Silver Star! The Volunteer Center of United Way in Hartsdale, NY

I wanted to highlight another nonprofit who is uploading their photos on Flicker, the Volunteer Center of United Way in Hartsdale, NY!

They get a silver star, and they can improve their Flickr presence by:
1. Labeling all of their photos with something descriptive that uses some keywords
2. Spelling out RSVP and add their Volunteer Center's name, city and state to the comments for each photo
3. Adding "New York" and "NY" to their tags
4. Explaining why the RSVP volunteers are swing dancing. Is it a volunteer recognition event? A fundraiser?
5. Editing their Flickr profile. I'm assuming they meant to say "increase the quality and number of active volunteers in Westchester"

It's a great first effort!

Both of theses Volunteer Centers could also join the following photo groups on Flickr:
1. VolunteerNow
2. Volunteer Does a Body Good
3. Senior Volunteers

A Gold Star! Volunteer Center at United Way of Volusia-Flagler on Flickr!

I love being able to highlight non-profits who have been through my training and have applied my principles!

Today's honoree is the Volunteer Center at United Way of Volusia-Flagler, who has created a Flickr profile and has uploaded volunteering photos!

I would particularly like to draw attention to the details that they provided with their uploaded photo. They are using great keywords in their description, and a link to their site.

It's a great job, and I have two more suggestions for them:
1. Edit the title of the photo so that it reads: Martin Luther King Jr. Day (MLK Day) Project 2008
2. Add "Martin Luther King Jr. Day" (spelled out) to your tags
3. Add the photo to the existing Martin Luther King Day of Service group

But great job! Now keep an eye on your Web Analytic reports to see if Flickr shows up as a referrer of traffic to your site.

P.S. If you noticed, the Volunteer Center at United Way of Volusia-Flagler got a lot of "link love" from this post, so feel free to send me an email with how your nonprofit is using social media sites to generate traffic to your online content, and you might also be featured by me in a blog post and receive some link love of your own.

Google Local Search Results Change

Just a heads up that Google Local has changed the number of results that it displays from 3 to 10, and based on this post from Search Engine Land your ability to ensure that your nonprofit to be displayed in that top 10 is at least in part due to positive reviews.

So for all of you managing your local search listing, I would encourage the folks you work with to create a review of your services.

For an example of what I'm talking about, type "volunteer opportunity in Chicago" into Google's search box and see what happens. The first thing you should notice is that neither Volunteer Center in Chicago is listed (so if you're reading this blog and work at those Volunteer Centers, I would register your Center). Also you'll notice that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has 17+ reviews. Go ahead and click on the reviews link...notice that there's a "Write a Review" link at the top? This is where your volunteers and folks that you work with should go to write a recommendation about your services.

Is it worth it? Did you notice that it lands you in the #1 spot for free for "volunteer opportunity + city"? That should be a part of every Volunteer Center's "winning" keywords list, so I think it's totally worth it.