Building a global online network between multiple stakeholders--especially non-profit organizations--can be a daunting task. Although technical considerations are important, contrary to popular belief, the primary challenges have less to do with technology and more to do with human emotions.

While working for the United Nations, in 2002, I visited three organizations that operated top class websites: ELDIS, OneWorld.

It is commonly argued that substance is more important than presentation; and that website content is likely to be judged on the basis of what it expresses, not how ideas are visually dressed up. Although substance is important, it is surprising how much additional influence superficial trappings contribute to users' perceptions of web content. In fact, research suggest that it's not enough to just hire talented website developers, editors and analytics experts; but talented designers can influence how much faith users may place in a given website.

Over the years, the methods used by online marketers have gone through numerous stages of growth and evolution. At first, many organizations used dedicated offline advertising as their only means of driving traffic to their websites. Amidst increasing competition, online marketing experts developed new and innovative methods to reach customers.

Given that search engines are the primary source traffic for many websites, one of the most popular forms of unpaid online marketing is search engine optimization, otherwise known as SEO.