How Non-Profits can find Donors Online
Article by Jake Aull
I’m big on free web tools – and there are a lot of them out there. If you’ve not run across any of them, you’d be amazed at the great research they can provide. Tools like Compete.com, Quantcast and SEM Rush. Web-savvy people can use these tools to find backlinks to any site, as well as profiling data for primary site visitors. These tools assess sites that “own” preferred keyword phrases and show traffic patterns. All good stuff. However, these tools can also help us find something more -interest and demand.
People primarily search for items or information they want. By now even traditional W.O.M. (word-of-mouth marketing) relies heavily on consumer online reviews and recommendations. I like to call this content demand. The web demonstrates content supply and demand just as real-world products do. In some cases, people are merely searching for information – and sites like Wikipedia and WebMD serve them well. But in many cases keywords and phrases are indications of more than mere casual info-search; they represent consumers in need – with problems to be solved.
Take for example a topic very near and dear to my heart, as a relative of mine currently has cancer. Cancer and other serious illnesses have been early leaders in active, online social communities driven by the grassroots – because they represent people in pain, seeking others with specific symptoms or remedies. Not their close friends or neighbors – but people in the know. In my own case, as the time surrounding my relative appears shortened, and more of my thoughts dwell upon this, it is conceivable for me to search for information online. And the good causes devoted to cancer research should be easy to find.
No doubt there are many others like me. And it is natural for us to have sentiments and to search for terms such as “cancer donations,” hoping advancing research will cure the problem. But the great advantage here for the organizations lies in the power of these online tools. Just by researching the search phrase “cancer donations,” Google Trends reveals incredible data. Results here show that the primary cities where web users have searched for these keywords in the last one-year period have been New York City and Chicago. Yet in addition to the states comprising those cities, primary states have included California, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. So now we have something great – target markets for good causes seeking funding to advance their research. We can likewise see that these searches are almost void around the holidays and in summer, yet spike in early 4th quarter.
So, literally within minutes, these free, digital tools can identify new potential markets for donors, and the best months of search and interest. Therefore, to the great non-profits and causes out there – make best use of such power – find the people in pain, or wanting to give, and help them out.
About the Author
Jake Aull is a web designer and digital/social marketer, a branding and creative marketing provider, and all around good guy. He teaches GSU’s first social media marketing and SEO course, is chair of the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association Social Media SIG, co-founder of The Change Challenge digital marketing for non-profits, and president of SCAD Alumni in Atlanta. He is the principle of Zen of Brand, offering digital marketing sites and services (zenofbrand.com). He writes a popular blog on digital marketing issues (jakeaull.wordpress.com) and is always eager to expand networking and learn more about organizations.
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