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Calling past contributors can work, so can selling candy and magazines door to door. But have you considered the built-in selling power your organization's web site has?
Sure, your site may not rival Google or Amazon for online attention, but I'll bet your site gets far more visitors than you realize. Everyone from your volunteers, to friends and family of members, to community members who saw your work and want to know more are dropping by your group's site.
Visitors can range from a few dozen each day to thousands. I'm willing to bet the actual number of visitors you're getting is higher than your first guess.
So what's my point? There's money in all those visitors! People who visit non-profit web sites are almost always far more motivated than the visitors most other sites get. YOU stand for a cause, for doing good things in your community. People who are attracted to your organization or appreciate your good work arrive on your site interested, motivated, and ready to help.
Surprisingly, all you really have to do is ASK visitors for their assistance and you'll get it.
Here's a simple idea that is raising large amounts of cash for non-profits without anyone doing any additional work. Sign your organization up for a few quality affiliate programs. These are agreements where you put a company's banner or link on your site and possibly in your email. When a visitor buys through your link, you get a commission.
Unlike the commissions you get selling unbreakable combs, cookies, and the like -- affiliate commissions can be 25% or more of the sales price, and those prices can be quite high. The most powerful affiliate programs are those which pay you month after month. You make one sale and get paid over and over. This unique feature often creates years of contributions from just one sale!
Recently companies are realizing just how large the non-profit market is and they're creating programs especially for them. Your site and email can lead your fans to attractive services that sell at a brisk pace. Indeed, you can be a hero to your visitors while literally pulling in funds around the clock. And all this with NO additional work on your part.
Affiliate program fundraising is on the rise for non-profits. Make sure you harness this cutting-edge method for your organization.
What can you do to make the internet work for you?
How will people remember to come to your web site?
Most people look at their web site as either an informational tool for their customers or an additional store front. Their web site is often both. The natural progression of their efforts is for the web site turning a profit. The problem arises that no one can find your site and you have little to no experience with web marketing to do what needs to be done to drive people to your web site.
By following three easy steps, anyone can drive people to their web site without ever knowing a scrap of HTML (that is the language used to create a web site –it is an acronym for HyperText Markup Language – meaning you can jump around from one page to the next.).
Read these rules. Follow them. You don't need to spend a fortune getting customers to your web site, you need only lead them there. Customers will find your web site if they know where to look. So, direct them.
Rule One: Go Back to the Basics. You've been doing this for years, but when a web site is born, people seem to forget how they used to market their business. Talk about the web site. Tell everyone you know that you have a web site and that they should go see it. Every single customer that comes into your store, office, or shop should hear that you have a web site. When a customer is on hold, make sure the web site is mentioned and that they may find the answer they are looking for online.
You know word-of-mouth advertising works. Use it to your advantage. Be proud of what you have and tell people about it.
Rule Two: Write it Down. People need to hear something several times before it registers in their heads. This is why you need to follow rule number two. Put your web site address on EVERYTHING. Have it on a sign when they walk into your waiting room or storefront. Put it on your business cards. Put it on your invoices. Put it on flyers announcing your web site. In a flyer, you can even tease them with what is on the site and give them a reason to go there.
This is probably the one thing that most people overlook when trying to get people to come to their web site. It is very simple. It is extremely effective.
Rule Three: The Final Step. How many emails do you write a day? Now that you have a web site and people have access to your email, this number will increase. Every email you send out should end in the following way:
Your Name
Your Address
Your Phone Number
Your email address
www.yourwebsiteaddress.com
Note the final line. Your web site address. It doesn't matter who you are writing to, this needs to be on your email. For those of you unfamiliar with the signature feature in most email accounts, this can be set up to automatically appear every time you send an email. Look at the options in your email account and set it up. If the web site is there, people will click on it.