Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Technology and the No on Prop 8 campaign

I just wanted to make a suggestion in the hopes that someone from Equality California, the Human Rights Campaign, and other organizations that are fighting for marriage equality might read this. The Protect Marriage folks seriously out-campaigned Equality California on the grassroots front AND on the technology front. Here is just one example. Before the election, when I wanted to get lawn signs, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get them. If you were running the No on Prop 8 campaign and your supporters Googled "No on Prop 8 lawn signs" and the first hit they saw was not *your* site with a title of "Where to get lawn signs," then you seriously screwed up there. As a matter of fact, I knew how to get those bright-yellow-shiny-happy-people Yes on Prop 8 signs before I figured out where to find No on Prop 8 signs. It was all over the discussion groups that other people were looking for yard signs too. There were many would-be activists wanting to help, but no one could find this basic information. You can't imagine how frustrating that was! Any political campaign that hopes to do well these days better have someone on their Technology team that is well-versed in the craft of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I still have trouble finding resources I need from your sites. So please... do us all a favor and hire an SEO consultant, PLEASE.

1 comment:

K said...

You should tell them that you are for hire! :-)

Also, don't forget to mention the denial of service hoopla.

I think NO on 8 didn't get the funding they really needed until the very end. For whatever reason, we didn't have the fire lit under our behind like the other side did. You had Mormons mortgaging their homes in order to donate to Protect Mariage. Millions at a time! Yet, the celebrities and other big proponents only donated hundreds of thousands at a time.

Those who want it more typically win, now that we have had our wake up call we'll bring out our "A" game next time.