Ways to research/brainstorm keywords for a unique non-profit?

[vittana_seo]

We're looking for ways to drive traffic to our site through targeted keywords, but because our non-profit is unique (micro-loans for students in developing countries) it is unlikely that people will be using such a keyword.

We're looking for other keywords to target searchers who might be interested in giving micro-loans for students or at least are interested in microfinance in general. Eventually we do want to win for keywords like "microfinance" but these are a little competitive for us right now.

Any suggestions/ideas?

NOTE: We're running a blogging contest soon which should be a great opportunity for links with specific anchor text.

[ShaMenz]

Hi vittana_seo

Given the unique nature of the service you are providing and the specific "customer" groups you wish to target, I would go right to the source.

Talk to/set  up brainstorming sessions with representatives of each potential group and ask them how they would describe what you do (terms they might type into a Search Engine etc):

1. past recipients
2. potential recipients who are in the system
3. past contributors - Individuals
4. past contributors - corporate

Hope that helps,

Sha

[vittana_seo]

Thanks Sha,

This is helpful. Hopefully we'll be able to find something from the brainstorming sessions that have high search volume that aren't too competitive.

Kenji

[ShaMenz]

Hi Kenji,

That would be great - the other thing to look at is developing awareness of your brand through other channels so that people get to know about your organization and come looking for you specfically. It might be worth talking about this with those people you include in your brainstorming.

For example, can you:

• distribute information through schools/universities so that students know about you?
• spread the word through philanthropic organizations to individuals & corporates?
• connect with media/film students at a local college to get short videos, articles, presentations developed for your organization as part of their project work?
• Get some high profile benefactors & students who have been successful to participate in social media, relating their experiences & answering questions?

Hope that helps,

Sha

[vittana_seo]

Thanks Sha,

Yes, we've we've been doing all those things rather well. This has sent a lot of branded links our way. The problem is no one seems to be discovering our site through search. They're almost always searching for "Vittana". That's why we're trying to identify keyword opportunities.

Kenji

[EGOL]

Search engines are fantastic for many types of ventures.  However, in your situation it is possible that social media and placing articles on websites visited by people of the proper demographic will yield superior results.

Instead of hoping that people will type in an unlikely search term you might do better trying to make connections between like-minded people.

[vittana_seo]

I think this is probably a good bet. I don't want to discount the search engines though. We have found some keywords that seem to have healthy search volume. An example of one would be something like "Ways to fight poverty". My idea is to have a non-branded site or blog post feature Vittana (among other great non-profits). When people search for "Ways to fight poverty" they'll learn about Vittana as well.

I'd need to lobby our CEO to spend time developing these non-branded sites, however. Not sure if this is the best way to go.

Also, we're probably going to get a lot of links from a blogger contest happening soon. Would be a shame if the only links we got said "Vittana"