web as they would in a book. It's best to let readers choose how much they want to read. You can improve the likelihood that a site visitor will read an article by writing in short paragraphs, using subheads and bulleted lists, employing the inverted pyramid and simplifying your style and vocabulary.


	Help the search engines see your message There are several steps you can take to make a search engine see your article or page better which are closely related to how you help a reader. Carefully choose the title of your page or article. The title should identify both the general area of interest and the specific content of the page. A good example would be: “PC(USA) — Presbyterian Disaster Assistance — Mission Resource Kits.” This title will often be used as the “HTML title” which is one of the key components search engines use to rate search results. Provide a list of “keywords” for the page. In general these should be words (or very short phrases) that are specific to the content of this particular page. These are the words that users may type into a search engine hoping to find your page. Assign a one-sentence description to the page. Again, this should specifically describe what is in the page. Note that it may be presented to the user out of context in some search results, so it should also orient the user to the area of the site where the page is located. About search engines: The more often you change a page, the higher it will appear in a search engines rankings. You can use this search characteristic to your advantage in two ways. By changing your site's home page often with a lead-in to a full article or story, you generate interest both to the search engine and the reader. And the article doesn’t necessarily have to be new — you can rotate small lead-ins to existing information on your ministry or program area.


	Spread the word If you have an important program or ministry that you want to promote, try to think of it as a press release campaign. There are several levels of community you can usually tap into: Look at related sites on the Presbyterian (U.S.A.) Web site and try to get them to create links to your site or special article. Women’s Ministries Mission Program Grants Send a lead-in to the article out via an e-newsletter. Post the information on a related online discussion forum. If you have an active network of people you communicate with, consider a blog. Put the URL for your Web site on print publications and business cards



	Home

	Conferences

	Join the Network

	News

	Expert Advice

	Bright Ideas

	Resources

Getting Your Message Out

Create the right message for the Web

Help the search engines see your message

Spread the word