EchoDitto - Insights

Paid Search - posted by Anne Keenan

Tue, 13 May 2008 14:17:35 -0700

Why Paid Search?
Paid Search refers to a variety of programs that allow advertisers to connect to people who are searching for keywords related to their products or services. These programs are inexpensive, effective ways to use your marketing dollars to reach people who are searching for you. In short, you create ads and choose keywords that reflect the services you offer. Then, when visitors search for your keywords, your ads may appear next to the search results.

A major advantage of paid search is that you only pay when people click on your ad, not when it appears. You can also set a maximum amount for how much you will spend per click, and per day, so your bills will never be higher than you expect.

Several companies offer paid search—the most popular are Google and Yahoo!, but there are many options. This insights paper uses the Google paid search program, AdWords, as an example, but the recommendations apply to other paid search options as well.

Another search option (not covered in this Insights paper, is contextual search. Working in conjunction with Google and other search engines, a variety of leading websites offer contextual advertising. These are content targeted ads that appear alongside articles that pertain to the advertiser’s message. For example, a text ad for John Kerry might appear alongside an article that mentions his name on CNN.com or Yahoo!. This concept extends an advertisers’ reach beyond search engine listings and provides users with highly relevant ads. For more information on contextual search, see our Paid Promotion insights paper.

Google Grants
If you are a non-profit, you may be eligible for a Google AdWords grant. Google Grants provide non-profits with free AdWords advertising on Google.com to raise awareness and increase traffic (with a $1/click maximum bid). Google estimates that they respond to applicants within six months.

1. Click here for an overview of the process.
2. See if you are eligible for a Google Grant
3. Complete steps 1-4 below to help you write the best application you can.
4. Click here to apply.

Note: this insights paper is written with an eye toward our non-profit clients, but all of this is applicable to corporations as well, with the exception of Google Grants. Whether you are applying for a Google Grant, or setting up an AdWords campaign on your own, follow the six steps below to create stellar, effective campaigns.

Step 1: Set your goals
With a team of people who represent different parts of the organization, brainstorm all the ways you would like to get people involved in your organization. Some ideas to consider:

How can people help your organization, generally?
Do you need volunteers?
Do you need donations of money or goods?
Can people take action to support your cause?
Do you have a particular area of expertise or specialized information?
Do you offer services to the public?
Do you have educational services or workshops that you offer?
Are you holding any events or fundraisers that you want to invite people to?

List five big goals for involving people:
Sample: “Help! We need to recruit some volunteers.”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Step 2: Identify Opportunities
Now, for each goal, think of all of the ways that you offer for people to get involved. For example, if you need volunteers, you may have a weekly volunteer night, internship opportunities, and ongoing administrative openings.

List three specific opportunities for two of your goals, as specifically as possible:
Sample: “We need more volunteers at our weekly volunteer night at Planned Parenthood in East LA.”
1.
2.
3.

1.
2.
3.

Step 3: Determine Keywords
Take one of these opportunities and list all of the words and phrases that people might search for when looking for your opportunity. Be as specific as possible. Think of Jeopardy: your opportunity is the answer, what are the questions that would prompt it?

For one of your opportunities, make a list of ten words or phrases below:
Sample: “after-work volunteering, administrative volunteer, pro-choice volunteer, weekly volunteer opportunity, Planned Parenthood volunteer, etc.”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

These are your starting keywords.

Bonus: Remember that not everyone is as great a speller as you are. Include misspellings—no matter how unlikely they seem to you. http://www.echoditto.com/node/1046

Bonus: Google has four types of keyword matching: broad matching, phrase matching, exact matching, and negative matching. You don’t have to start with this level of detail—you can work up to it. When you are ready to learn more, use Google’s interactive demo.

Step 4: Write your pitch
It’s time to write your ads. You don’t have a lot of space to tell your story—25 characters for your title and 35 characters for each—so each word counts. For each ad, start with your keywords, and go from there. Google offers excellent recommendations for writing ads, including:
Include keywords in your ad text or title.

If your keywords appear in your ad text, Google users immediately recognize that your ad is relevant to their search.

Use a strong call to action.

A "call to action" prepares your audience for what you want them to do: register, join, subscribe, and so on.
Make sure that this phrase is unique and specific to your program so that it is more informative and compelling, and distinguishes you from the competition.
Example: "Register for membership," "Volunteer in your neighborhood today" or "Call our confidential help line."
For more, visit: http://www.google.com/grants/information.html#reason.

Write two variations for each of your opportunities—you can test different wording to see which works best.

Samples:
Help Planned Parenthood
Volunteer weekly after work
Sign up to attend today!
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/jobs-volunteer/jobDetails.asp?jid=1431

Pro-choice volunteers
Help Planned Parenthood every week
Make a difference in LA
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/jobs-volunteer/jobDetails.asp?jid=1431

Links: Make sure that your ads link to pages where visitors can take action—if your goal is to recruit new volunteers, link directly to your volunteer application form, or an RSVP link to your weekly volunteer night. Make the action obvious, and easy to take. Also, make sure your keywords are on the destination page.

Bonus: Avoid abbreviations in your ads. Not everyone knows your organization as well as you do, and while it’s obvious to you that PPNNE means “Planned Parenthood of Northern New England” to almost everyone else it is a mystery.

Step 5: Track your effectiveness
Set up a system to track the effectiveness of your ads. Google offers free Analytics software and a Conversion Tracker or you may have systems in place already on your website. There are lots of good options, just make sure you have one in place before you launch any ads.

Also, before you take the next step, take a minute to think about what success will look like. Do you want to recruit 15 new volunteers? Do you want to find 200 new donors? Make your goals as specific and measurable as possible. Setting goals now will help you decide if your ads are working or need improvements.

Step 6: Set up your ads online
Your offline work is done, and you are ready to go. Log into your Google Account at adwords.google.com and convert all of your hard work to effective online ads.

If you are a non-profit and have received a Google Grant, when you first log in to your account you’ll notice that Google has already set up some ads for you, based on your application. You can keep these ads, edit the ad or the keyword, or add new campaigns/ads. To add new ads:

1. Choose your target location—do you want your ad to reach everyone in the country, or just a few zip codes?
2. Create campaigns—these are your big goals from Step 1.
3. In each campaign create ad groups—these are your opportunities from Step 1.
4. In each ad group, create ads.
5. Give each ad appropriate keywords from your initial list. You can also use Google’s Keyword tool to add to your list. There is no penalty for having a lot of keywords. You may want to start with a longer list, and then pare it down when you see what is working for you.
6. Launch your campaign!

Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: How much should I spend on my campaign?
A: Clients beginning AdWords campaigns often ask us how much they should spend on a Google AdWord buy. Of course, all spending is dependent on your organizational and campaign budgets, but we offer these recommendations as a starting point:

Scenario A: I’ve never done this before, and want to run a test. Depending on your budget, start at $30-100 a day for one month, and adjust from there.

Scenario B: I’m running a two-week campaign and want to get as much exposure as possible. For a short spurt of activity, try $150 to $500 a day.

Scenario C: I have $2000 a month for online advertising—should I put it all into Google AdWords? The best thing about online advertising is that you can track effectiveness of all of your media. If you’re just starting, split up your allotment into three or four media and then assess how productive each is after three months.

Q: How many keywords should I use?
A: There is no right answer to this question, but we have the following guidance to offer. First, a small group of carefully targeted keywords are far better than a large group of un-targeted keywords (“pro-choice donation” v. “donate”). Second, start with all of the keywords that immediately come to you in Step 3, use the Google Keyword tool to expand your list, then search on a few of your terms to come up with additional terms that you hadn’t thought of. If your list is now between 30-100 words, you are on the right track.

Q: Does EchoDitto recommend Google AdWords?
A: At EchoDitto, we are technology agnostic, and don’t specifically support any one program or company for online advertising. There are lots of great opportunities out there to reach your target audience online, and AdWords is only one of them—you can advertise with banner ads, dedicated emails, text ads, and more. Depending on your target audience, budget, and campaign, any one or any combination of these options may be right for you. For more information about getting the most out of paid promotion, see our Paid Promotion insights paper.

Online Advertising & Paid Promotion - posted by Cristen Perks

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:05:32 -0800

Building a site doesn't guarantee an instant audience

Including a combination of both paid and earned media in your comprehensive online communications and promotion strategy can mean the difference between success and failure. Following these best practices will help you create a successful campaign that doesn't drain your budget.

Campaign Planning

The forethought you put into the campaign will have a direct impact on your results.

Define success. Set realistic and achievable goals for the campaign - your results can easily be measured if you prepare to track your success appropriately.
Include a clear call to action. Unless your focus is exclusively on branding, you will need to include some type of opportunity for conversion. Clearly define your messaging to spark a dialogue.
Define your target audience. Who would you like to reach
with your campaign? You need to know who you are looking to attract before you can know where to promote your campaign.
Review the calendar to set a schedule for the campaign.
- Consider how your online paid campaign correlates with any other forms of promotion you are running.
- Consider the news cycle, legislative calendar,upcoming holidays or any other outside factors that could affect the success of your campaign.
Know your limitations. Prepare a budget in the planning phase.
Invest in monitoring and support. You can't launch a paid promotion and ignore it. Prepare to allocate enough resources through the end of the campaign, preferably someone who can be the campaign expert. If you do not have adequate time to dedicate to monitoring and optimizing your campaign, you should limit the promotion you do and consider outsourcing the campaign.

Creative Development
Once your planning is complete, developing the creative should be simple. Online ads typically fall into two categories: graphical ads and text ads.

Graphical ads (banner or blog ads):

Consider the size of your ads. This is your "canvas" so
make the best of it.
Consider the location of the ads and their relationship
to
the content on the page.
If you want to create an animated ad, make sure that
the text makes sense no matter when the user begins
to pay attention to the ad.
Make the ad engaging. Consider images and text -
or even the use of video in your ad. Make the users want to click on the ad.

Text
ads (search engine or RSS ads):

Most text ads are pay per click so you only pay when
someone
clicks. Make sure that your message is very clear and speaks directly
to your target audience.
The keyword or phrase you purchase
should be in the headline if at all possible.
Consider the character limitations. Your
communications
department might not be happy with the real estate, but your message
can be delivered in such a small space. Keep it simple.

Media Planning & Buying

More and more avenues are available every day for paid online
promotion. A range of websites and companies offer banner ads, blog
ads, search engine ads, contextual ads, RSS ads, dedicated emails and
the list goes on.

Do the research. Make sure that the medium
of paid promotion you chose is in line with your campaign goals and
your target audience. Just because RSS ads are the cool, new thing
doesn't mean they make any sense for your campaign.
Target. Don't forget about your ability to target
your buy (location, demographics, referring URL, keywords, etc).

Testing & Optimization

There is no guarantee of success in paid promotion, but spending time
testing and evaluating your campaign will help maximize your returns.

Don't be afraid to test. Consider setting aside
part of your budget to create a test campaign budget. Tracking the
success of a small test buy will give you very helpful data for
planning the larger campaign. Throwing your entire budget into one
medium or one website or one ad creative is simple, but less often
successful.
Track your success. Evaluate your campaign by using your
metrics for success. This may require use of an analytics program,
creating separate numerous landing pages, adding a tracking pixel to
your ads and landing pages, or just spending a couple of hours in Excel
- however you need to do it, do it.
Optimize your campaign. If you’re tracking
success, then you know what creative is working best on which sites, or
how well landing pages are converting users. Depending on your results,
consider doing one of the following:
- Changing the graphics or text of your ad(s).
- Shifting media inventory.
- Targeting by new criteria.
- Editing your landing page(s)

Best Practices and Tips for Sending Email - posted by Madeleine Perry

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:52:50 -0800

Also see Best Practices and Tips for Raising Money Online

Think about how and why you use email every day. The strength of email is that it is simple, efficient, immediate and personal. You should communicate with your email list just as you communicate with your friends and coworkers—keeping these values in mind.
The majority of your audience is more likely to read your email messages than they are to visit your website each day. Your goal is provide personal, engaging content in your regular email communications that builds trust and interest in the organization and gives your members a reason to return to the site.

Tone and Relationship Building
Your basic objective regarding email communications is to convince people to (1) open the email, (2) read the email, and (3) do what you ask in the email.

You have a greater chance of getting readers to complete all three tasks if your email originates from a human being with a name (i.e., include sender’s name in “From” field—organization name can be used in conjunction with name, but should not be used exclusively) and if your message is written in an intimate, personal tone. To envision such an email, think about how you would communicate with a co-worker or friend (removing the typos, smilies, and run-on sentences).

It often makes sense to choose two or three people within an organization, including the director or CEO, and create an “email relationship” for each person with your list. Each person can be built up as the sender of a certain type of email, and then, as your list gets to know each person they are immediately aware of what type of email to expect, simply by reading the “From” line. These come to be trusted names, and readers feel a personal attachment to what they are being asked to do. For this reason, it’s usually a good strategy to only attach the director or CEO’s name (usually the best known name to begin with) to critical emails, for example, an end of quarter fundraising ask.

The first few emails to a new, growing list are especially important because they will set the tone and precedent for a reader’s experience with all future emails and his/her likeliness to open future messages.

Structure
The structure of your email also makes a difference. We have seen the best results with emails that follow this format:

Dear Ms. X -
Two paragraphs
Hyperlink
Two paragraphs
Hyperlink
Two paragraphs
Closing
Signed, (name)
PS
Hyperlink

In the above example, each instance of the hyperlink is identical—it leads readers to the same page or action on the website. Additionally, the hyperlinks should be written out just as they would appear in your browser. If the links are embedded in the text, they do not stand out enough, and your click through rate will be lower.

Even if your email is primarily informational, it should always ask the reader to take an action – whether that action is clicking through to an article on the website, forwarding the email to a friend, signing a petition, or contributing – adding something that people can DO engages them in the process.

In general, graphics don’t have much impact on the success of an email, but well-placed images or photos can help summarize your ask in a long email or help tell the story.

Scheduling
Each communication with the list membership must be done thoughtfully and with regard to real-world time. You don’t want to email your list too often, and you want to be especially aware of holidays and world events. You should generally avoid sending messages on Mondays and Fridays, as open- and response-rates are particularly low on both days. In our experience, the best time to send an email is early morning (before 10am) on Tuesday or Wednesday, but every list is unique.

In terms of frequency, the acceptable number of emails per week or per month varies. It depends on things like: your relationship with your readers, whether your organization’s issues are at the forefront of the news that week, if there is a time-sensitive action you are asking people to take, etc. It is critical to track the open rate of your emails to determine where you are being most successful—in terms of both frequency and tone—and consequently be able to back away from tactics that are not working.

We recommend that you establish an email calendar that is planned well in advance but is also flexible should events arise that you need to act upon in conjunction with your email list. A good rule of thumb is to keep it as consistent as possible. If you send emails on the same two days each week for example, your list will begin to expect updates and action alerts on those days and be ready to follow through.

Building a successful online team - posted by Anne Keenan

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:23:16 -0800

Sample job descriptions for building internal capacity

A crucial component of realizing your online capabilities is ensuring that you have the right personnel to help you achieve your goals. Our experience has shown that by filling a few key positions, organizations are able to not only implement the strategies we develop together, but maintain and grow their existing websites and online organizing, outreach and fundraising campaigns.

At EchoDitto, our goal is to empower organizations to communicate with their members, constituents and customers in the most effective way possible, using the most efficient, innovative and appropriate technology available. As we like to say, we'd much rather teach you to fish than give you a can of dolphin-safe tuna.

Below is a list of what we believe to be the five most crucial positions required for maintaining and growing your organization’s online presence. As you can see, the majority of these positions are more strategic than technical, although the content manager position does require some basic web development skills. Depending on the size of your organization, and your online goals and objectives, it may make sense to hire an internal web developer/programmer/system administrator who can manage the more technical aspects of your operation.

Of course, we know that few organizations have the resources (or space!) to hire 5 new people at once. Depending upon the size of your organization, it will make sense to fill these roles in a variety of ways: one skilled staffer may be able to cover 3 or 4 of these roles for a smaller organization and outsource the rest to consultants; the online team for larger organizations may require a team double in size.

Essential

Internet Director (Role: Strategy and Planning)

Your organization’s internet director will oversee the successful strategic and technical planning and execution of online campaigns and initiatives, including online communications plans (email/blog/web content), and organizing efforts. In addition to coordinating among program areas and staff, this person would also be responsible for overseeing your organization’s relationship with other online community influencers (e.g. bloggers, social networking websites, online video outlets)—a role which could eventually evolve into its own full-time online organizer position (see below).

Read a complete job description >>.

Web Content Manager (Role: Content and Administration)

Also referred to as a webmaster or web producer, this person is responsible for managing your organization’s online community presence on a day-to-day basis, such as implementing content or functionality associated with a campaign or initiative. The webmaster should be technically proficient for day-to-day site administration or design as well as have experience getting results through vendors or contractors. The webmaster works closely with the internet director to maintain and implement the online campaign/content plan. We believe that filling this position is not only cost-effective but, in fact, critical to the success of most online strategies.

Read a complete job description >>.

Secondary Hires -- for Building Capacity

Online Organizer (Role: Outreach and Campaign management)

Initially, your internet director and webmaster should be able to handle outreach to the greater online community, as well as manage the user-generated content associated with the various interactive or participatory features of your website. However, as your online presence grows, we recommend appointing a dedicated online community organizer whose primary responsibility will be to devise, create, and manage online communications with your community members (e-mail, blogs, discussion groups, feedback, etc.) and organizing or campaign efforts. Ideally, this person will also manage your organization’s relationship with other online community influencers, and will reach out to external blogs and online networks to promote your campaigns.

Read a complete job description >>.

Creative Director (Role: Design and Branding)

Your creative director is charged with determining the best ways to visually represent your organization’s identity online. This is a people-oriented job responsible for developing high-level design concepts for projects under frequently tight deadlines. While most Creative Directors do their own design work, they are also responsible for recruiting and managing third party design firms as well as internal design resources. This role is appropriate for larger organizations. In smaller organizations, this role is usually filled by a design-savvy member of the internet team (webmaster / organizer / developer) or outsourced to an external design firm.

Read the complete job description >>.

Web Developer/Engineer (Role: Technical Development)

While some organizations choose to hire a tech-savvy webmaster to handle minor technical updates and outsource the heavy technical lifting, other organizations find that it makes good financial sense to invest in a full-time developer. If your organization chooses the latter, look for someone with programming, database administration, and some basic graphic design skills. Your ideal candidate should serve as a strong strategic thinker and be familiar with emerging web technologies. Finally, ensure that your candidates have experience with the same technology powering your online infrastructure (e.g. don't hire a PHP developer if you have a website running on cold fusion). Note: Consider delaying this hire if your organization is licensing software that includes monthly support from a product team that can implement custom campaigns (e.g. Convio, Blue State Digital, Democracy in Action).

Read the complete job description >>.

Database Administrator (Role: Data Coordination)

While not strictly a member of the internet team, a Database Administrator, or DBA, is a crucial part of your overall constituent management strategy. As your systems for storing donor, volunteer, activist, and member data grow larger, a Database Administrator will work to keep them all coordinated, particularly if these systems span departments (Development to Communications to Field) or platforms (Raiser’s Edge to Convio to Salesforce and custom applications).

The Budget Matrix: Technology to Staff, $ to $$$ - posted by Michael Silberman

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:01:35 -0800

We put this guide together to provide nonprofits, campaigns, and social change organizations with a sense of the options available to them when exploring technology options and developing online operations.

Questions this matrix helps to answer:

What sort of technology platforms should I be looking at?
What kind of staff will I need?
How much should I budget?
Where should I spend any additional resources?

This matrix offers initial insight on how to answer these questions, but it's far from a complete technology planning bible. And it certainly doesn't take the place of sound strategic and technical planning tailored to your organization's needs.

Note that the costs listed in the left column of this guide are estimates only, and solutions are not limited to those listed here. This is a rapidly evolving field, so we'll do our best to keep this document updated. If you have additions or suggestions, please email michael at echoditto.com.

Download the one-page PDF [208 kb]
[Formatted to print on US Legal size paper.]

Update: Also see NTEN's Nonprofit IT staffing survey.

Blogging Best Practices - posted by Justin Pinder

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:05:00 -0700

Blogging began in 1998 as a form of online journal — a frequently updated site in reverse chronological order to discuss whatever was on the author's mind. Blogs, short for “weblogs,” have exploded since those early days and new blogs are launching at a rate of over 120,000 per day, adding to the 74.6 million already in existence.

Focused on every imaginable topic, these sites are run by individuals and groups all over the world. As they have grown in popularity and readership, more and more people are turning to current events-centered blogs for daily news updates. A handful of powerful blogs now have daily readership exceeding that of medium-sized city newspapers.

Most blog readers scan dozens of blogs everyday, but they actually spend very little time on any one blog—thus your goal is to grab them quickly and hold them. Readers have only a handful of blogs that they read carefully. You want to be one of them.

There are three basic keys to building a successful blog:

Engage with other blogs and your own readers
Keep the material fresh and exciting
Give people a reason to return

Here are some things to keep in mind when blogging:

It's OK to say what you think. Bloggers tend to have opinions; otherwise most of them wouldn't have blogs. Blog readers want to hear opinions; otherwise most wouldn't read blogs. It's OK to ease up on the journalistic “objectivity” and say what you really think. In fact, it's preferred.

Engage from the beginning. Blog readers generally pay attention to the title and the first two paragraphs of any given post, and then decide whether to read the rest. This means your title, and your first two paragraphs are your chance to entice them to read the rest of the post. Humorous, playful, and even whimsical titles are OK because they catch readers' attention. Sometimes, if it concerns a particularly hot news item, a straightforward title will do the same. Posts with compelling titles get read more often, and get more comments.
In the first two paragraphs, try to give the reader an idea of what you're talking about, what you think about the subject, and — towards the end of the second paragraph — a teaser to get them to read more.

Be casual. Most blog readers don't generally respond to a formal, authoritative tone. They want to know that they're talking to a human being much like themselves, who happens to know a bit more about the subject than they do, or who shares their views on the subject. Try to write in a tone that's natural, casual, and almost conversational. Imagine that you're writing for a guy who's sitting in his cubicle during his lunch break, or in his pajamas before bedtime, looking for engaging conversation online.

Remember, it's a conversation. Keep the discussion open. You don't have to be a closer; meaning you don't have to tie up all the loose ends and answer all questions by the end of a blog post. In fact, it's better to leave some questions asked and unanswered. If the first few paragraphs of a post are the open door inviting readers into the post, the last couple of paragraphs are the open door inviting them into the conversation.

Never forget, it's personal. People don't just read a blog; they respond to it by leaving comments or linking to it from another site. People also inherently connect not just to the blog but also to the author. Blogs live, breathe, and die based on the level of involvement with their readers and other blogs. Personality is key in this kind of engagement. Developing a voice and persona for your blog is important, but should come naturally.

Link or trackback to other blogs whenever possible. There are some important reason for this. First, it builds community across blogs, and expands the conversation. Second, it gets bloggers' attention. Linking is what creates the blogosphere. Bloggers link to blogs they like and blog posts they like and want to comment on. Bloggers also check their site statistics for referrer links, to find out who's linking to them. They tend to check out sites that link to their blogs or their posts, read them, and link back to them if they like them.

Trackbacks are another way of linking to a blog. Instead of commenting on a blog post you can post your comment on your own blog, and trackback to the initial post. This creates a link on the initial post, so when people read that post, they see that you commented on it and it increases the likelihood that they will click on the link to read your post. And if they like it, they might explore the rest of your blog and come back to read it again.

Read other blogs, and write about what you read. Keep a list of blogs, however short or long, and read them on a regular basis. This will give you an idea what people are talking about in the blogosphere, and bring your blog into the conversation. If you want to comment on something use your blog web address to direct people back to your blog. If you want to write about and/or trackback to another post, link to the initial post in what you write.

Turn-around matters. Things move fast in the blogosphere. A story might catch on with a few blogs, and spread like wildfire to the rest. If you take more than 24 hours to have your say, you might miss an opportunity to attract links, trackbacks, and new readers. Whenever possible, if you want to write about a hot news story that's all over the blogosphere, turn it around by the next day at the latest. And don't forget to link and trackback to other blog posts whenever possible.

It doesn't have to be perfect. One of the great things about the blogosphere is that you don't have to be right all the time. Most bloggers understand the desire to run with a story as soon as you get it. There's something to be said for being first, but sometimes that means risking being wrong if further information is revealed later. In that situation, it's standard to post a brief update. Bloggers understand that, and will forgive you for being wrong as long as you're up front about it.

Use syndicating technologies. XML and RSS feeds are a technical ways of syndicating your blog to other blogs, a sort of personal AP Wire for your campaign. It is a standard feature of most blogs, but make sure your blog has it, either through RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or Atom.

Brian Baily provides a couple of helpful tips in his "Building a Better Blog" post:

Click your own links. When you post an article that links to other post or blogs, be sure to click those links after you post. First, this simply verifies that your links work, which is always a good QA check. Second, this will cause your site to show up in the stats and referrer logs of the sites you link to. Most bloggers track their traffic and referrers religiously, so this will make sure they are aware of your post as soon as it's been published. *

Don't be afraid to promote. I've written a number of posts that I thought would be of interest to other bloggers or sites, such as Robert Scoble, MacSurfer, and Hacking Netflix. My first hope was that the writing would be so captivating that the posts would slowly rise to the top of the blogosphere and be noticed. Not a good plan!
My second hope was that by linking to these sites and clicking on those links, my site would show up in the referrer logs for those sites, which would spark curiosity and bring my post to their attention. This works fairly well, but relies on the site owners and authors religiously monitoring their traffic or subscribing to weblog search sites such as PubSub and Feedster. Better, but still inadequate.

Finally, I stumbled upon a brilliant, but underused technique: Tell them about it!. People who are active in the weblog world are active precisely because they are curious people who are always looking for new perspectives. I find that sending a short, polite email that introduces yourself, offers a thank you or general kindness regarding their site, and then brings your post to their attention, is generally very successful. I never specifically ask for a link and wouldn't recommend it. Your purpose is simply to be read by people you respect and if you achieve that, you have been successful. The choice of whether to link to your site is entirely up to them. *

Moving From Online Activity to Real-World Action - posted by Terrance Heath

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:27:21 -0700

Millions of people turn to the internet every day to find and organize local events, meetings, parties, and fundraisers. Evite.com boasts 250,000 new events organized online each month, and 1.8 million members of Meetup.com are organizing and participating in events for more than 9,000 local groups. This guide outlines the ways in which campaigns and organizations can harness this energy with a little bit of planning, staff support, and organizational buy-in.

Download the EchoDitto Report "Moving From Online Activity to Real-World Action" now. [319K PDF]

The Empowerment Age - posted by Mike Carvalho

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 10:26:15 -0800

As 2005 dawns everyone knows that the internet is reshaping llife in the United States. It's becoming a major force for commerce, community, and information. But what does that really mean?

Download the EchoDitto report "The Empowerment Age: Why the Internet Matters" now [796k PDF].

The Blogging Advantage - posted by Mike Carvalho

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 10:22:38 -0800

An active, effective blog will drive value for your company or organization in the same ways that traditional public relations and advertising activities do: increase brand awareness and equity, enhance reputation, shape opinion and influence consumer behavior.

Download the EchoDitto report "The Blogging Advantage" now [108k PDF].

Best Practices for Online Organizing - posted by Michael Silberman

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 08:51:08 -0800

Have you ever encouraged a group of friends or co-workers to join you at a party or event by sending them a personal email? Congratulations, you’re an online organizer.

Maybe you want to generate some online buzz and interest around your newly released album or the new cancer-curing coffee machine that your company invented in order to increase sales. Even if you’re looking to build a coalition of activists around the world to lead several thousand public demonstrations at the very same moment, you are online organizing.

The internet enables you to both widen your audience and also strengthen your relationship with existing supporters or members. With the proper mix of authenticity, leadership, and sometimes humor, information about your idea, product, campaign, or effort can travel virally through thousands and millions of people within hours. Your goal is to capture the attention (and email address) of as many of these people as possible. Support this community’s ability to (a) continue growing and (b) accomplish your common goals.

The internet will never replace face-to-face interactions, but it does have a uniquely powerful way of enabling citizens with similar interests to find one another, communicate, and take action. Even if these people never meet in the real world, they have a profound ability to shape a political debate, affect the marketplace, and impact society.

Much like the internet itself, there’s no single path to success in this dynamic and ever-evolving medium. That’s why we’re painting in broad strokes to describe key lessons and proven best practices No discussions of databases, pace, ways to integrate online and offline organizing, etc. Just the basics here:

1. Before you start: Think strategically and take the plunge

Ask: How do your audience’s goals fit with your organizational priorities?
Identify the goals that your supporters will help achieve.
Integrate your internet strategy into your overall organizing plan.
Organizational buy-in: agree to fully support this effort (staff time, technology) and trust the community with what you’re asking.

2. Start a dialogue with your audience or supporters: Communicate regularly with them about why your project, organization, or campaign is important.

What is your message? Use simple, concrete objectives. You only have a few seconds—minutes if you are lucky—to make your point.
Speak authentically: We all get plenty of email from nameless, faceless institutions. Respect your supporters’ intelligence, keep a positive tone when possible, and always speak honestly.
Educate your supporters, and move them to action—not despair.

3. Create opportunities for meaningful action

Suggest actions that are appropriate to their goals and explain how the action will make an impact.
Make it irresistibly easy! Respect people’s time and minimize the work they’ll need to do to take action. Provide phone numbers, talking points, etc. Consider mailing them materials. (At the height of the Dean campaign’s Meetup program, we shipped over 1,000 organizing kits each month to grassroots organizers nationwide so that they had the videos, agendas, checklists, sign-in sheets, handouts, pens, and contribution forms that they needed to run a successful event.)
Encourage them to forward your message to their friends.
Track your progress: celebrate the fruits of your collective action with a number, map, or graphic.

4. Identify and support your leaders as if they are high-dollar contributors

Offer more responsibility (and personal contact) to those who stand out as active and helpful.
Provide inside information, additional resources (materials, agendas), and tokens of gratitude to your leaders.
Encourage collaboration: Help the community of leaders grow stronger by developing mechanisms for good cross-channel communication (e.g., Yahoo! email discussion groups, conference calls, etc.).
Solicit feedback and let them know how you’ve incorporated their ideas.

5. Close the loop

Thank people immediately for taking action.
Later, tell the whole story -- data (how many actions), anecdotes, and results.
Explain how this action fits in with your shared long-term objectives.
Preview what’s coming next and encourage their continued involvement.

Our favorite blogs on this subject:

Network-Centric Advocacy

http://www.network-centricadvocacy.net/

Movement As Network

http://www.movementasnetwork.org/

Other Resources:

Excellent multi-section guide for online organizers:
http://www.livemodern.com/Members/Marshall/resumefolder/manual

A guide to on-line activism, with a list of resources available on the Internet.
http://www.eff.org/Activism/

Best Practices and Tips for Raising Money Online - posted by Michael Silberman

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:53:17 -0800

Also see Best Practices and Tips for Sending Email

Raising money online can provide your organization with a new untapped donor base. Indeed, a well-planned and executed campaign to a broad community can yield more money than a direct mail or events-focused campaign—and at a significantly reduced overhead.

Before you launch your online fundraising campaign, identify your audience and a clear goal for the campaign.

(a) Your fundraising "ask" must be targeted to a specific audience who can respond to it and, ideally, pass it on to others. Successful fundraising campaigns start with previously established communities that have good reason to trust the organization asking for money. If you do not already manage an email list of people with whom you have been in regular communication, consider partnering with a group who has. Your first email to your organization should not be an appeal for money. You need to first build a relationship and establish trust.

(b) Your fundraising goal should be easy to understand and should be meaningful. What are you doing to do with this money? Be as specific as possible. Risk-taking online pays off. Being bold excites online audiences, drives people to meet goals, and generates attention – both online and offline. When the Dean campaign announced an outlandish second quarter fundraising goal of $7 million, supporters knew that reaching this goal depended on them. Consequently, they poured energy into reaching that goal—and then justly felt like they, acting individually in a collective manner, had accomplished something great. Each individual $50 or $100 contribution combined together is the recipe for success in meeting the much larger, stunning total.

As a centerpiece of the campaign, find a way for people to track their contributions. Dean for America had its contributions fill a baseball bat; Ken Salazar’s Colorado Senate campaign used an animated ten-gallon hat; and Joe Hoeffel’s Pennsylvania campaign added cars to a train as donations poured in. This visual mechanism allows your audience to understand that each individual’s contribution goes toward the greater goal. This is clearly not a new model, after all, we all remember the Labor Day Telethons and the growing local and national tote boards that Jerry Lewis used to drive excitement across the country.

You should invest the bulk of your time crafting compelling email messages, since this will be the foundation for your campaign. Authenticity is critical for success on the Internet in any venture—political or otherwise. Most of us spend the bulk of our time on the Internet using email. Since email is an inherently casual and intimate mode of communication, effective fundraising emails are both casual and authentic—you’ve got to have personality!

Here are some points to think about as you write your fundraising email:

Develop a Voice. Write your email in a casual, personal tone, and send them from a specific human being. Don’t put an amorphous organization name in the “from” line. Develop a unique voice for the authors of your emails—a regular voice to which readers can relate. This does not necessarily mean the principal of your organization. Often a mid-level staffer may work as well and protect your principal for over-communicating to your list.
Make a Specific Ask. It’s not good enough to say that you need money—you need to spell-out why you’re asking for money, and what the money will do. People like to know what how their money will be spent—and, given the pace of the internet, it’s important that have a sense of urgency. The more specific the better. Don’t say you need $500 to fund an after-school center, say you need $250 for the teacher, $50 for the basketballs, $100 for snacks, and $100 to keep the electricity on.
Make It Pretty, But Not Too Pretty. With a few caveats, graphics don’t make much difference, and, in fact, heavily-stylized emails can distract people and slow them down. With caveats, graphics do not make much difference unless they serve a specific purpose—ie. a contribute button, photo, or image summarizing the ask.
Time It Right. When sending emails, earlier in the week is better, and you should always send during normal business hours. You want your email to arrive at a time when people are paying attention to their email—after they have cleared out the junk from the night before
Track Everything. Track open rates, unsubscribe rates, click-throughs, contributions, and the growth rate of the list. Look at the data to spot trends to and to speculate about what’s working and what’s not. Experiment, and be bold! Like other means of fundraising, you would not keep sending out the exact same piece of direct mail over and over again. You must try new and different things – new visuals, new language, new ways of asking for money. The only way you know if one works better than the other is with the data you are collecting.
Include Easy-To-Use Links. Use the actual hyperlink, not words with embedded links. Links to you website or contribution page are bolder and easier for readers to find when they stand alone. Your click-through rate will be higher if you make it easier for your email recipients to find the links as they scan through message.

The structure of your email also makes a difference. We have seen the best results with emails that follow this general format:

Dear First Name -

Two paragraphs

http:// Link to action on website

Two paragraphs

http:// Link to same action on website

Two paragraphs

Closing

Signed, (name)

PS

http:// Link to same action on website

Finally, develop an email and online content calendar that you plan well in advance with your entire team and can commit to following. The calendar should flexible enough that you can act on unplanned events as they arise. The internet is a fast-moving medium, so you may only have a number of hours to get in front of a story or develop an action or online fundraising event for your community. Otherwise, try to keep your communications as consistent as possible. If you send emails on the same two days each week, for example, your list will begin to expect updates and action alerts on those days and be ready to follow through.

Summary of Email Sending Rules:

Keep it personal.
Keep it timely.
Keep it consistent.
Keep it action-oriented.
Create relationships.
Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Watch the numbers to determine what is and isn’t working.