Top 10 Tips for a Charity Website

admin    Twitter Marketing     Charity, Tips, Website

Top 10 Tips for a Charity Website

Top 10 Tips for a Charity Website

1. Know Your Website Purpose

This is probably the most important step. Everything else leads back to your website’s purpose and goals. Your website goals could include anything from converting visitors to members, informing existing members of latest news, building your email newsletter, building awareness, and collecting donations.

2. Make it Easy to Use

Everyone appreciates a website that is easy to use. The layout design should be consistent throughout the site, the menu should be easy to use, the text easy to read, and links easy to identify.

3. How to Get Involved

Let visitors know how they can become involved. Donating money is one way, but you should also suggest other ways they can get involved.

4. Accept Donations / Subscriptions

You should have a donation or subscriptions button that is obvious and easy to find. Accepting online credit card donations is easier than you may think. Including a funding goal is also a good idea. This let’s members and visitors feel part of achieving a common goal.

5. Keep in Touch

Allow your visitors to easily stay in touch with what you are doing. Provide an email newsletter sign up box, and have links to your Twitter and Facebook pages.

6. Use Video

Video is the way of the future. It doesn’t need to be fancy, most digital cameras can now take video. As well as using the video clip on your own website, upload it to YouTube and other video sharing sites to gain leverage.

7. Contact Information

Make it easy for visitors to find your contact details. Don’t just have a contact page, but also include your contact details in a side-block or in your site’s footer.

8. Ongoing Maintenance

Use a Content Management System Website(CMS), so you can edit your website yourself. This will allow you to keep your website up-to-date and relevant. One such CMS framework is Joomla. This framework is extremely powerful and can be easily extended to grow as your website does.

9. Write for Search

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing only read text. They read all the text on your website, so give some thought to write the words that people are searching for. And, were you are using images, ensure you have included alternative text tags (Alt Text) to allow the search engines to understand your content better.

10. Measure the Results

Use Google Analytics to track how visitors find your website, and what they are looking at. Otherwise it’s difficult to measure how well your website is achieving its goals.

Online Charity Auction Software & 52 Traffic Generating Tips

admin    Twitter Marketing     Auction, Charity, Generating, Online, Software., Tips, Traffic

Online Charity Auction Software & 52 Traffic Generating Tips

Wednesday, 23 December 2009

How to get Traffic to an Online Charity Auction

Site So you are hosting your shiny new charity auction website and you have installed your auction site software. You are all set to start fundraising online.  The next thing you need to work out is  how to  get quality traffic.  Some of it you will be able to get from your charity’s supporters who can be invited to play a role in the online auction, but you may want to cast your net more globally, in which case you will want to learn some internet marketing.

The million dollar question on the tip of any Newbie’s tongue is always about traffic. You can have the best online business in the world, but if people don’t visit your site it is all a waste of time and money. And it is not just about getting anyone, you want people who are truly interested in your product. This is why getting your SEO right and getting found organically in searches is by far the best way to make sure you have interested visitors. If you can get to number 1 on a competitive keyword in Google, you will have more interested traffic than you can handle. By the way, they will only be interested if you are interesting! So, the first thing to do is write.

Writing, Writing and more Writing

If you want people to buy your product, you must make sure you are an online authority on your subject. This can be achieved by writing an ebook, or posting quality content. Make sure you are in every conceivable corner of the internet with quality work that is not simply a rehash of something that someone else has already written. You can write and submit: hubs, articles, press releases, blog entries, forums entries (quality ones), directory listings, product or book reviews. Make sure you include a link back to your site wherever you can (including your email signature) and make it easy for people to find you. Encouraging people to subscribe to your RSS feed is good practice too. If you do start a blog, keep it up and be consistent with your posting. If you have images, brilliant, they attract attention and people might find you on Google Images, or you could tag photos on facebook or Flickr. Get your keywords in the title, tags and the body of the text, and in your domain name if you can. Take part in respected niche forums, but stay well clear of the spammy, scammy ones full of negative people who moan. Make sure that you add quality posts as opposed to lots of rubbish. No one wants to know what you had for breakfast! Think carefully and edit your work. Spelling mistakes and typos can be a real turn off to people.

Be a Social Network Butterfly

A lot of internet marketers become hermit crabs when they should be more like butterflies! You will do well if you learn to pull traffic towards by being the kind of person who people want to e-hang with. Be helpful, answer questions on Yahoo and network like you would offline, be valuable. You can point people to good sources of work, give them free e-books or tips and tools. Anything FREE is always attractive! Find out if they found your freebies useful. Get them involved and make communication two way. You can do this by inviting comments, offering surveys, fun contests, or participating in conversations on social networks. When you are posting in social networks avoid spamming people on first introduction with a URL. You should aim to provide 4 pieces of useful content to every time you post a link to something you are selling. Add photos (with links) and keep it light and fun. Post topical and newsworthy things and keep up to date. Every now and again, post something controversial, just get the conversation going and make people remember you. Develop a daily routine and discipline with social networks. Be consistent but don’t waste all of your time on the sites. I find Twitter and Facebook the best, but consider del.icio.us, digg, myspace, yahoo and the others and do add a badge to your sites and blogs so people can link back and forth as they build up a picture of who you are. Appeal to people’s emotions. You could sponsor a charity for instance, someone asked me today to sponsor a dog (l love dogs). so that is another point. Be real. Authenticity is great for business, but also I really believe that if you are being true to yourself and writing from your heart people will be attracted. Stay positive and think positive things. This is sometimes called The Law of Attraction and it works! If you have an option to allow translation, choose it especially Chinese. I have done this on my Third Sector Finance Blog with Blogspot.

Brand Yourself Beautiful

Remember to include a photo, link, logo and maybe a slogan wherever you go online. My lovely friend Al Diaz has coined the phrase Ilumine Ao which has become a trademark of his very strong branding. Clever man. It is important to do something or be something unique to people. My friend and colleague Paul and I share a blog that we like to think of as a drop in centre, a kind of coffee shop where we offer help to struggling internet marketers. Our brand is all based on being real, being available and lots of integrity.

Submit

A really obvious one that people forget. Make sure you submit your sites to DMOZ: http://dmoz.org/ and to the various search engines. Don’t just stop at Google verification. Try to get included in newsletters.

Offline Work

This is critical. It takes a long time and a lot of work to really brand yourself well online so while that is happening engage with real people. Do good work with them and don’t forget to ask for a link and a testimonial. I do a lot of offline work in my community because I get a massive kick out of seeing people get found online. I teach them how to build their own websites and then introduce them to everything in this article. I love seeing them soar to the top of Google. I also go to Chamber of Commerce and frequently speak at various business meetings. I have a deal with the local Further Education College and they pay me to hire graduates who I employ to do some of my time consuming work. At the same time I train them in the art and science of internet marketing so it is a win win situation. I have a particular interest in helping charities and third sector organisations raise money online and I do this at a reduced rate.

Products

We have looked at the process of getting traffic, but you also need to have a great product. Sell things that you know lots of people are looking for, but there is scarce. You can check this out by looking at the number of searches for a keyword compared to the number of providers. Google Keyword Tools is useful and you can also look at Clickbank to see if there are any products that you could be an affiliate of.

Nurture your list

Don’t spam and bombard them! Send free things and also make offers that compliment what they have already bought. Traffic Geyser is really good at that. They offer really good quality video training and then offer a complimentary product that helps you to use the really useful information that they have just given you. Give excellent customer service every time. Answer emails and deliver your promises.

Buy traffic

If you are going to be really successful you will have to buy traffic in one way or another. Direct mail is becoming popular again because it is different to email. It makes a change. Offline ads in local papers or supermarkets. I know one marketer who slipped his business cards in books at supermarkets! Be creative! Promote yourself with PPC ads or get yourself on a traffic exchange or two. You can do those on a budget if necessary. Some people buy lists, but I am skeptical about that and don’t want to encourage spamming in anyway.

Market research

Do your market research well and hunt for niches that will pay you well. High ticket items are great, and then I recommend making a blog post, an article, a podcast and a video and feeding all that through Traffic Geyser who hurl it all out to the world, saving you loads of time. Keep testing your work to find out what is working and what is not. This is a crucial step and if you are to become very successful you need to do it. Be curious and don’t get too attached to what you think should work.

Joint Venture Partnerships

Teaming up with other businesses or individuals is fun and smart. Mashable media do that one really well. I loved their #beatcancer campaign. Cross marketing will save you time and money and can lead to quality friendships.

One last thing…keep checking your sites for broken links and fix them. There is nothing worse than a 404 error! Well thanks for reading this far and I hope you have found it useful. I would love your comments! Kay

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Social Media for Charity

admin    Social Media     Charity, Media, Social

Social Media for Charity

Copyright (c) 2009 Chuck W

Social media networks are shaping a new era in the online community. The number of visitors and subscribers are increasing tremendously as we speak. A perfect example of the success of the social networks was Facebook’s increase in the number of visits by 50% during the last year.

The reason behind the success of these websites is due to the human touch they add to the digital world . Everybody is looking for old buddies from school , a friend they haven’t seen for a while or even get to know new people in their same profession or share the same passion .

Many charities and fundraisers have realized the unbeatable effect of social media as compared to any other online or offline marketing tool. Many have started to build their own websites and started to build social presence in the major social sites , build groups , post articles and become active members in these sites.

“Too poor to donate? Digg to help sick kids! Let’s raise Awareness!” http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Too_poor_to_donate_Digg_to_help_sick_kids_Let_s_raise_Awareness caught my attention while I was using digg.com a social media site . This charity project used digg to promote their Christmas campaign for gift donations for sick children. They were asking for the visitor help to digg their post to reach as many people as they can and a generous contribution will be appreciated .

On Facebook you can easily find hundreds of charities building their groups to raise awareness of the visitors and invite them to contribute. These groups are at finger tips away from you , All what you need to do is search the groups for charity or fundraising and then the decision is up to you.

Social websites were also built with the sole intention of funding charities and raising the awareness of online visitors of the importance of the social contribution to the success of any charity project. Squidoo is a social network that came to existence with thoughtful understanding of the commitment of any business to their community while maintaining the limit of profits to maintain their on going activities. They provide a mutual interest for the visitors and the charity projects. Squidoo enables anyone to build a page on a subject that they have passion about ,write as many pages as they like, then Squidoo uses advertising on these pages. The revenue is these advertisements is shared between the page creator and a charity project. They also offer the choice of donating all your income to the charity you choose from a list of charities that they sponsor.

Donations are the back bone of any charity and fundraising which originate from the social contribution to the mission and the work of the volunteers dedicating their time and effort to its success. No doubt that social media networks made it easier for them to reach people at the ease of their homes. They can easily add a smile on a sleepy face feeling that they did their dues to the society.

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Charity Auctions & Social Media – 12 Ways to Promote Your Auction Using Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn

admin    Twitter Marketing     Auction, Auctions, Charity, Facebook, LinkedIn, Media, Promote, Social, Twitter, Using, Ways

Copyright (c) 2009 Red Apple Auctions LLC

Utilizing social media, such as blogs, LinkedIn, Twiiter, and Facebook can be extremely beneficial in achieving guest mind share. They allow you to deliever information quickly about your auction,and they are also free to use.

Creating “something to write” can be overwhelming for some people, so to get you (or your volunteer P.R. person) started, below is a list of specific suggestions on what to write.

1. Announce donations: When a donation arrives, announce the item, thank the donor, and provide a link back to the donor’s website. Be sure to include a photo, if possible.

2. Ask for a donation to round out a package: “We need a florist to donate a bouquet to complete our Mother’s Day package.”

3. Testimonials: Auction fundraisers should be mission-focused. Keep your supporters updated with successes. For instance, “Peggy is off the streets, thanks to our non-profit,” or “Jeremy credits St. Stephens’s art teacher in giving him the confidence to pursue art in college.”

4. Event Preparations: Share a photo of the decor committee drawing backdrops for the auction, or the Gala Chairs meeting to send out invitations. This shows that others are getting involved and making plans to attend the event.

5. Special announcements: Share news. “In just three weeks, we’ve surpassed 50 raffle ticket sales.” Or, “Only 200 seats left before sell-out!”

6. Apply gentle pressure to past donors: A post such as, “We sold a lovely 2-night stay at the Fairmont last year, and are hoping they’ll donate again,” might work. Include a link to the hotel, and then contact the hotel so they see how you are treating them kindly – even before they donate.

7. Answer questions: Make the questions up, if you need to. “A new family to our school asked what was appropriate to wear to the auction. Here’s our response, along with three photos of past guests.”

8. Create a list: You can create a list on almost anything. “Top 5 Reasons to Attend our Gala.” “Three Ways You Can Volunteer That Will Take Less Than 2 Hours per Week.”

9. Seek specific volunteers: “Any math lovers out there? We need an auction clerk, and your primary job is recording numbers at the auction. Any takers?”

10. Link to relevant websites: “In 55 days, our auction will be raising money for cancer research. Here’s a link to fascinating article written by XYZ about the need for a cure.”

11. Support your supporters: When you notice that one of your supporters (e.g. a school parent, a Board member, an auction donor) is mentioned in the paper, link to it and promote it. “Parent Joe Smith just got promoted and here’s the link. Way to go, Joe! We look forward to congratulating you in person at the gala next Saturday.”

12. Call to action: Get your audience to act (or think about acting). Something like, “Early-bird pricing on gala tickets ends tomorrow,” or “Get your gala dress at Lord & Taylor this weekend. The store has special occasion dresses on sale.”

These tips will get you started. In no time at all you will have new information!

Guide To Twitter For Charity

admin    Twitter Marketing     Charity, Guide, Twitter

Social media, in particular, Twitter has recently started to be used for charitable purposes. The beauty about social media is that it makes communication much more easier with people from all corners of the globe. This has allowed many charities and not-profit organizations to find more donors.

Non-profits are flocking to Twitter because it represents a cost effective way to raise money for non-profit causes. If non-profit organizations use Twitter for charity, then they can make the most of the tools that are currently used for fundraising. One of the tools is known as Twollars.

Using Twollars on Twitter for Charity

Twollars is a Twitter-based currency that was recently released during the early months of 2009. Unlike regular currency, Twollars does not contain any value behind them and if you want to donate Twollars to a charity of your choice you simply create a tweet that says something like 5Twollars@usaafrica to fund relief for Africa. Although you have not actually given any currency with value, what you are saying is that you think the charity is worthwhile and others should donate as well.

How Twollars Works

Any Twitter user that wants to use Twollars receives a starting balance of 50 Twollars. When a Twitter user uses Twollars to donate to charity, the number of Twollars that are donated are matched by hard currency that is donated by a business once the Twollar balance threshold is reached.

Every time a user sends Twollars to a charity the server that operates Twollars searches the Twitter network for tweets and text that match the description. The server will then download all of the tweets that it has located and then tallies a balance. The balance is based on the tweets the user has given and received that are related to the description.

In order to combat fraud with Twollars, such a format has been created, mainly because the user’s entire transaction history can be seen by others. Furthermore, there exists a program where every Twitter users starts off with 50 Twollars, and this program is called “scarcity”. The rule regarding Twollars is that Twitter users can give Twollars to other users but they cannot convert them into cash unless they are a non-profit organization. This also prevents Twitter users from tweeting hundred of thousands of Twollars. Evidently, everything is organized in such a way that it serves the purpose of giving to charity.

Other Ways to Obtain Twollars

There are alternative methods of acquiring Twollars by logging onto websites that give away Twollars as an incentive for their visitors. Twollars are also available for purchase from non-profit organization. Transactions are not charged by Twollars and what happens is that the donated Twollars are deposited into the PayPal account of the chosen non-profit organization.

Users predict that Twollars represents next generation currency for the micropayments economy and non-profit organizations that are using Twitter For Charity will benefit from the concept as well.