Why is SEO important for politicians? According to studies, search rankings can actually influence voters. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way to make your campaign website more attractive to search engines. When targeted and implemented correctly, it can significantly impact your website rankings and the amount of traffic that your site generates. In this episode, we go over the basics of political SEO as part of your overall digital marketing strategy.

For more information on SEO strategies for political campaigns, visit:
https://www.onlinecandidate.com/articles/seo-tips-campaign-websites

 If you are a political candidate, you will certainly face some sort of abuse online. It may be in posts, comments, or even through memes and imagery.  Cyberbullying has always been an issue, but social media has taken abuse to a whole new level. 

In this episode, we talk about some ways to address the negativity that political campaigns and candidates face online.

Learn more about Online Candidate's campaign website design services, and sign up for our  political campaign tips to get a head start with your digital campaigning.

Original Post: https://www.onlinecandidate.com/articles/handling-negative-posts-about-your-campaign

 Running for any political position is a challenge, but some are easier than others. Without experience, many first-time political candidates have no idea where to begin.  In this episode, we discuss what offices first-time candidates might consider.  

Running for office? Sign up for our Online Political Campaign Tips guide to help get a head start with your digital campaigning. 

Related:

• Should You Run For Local Office?
• Political Candidate Training Programs

Visit Online Candidate for political web design and marketing services. 

The last few election cycles has seen a surge of people interesting in seeking elected office. If you've never run for office before, you're going to need help learning what it takes to get elected.

In this episode, we discuss who you can reach out to first when deciding to seek political office.

Resources

• Who Can You Contact If You Want To Run For Office?
• Political Candidate Training Courses Online 
• Should You Make The Run For Elected Office?

And as a political candidate, you will want influence over what people see, hear and read about you online. To do that, you need to create a personal brand for yourself. In this episode, we discuss a few online campaigning mistakes that we see all too often.

• Mistake Number 1 : Limiting your online campaigning to Facebook
• Mistake Number 2: Slate websites
• Mistake Number 3: Waiting until after a primary to start online outreach

Sign up for our Online Political Campaign Tips guide to help get a head start on how to run for local office . 

Visit OnlineCandidate.com for political website development and marketing services . 

Even local candidates must campaign online to reach voters. How much a political campaign should budget for digital advertising depends on a variety of factors. In this episode, we lay out a formula for budgeting your online advertising spend.

Running for office? Sign up for our Political Campaign Tips Guide for a head start with your digital campaigning. 

Visit OnlineCandidate.com for political campaign websites and marketing services.

Original post: https://www.onlinecandidate.com/articles/how-much-money-should-political-campaign-budget-digital

There are plenty of factors that can hurt a political campaign. Here are some top candidate mistakes that often contribute to an election day loss.

Running for office? Sign up for our Political Campaigning Tips guide to help get a head start with your digital campaigning. 

Visit OnlineCandidate.com to start your campaign website.

Original post: https://www.onlinecandidate.com/articles/candidates-change 

Every two years in the United States, there are over 500,000 public offices up for election. During that time, more than a million and a half candidates will seek elected office. For many  candidates, it will be their first race.

In this episode, answer a few frequently asked questions for first-time political candidates.

FAQ topics covered:

• Is it important to campaign online?
• How early should I start my campaign?
• How can I use digital advertising for my political campaign?
• How does someone become verified to run ads online?
• How can I raise money online?

Running for office? Sign up for our Online Political Campaign Tips guide to help get a head start with your digital campaigning. 

Visit OnlineCandidate.com to build your own political campaign website. 

Running for elected office is one of the best ways you can give back to their community. Whether you want to run for city council, county representative or school board, every political candidate must begin by making the decision to actually run.

Getting yourself on the ballot takes time, effort and money. Running for office takes personal sacrifice and extracts a toll not only on you, but also on your family and close supporters.

In this episode we cover questions to ask before getting started in politics.

• Are you ready to get involved?
• What political office should you run for?
• What are the requirements to run for office?
• How much money do you need to win?
• Are you ready to build your base of supporters?
• Is your family ready?
• And more

Source: https://www.onlinecandidate.com/articles/run-local-office

Running for office? Sign up for our Online Political Campaign Tips guide to help get a head start with your digital campaigning. 

Visit Online Candidate to build your own political campaign website. 

Our guest started building web pages in the mid 1990s. She has over 20 years experience in print and web design, and she's worked with hundreds of political campaigns in website design and development.

In this episode we talk with Carol Daley, Partner of Daley Professional Web Solutions and Online Candidate. Carol shares how she started in web, what brought her into online politics and most interesting campaign website she ever designed.

Running for office? Start your political campaign website with Online Candidate.  Sign up for Online Campaign Tips to get a head start with your digital campaigning.   

With candidates these days having limited options in reaching out to voters, IP Targeting  is a form of advertising that allows candidates and campaigns to directly target online ads to mobile devices and computers at an individual household level.

In this episode we cover: 

• How does IP targeting work?
• When to run IP targeting campaigns.
• Strategies for creating audiences from your voter list.

Running for office? Sign up for  Political Online Campaigning Tips for a head start with your digital presence.

Read more about political campaign IP targeting at https://www.onlinecandidate.com/articles/ip-targeting-political-strategies

In other words, why are you running for office?

Summarize your campaign’s main message or narrative into a concise statement that explains why voters should support your campaign, organization or political party. The message should be short enough to not only tell a story, but also to be broken down and used as talking points that can be used by a candidate over and over again.

So, what is a political campaign theme? For your messaging, it’s a summary of why you are seeking office.

Sign up for our Online Political Campaign Tips to help you get a head start with your digital campaigning.

View the post at https://www.onlinecandidate.com/articles/whats-your-campaign-theme 

Local political campaigns need to reach fewer voters and typically campaign for a shorter period than larger campaigns. But that does not make local campaigning any easier for the candidates or their supporters. In some ways, small campaigns have it even tougher.

Here are a few major challenges local candidates face when starting a run for office: 

•  Putting together a campaign team
•  Developing a message and theme that resonates with voters
•  Raising campaign funds and donations
•  Getting enough media exposure

Running for office? Sign up for our Online Political Campaign Tips to help you get a head start with your digital campaigning.

View the post at https://www.onlinecandidate.com/articles/challenges-small-campaigns 

The 2020 election accelerated the convergence of politics and technology. In this episode, Shane Daley discusses our take on how the pandemic affected our client's political campaign efforts - and why online campaigning will never be the same.

In this episode we cover:

• The pandemic changed everything
• Political campaigning goes virtual
• Online advertising falls under scrutiny
• Huge Facebook frustrations
• IP targeting strikes the mark
• The aftermath: Did digital live up to the hype?

View the post at https://www.onlinecandidate.com/articles/election-year-review 

In this episode we cover: 

• Using email marketing for local political campaigns.
• Email marketing vendors.
• Email best practices, including tracking your success.

Running for office? Sign up for our newsletter to get a head start with your digital campaigning.

For more campaign articles and resources, visit us at Online Candidate.

In this episode we cover: 

• How online fundraising is an important way to bring in campaign donations.
• Opening a political campaign bank account.
• Using online fundraising tools.
• How trigger events create online fundraising opportunities.

Visit our blog for more information about online political fundraising.

In this episode we cover: 

• Choosing a web developer for your campaign website.
• Hosting considerations.
• Potential dangers and pitfalls in project development.

Sign up for our Online Political Campaign Tips guide to help you get a head start with your digital campaigning.

Visit Online Candidate to start your own campaign website.

In this episode we cover: 

• The creation of your campaign website.
• Choosing the best domain name.
• Content considerations.
• The best tense in which to write.

Running for office? Sign up for our newsletter for campaigning tips and ideas.

Visit OnlineCandidate.com to build your campaign website.

In this episode we cover: 

• Social media for yourself personally and as a political candidate.
• Best practices in building your campaign's social media presence.
• Potential dangers and pitfalls to online campaigning.

Running for office? Sign up for our Online Political Campaign Tips guide to help you get a head start with your campaign's digital marketing.

For more campaign articles and resources, visit us at Online Candidate.

In this episode we cover: 

• How candidates, as individuals, can lay the groundwork for their online political presence.
• Creating a personal brand when running for office.
• Search result page domination.

Sign up for political campaigning tips to help you get a head start with your digital campaign.

Learn more about getting yourself ready for a political campaign.