You can make MONEY from your web site.

Yes, Well, But... You can make money from your website but it requires people to Visit your site.

it is springGetting people to visit a web site is big business, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Here are a couple of strategies that you can adopt.

• make sure your web site content is Google friendly
• have lots of links into and out of your site
• keep your content up to date and relevant
• direct people to your site

A quick exercise, List 3 terms you would type into Google to find your organisation

Do the words on the list match exactly the content on your site?

Type the words into Google - is your site on the first page?

Too many websites in the sector talk about achievements by using such wonderful phrases as.

"We have achieved 120% of our targets"

Now what search term will find that? A Google friendly term would be

"The xyz community group in village has achieved 120% of target"

The more times a word or phrase is used on a web page the more relevance google will attribute to the page.  Incidentally I use AdSense down the left hand side of the page - the adverts relate to the key words that Google identified in the text as relevent - This is not only free analysis of my web content - but I get paid if people click an ad.

Create a good blog will help you develop a readership for your website.  I suggest that you look at creating an audio blog using www.ipadio.com this gives you a much more accessible content that people can listen too. this can be linked to your site via an RSS feed which means you can update your site by phone from anywhere in the world.

Using social networks. I use Twitter, LinkdIn and have a Facebook account.

Twitter allows people to send short updates about their activities and interests. You can post 140 characters - this can include links to your web site. For example on the ICT Champions website all news Items are automatically posted to twitter. (including this one) This includes a link back to the full story on the ICT Champions website.

People who read the headline can click the link to the web site and be taken directly to the story they are interested in, down the side is a set of adverts (adsense) with adverts linked to the story. People are brought to the site because of their interest and can then choose to click a link.

This is not going to make me rich but it can subsidise the cost of hosting the site.

This suggests that Twitter and other social media are useful as a ‘call to action' a short message and a call to action. For example, "10k fun run - raise money for xyz - go to www.xyz.org.uk/run" 62 characters and a good chance of some funding. Do you ever click a link asking for money?

Facebook uses a system of user groups where users can join to show support. A strong Facebook group can be evidence of need for funding bids, but are not generally a source of funding.

LinkedIn is more likely to provide expertise in specific areas. So for example if I wanted to find a Flash developer I would be more likley to go to LinkedIn rather than Facebook.

I also strongly suggest that you have professional social media accounts and personal accounts.  Remember, if you apply for a job and someone looks at your facebook page - would you

a) be seen as a serious professional committed to the sector

b) a party animal

c) a games meister

Finally I should stress that ICT provides tools to empower and assist, it does not do the work for you.