• “Greet” the visitors from the media news story with an accessible, relevant link in your homepage content area. If you are able to list a custom URL to a specific content page, all the better. Most articles will only quote your homepage, and regardless of what page is mentioned, lots of new visitors will go to the homepage anyway.
• Case in point on accessible links: On one day, a client of ours had a surge of visitors, and just under 2% of them took the desired action (signing a petition). They had to hunt for it in the general navigation, even though it was only two clicks away. The very next day, we added a direct link and two paragraphs to the content area of the home page and almost 12% of visitors took the action. All we did was make it more obvious to the new visitor.
• Within the content news page, make it easy –visible, clear --for visitors to learn about what your organization does, and to sign up for your e-newsletter. I’ve seen web articles where the organization’s information and email sign-up were sadly buried at the bottom of a long content piece.
• The organization’s story is a primary components for a new visitor. Don’t discount its value to the repeat visitor or already-converted supporter. In a lot of cases, supporters do not know enough about your organization and could use the reiterative information --particularly those who’ve only given before to a designated program or event.

Remember, that PR can drive traffic but your web site is the sales tool. Visitors who have been driven by some type of press need to make a connection with your organization, feel that they understand what you do. They have come looking for more information. Make sure that information is easy to find and easy to digest.

Next week we’ll give you some tips on how to convert all this new traffic.

January 2007