Laura Quinn

When someone searches a search engine on a word related to your cause, the search engine lists the sites it feels are most important and likely to be the best on a topic. Search engine optimization is all about polishing your Web site so that it appears high in search engine results.

In the Idealware webinar "Optimizing Your Web site for Search Engines" in June, presenter Laura Quinn, director of Idealware, discussed the basics of search engine optimization, tips for creating a site search engines can find and ensuring a search-friendly site architecture.

The assignment seemed simple enough. Find out about “open sources” and write about them for our July issue. I knew they had something to do with technology, but that’s about it. I was concerned because when it comes to me and technology, let’s just say I have issues. And, when it comes to nonprofit technology issues, many of you might be in the same boat, so I suppose I seemed the perfect choice to write this story. I use the Internet to shop, e-mail, do research, read the latest news and feed my insatiable appetite for celebrity gossip. That’s it. No MySpace

Blogging can be a cost effective, credible way to show your organization’s voice to — and interact with — your constituents, and to start a two-way conversation that elicits their comments and thoughts. Laura Quinn, founder and director of Idealware, provider of reviews and information on nonprofit software, says while she’s somewhat skeptical of the Web 2.0 craze — social networking sites, wikis and other online communication tools that stress online collaboration and sharing among users — she thinks blogs in particular are typically very useful for nonprofits. For one thing, they’re a fairly inexpensive way for organizations to proliferate updated content. Quinn