Grants are one of the essential parts of any successful non-profit organization.  Typically, the process for applying can be a long and strenuous task that can be highly competitive.  This situation is where the Google Ad Grant program comes in like a knight in shining armor.

Google’s Ad Grant program provides up to $10,000 in free search ad campaigns for qualifying non-profits.  Getting new donors and volunteers is at the forefront of most organizations’ minds, which is where this program provides the most assistance.  Through the paid search ad campaigns, website traffic will increase will traceable statistics that Google provides. The following is a guide to finding out if you qualify for the Google Ad Grant program and how to get started!

1. Meet Google Ad Grant Requirements

 

Your group must hold a non-profit status and register as a valid charity.  US-based charities must have 501(c)(3) status. This means the organization is tax-exempt.  For more information, you can learn how to gain 501(c)(3) status.  For organizations outside of the US, you will need to follow your country’s specific guidelines for charity status that Google outlines.  There are a few exceptions to the rules, which are the following types of organizations:

• Government Organizations or Entities
• Hospital or Healthcare Organization
• Universities, Schools, or Academic Organizations

If your organization is a school, you can check out Google for Education.  This website is Google’s specific program for various academic organizations.  Healthcare organizations may be able to qualify if they are Awareness or Research-based.

Once your organization follows these guidelines, it is time to make sure you have a compelling website.  Google requires that Ad Grant recipients have an active website since that is where all the web traffic is going to.  Once this is done and your organization acknowledges non-discrimination and donation receipt, it is time to register as a Google Non-Profit.

2. Register Nonprofit with TechSoup

 

Now that you know your organization is eligible, it is time to get started.  You will need to create an account with TechSoup, a technology non-profit that delivers technology tools to other non-profits at discounted rates.

This application is a simple process consisting of filling out a form on the TechSoup Registration page.  Once you fill out your country and organization information, you will need to accept the terms and conditions.  After this is done and your application is submitted, it can take up to 30 days for your organization to be confirmed.  In the case of missing information, someone from TechSoup will get in contact with your organization for additional information.

Once your validation is confirmed, you will have a TechSoup verification token.  These tokens are typically represented as 123c456@OrgName.com. This will be needed during the signup for Google Ad Grants.

3. Create A Google for Non-Profit Account

 

To begin your signup, you can start your Google Ad Grant application here.  To begin, you will need to verify that you meet all the requirements.  If you have already gained your TechSoup verification token, you will satisfy the requirements.  You will also need to have your organization’s Tax ID number to proceed with the application.

Next, you will need to fill out your organization’s information.  This information will include mission statements, contact information, and your website URL.  Once this is complete, you will fill out your communication preferences (phone, email, etc.) and submit your application.

Along with Google Ad Grants, Google non-profits gain access to a variety of other features:

• Listing on One Today, an exclusive site for Google’s mobile fundraising options.
• Free access to Google applications like Drive and Gmail accounts.
• Special features on YouTube, including a donate button.

Once your application is submitted, Google should approve your request within a few days.  The success rate is exceptionally high, taking the stress off your shoulders. This segment is going to be the last step before being able to apply for the Google Ad Grant.

4. Verify G-Suites

 

Now it is finally time to start applying to individual programs.  I recommend signing up for the Google Suite. This feature will link your website domain to a personalized G Suite account.  This Google non-profit account eliminates the need to pay for email services from here on out.  One final step will be to put a small piece of code within your website to verify it; instructions from Google can be found here.

 

5. Enroll in Google Ad Grants

 

The first recommendation that we have when starting the enrollment process is to never enter in your billing information.  Doing so will disqualify you from attaining Google Ad Grants.  Follow the following steps to ensure your account is set up correctly:

• Choose the appropriate billing country and timezone for your organization.
• Choose USD as currency, regardless of what your country uses
• Save your campaign.  You may need to log out and then back in after doing this.  Make sure you record your customer ID, which will be in the top right-hand corner, formatted like XXX-XXX-XXXX.
• Submit the pre-qualification survey to Google
• Watch the Google training video and complete the quiz

Once you have finished these tasks, it is time to submit your pre-qualification review.  For this, you will need to sign back into your Google for Nonprofits account.  When in, you will be able to “Activate” the Google Ad Grants using your customer ID.  Finish telling Google how you heard about them, and then you can finish by enrolling. Once this is complete, you should hear back within five business days.

 

6. Create Your First Campaign

 

Now that you have approval through pre-qualification, it is time to set up your first campaign.  Even seasoned Ad Word veterans will need to take their time setting up the campaign if this is their first Ad Grant campaign.  Google allows spending of up to $329 per day in free ad spend.  The following are some additional settings you will want to set up to ensure a great introductory campaign.

• Type: Choose Search Network Only
• Networks: Uncheck the box for “include search partners.”
• Locations: Decide if you want a local campaign or a national one.
• Languages: Choose relevant languages in which you wish to display your ads.
• Bid Strategy: Start with automated if you are not familiar with your industry.
• Default bid: Google recommends choosing a default bid of $2.00 or less.  (This may change depending on the cost-per-click in your sector)
• Budget: Choose $329 or less per day across all of your campaigns.

What Do Your Ads Include?

 

Now it is time to create your first ad.  This digital ad will be the text that will display for your ads.  For your first time, you can choose what you think will be most relevant.  You can also get in touch with us for great information and assistance in Google Ad Grants.  We have experience working with several non-profits in setting up and maintaining their Google Ad Grants profile.

Next, you will need to start setting up your keywords.  Keywords are essential for targeting relevant individuals searching for your products or services.  It is crucial to choose the appropriate keywords. Choosing poor-performing keywords can lead to having Google pause your Ad Grant Account.  All keywords must maintain a quality score above 2/10 to be used in your campaigns.

Finally, you will need to make sure that you set up at least 1 form of conversion tracking within your website.  This is how Google will keep track of visitors to your site. The conversion tracking code will need to be put into the back end of your website.  You can contact your web admin to include this, or contact Kallen Media LLC for assistance setting up conversion tracking.

 

7. Maintain Your Campaign

 

Google Ad Grants are not something that you can set up and let run.  They require constant interaction to gain the most from them. Because Google is giving up to $10,000 a month, we highly recommend keeping an eye on your campaigns or hiring someone to do this for you.

Changes will need to be made to your accounts every two months.  We recommend checking your account weekly to look at any changes.  Within the early stages of setting up your campaigns, this will be the most essential to creating successful Google Ad Grant campaigns.  Third-party organizations like Ahrefs and Moz are great tools for researching competition and keywords.  I highly recommend using these programs when creating your campaigns. This strategy will save both time and money, which are crucial resources to non-profits.

Your ads require a 5% click-through rate for all active ads.  This click-through rate is account-wide, allowing for more and less successful campaigns to balance each other out.  Google also sends out a year-end survey that will need to be filled out based on the impact it has had over the past year.  To ensure you are following Google Ad Grant standards, check out the Google Ad Grant Compliance Guide.  By following this guide, you will be able to set up a successful Google Ad Grant campaign to begin delivering your non-profit’s message around the world!

 

Let us help!

 

For assistance setting up Google Ad Grants, contact Nathan@kallenmedia.com or call (773)524-1483.  We look forward to helping your organization gain more exposure through the Google Ad Grant program!

When designing a website on WordPress, one of the essential pieces is going to be its structure.  In many cases, if you have a fully customized website, you will include various plugins to supplement parts of your site when utilizing the WordPress platform.  This platform allows for much easier creation and management than a custom coded and managed website. Plugins are used within the WordPress platform because they are programs designed to do specific things to augment and bolster your site, without needing custom code. What is the most significant difference between using a platform like WordPress and coding your website?

1. Costs

the cost of good Webdesign can be incredible. WordPress websites can typically run in the hundreds to thousands of dollars. If you wanted a web development team to create a website, you would be looking at at least a $10,000 bill, which can be overwhelming to many smaller companies.

Deciding the primary purpose of your website will be vital in determining the path you need to go down.  If you are looking for fully customizable and unique functionality, you may need a web development team for a more extensive scope project.  However, most businesses will find that the WordPress route will allow them all the customization that they will need. WordPress provides for merchant processing and e-commerce plugins to be integrated.  This integration will enable businesses to run their shops entirely digitally in many cases without spending a large amount of money.

The bread and butter to any WordPress website are going to be plugins or unique code used.  There needs to be a balance of plugins with your other content. Having too many plugins can slow down your website.  Alternatively, there may be a point where plugins are messing with each other’s settings meaning that you are not getting full usability in some cases.  Kallen media is here to breakdown three common uses for plugins on the WordPress platform.

2. Search Engine Optimization

Often the purpose of working on WordPress is to avoid digging too deep into the coding elements of your website.  Search engines look at all aspects of your website unless you specifically tell them not to. When these search engines crawl your websites, they are looking for a variety of different factors to rank your site.  There are some elements that you can control, like how many keywords you embed and if you have all your proper tags in place.

There may be other elements like proper image sizing, 404 redirects, and a variety of more complex problems that you may have a harder time-solving. These issues are where specific search engine optimization plugins come in. By utilizing a variety of plugins, you can have images automatically resized to fit your website better.  You can have SEO plugins give you recommendations for pages as to how you can get the most search traffic.

3. Visual Builders

We are now at a point with website builders that we can design websites completely through a visible view.  This front end builder eliminates the need to code and allows for complete front end development capabilities. Some of the most common that Kallen Media would recommend would be Elementor and Divi.  Elementor offers a free version with limited features, while the Divi package offers yearly and lifetime licenses.

Utilizing visual builders allows you to bring design aspects directly into your websites.  Adding icons, pictures, and visual effects have never been easier. There are several beginner tutorials online that can guide you through building a website within a few hours from Kallen Media.  Of course, there are more functions once you dive in. But this is a perfect starting point for someone interested in creating a website. Alternatively, you could utilize Kallen Media to design, build, and teach you about your website.  This way, you are both informed and fully capable of making changes to your website without the need for a third party.

4. E-Commerce

The digital market is continuously expanding, and with it, so is e-commerce. So to be successful as an online business, you need to be able to process payments online.  Payment processing requires that you both have a merchant processor, and frequently, an e-commerce website. WordPress allows you to link merchant processors easily with their plugins like WooCommerce.  One other essential piece that you need to keep in mind is that you need to have an HTTPS security key to process payments through your website. This security can be purchased through most hosting sites, or contact Kallen Media for additional assistance.

Once you are working within an e-commerce website builder, you can display your products.  Whether it is physical products you ship out or services, you can show your business within an online store.  Setting up product pages is smooth and has full customization to make your business stand out from the competition. Integrating e-commerce software can seem overwhelming, but Kallen Media can make it simple with a free consultation!

After reviewing what WordPress has to offer, we would recommend trying your first website on WordPress. For now, we hope you enjoyed the article and would love to hear your feedback in the comments!

Marketing is often used to describe a wide variety of processes and systems within a company.  Anything from sales to social media campaigns can be considered marketing. So, what is the most effective form of marketing that your business should spend the most money on?  That is the golden question that every business is trying to answer. Today, we are going to go over some of the most widely used marketing tactics and when to use them.

The six main marketing streams we are going to investigate are Social Media, Mailers, Search Ads, Email Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, and creating an Active Blog.

1. Active Blog

Search engines and people both enjoy fresh content.  The most effective way to display new information to your client base is through an active blog.  Here you can post anything from customer spotlights to further exciting details about your company! Optimizing your blog is another key to great digital marketing.  Finding the search terms that you want to rank for can be key. The more words and key phrases you have in your content, the higher it is going to rank on Google.  Adding pictures and subheadings is a great way to further optimize your post and make your content more professional. Blogs should typically be longer than 500 words because that is the low end of where Google picks up information from web pages.

2. Search Engine Optimization

Having a website is no longer enough to keep you relevant online.  You want to make sure that your site is fully optimized and is getting tracked by all the most significant search engines.  If you are not showing up in search engine results on relevant pages, odds are people are not seeing your website. This realization can be a significant blow to many companies that invest heavily in their website and online presence.

Optimizing your website for search engines can be done in a variety of ways.  The first would be to utilize tools like Google to crawl your site. This crawl will expose areas of weakness while giving you great recommendations for how to fix specific problems.  With WordPress websites, you can often use plugins to adjust certain aspects if you are not a coding expert. However, this can also lead to slower overall websites since more data needs to load.

3. Email Marketing

Email can be one of your most prominent friends when it comes to creating digital marketing campaigns.  You will want to build your list for email blasts and updates that can be done through systems like customer relationship management software.  By keeping an email list, you can keep track of clients, as well as individuals who may have decided not to buy. You can now send these people marketing material to try to close sales by promoting similar products. Keeping in touch with your client base is critical for maintaining top of mind in your client base.  Sending out updates and new features is an excellent way to keep yourself relevant. If you have seasonal deals or specials, send them out to your list!  Don’t hold your information a secret; the best way to spread the news is through individuals who have already expressed some interest in your company.

4. Search Ads

When most people go onto the internet, they use a search engine to find what they are looking for if they do not have an exact destination in mind.  This mindset would be if someone was looking for a restaurant and didn’t know what they wanted; they may type in the type of food. In the same way someone searches for food, they search for companies within your industry.  Similarly, people look up specific words or phrases about what they are looking for that can be bid on within platforms like Google and Microsoft ads. Advertising on these large search engine platforms gives opportunities to have your product seen by millions of people, depending on how large your budget is.  This is the best way to get discovered when you are first starting your business. In many cases, there will be no chance that you will organically appear on the first page of search results.  However, utilizing paid search ads, you can be seen by people looking for your specific niche.

5. Mailers

One of the oldest and most frequent tactics can still prove highly useful.  Depending on your type of business, mailers can be helpful when targeting your specific clients.  There are two critical situations where mailers will prove to be cost-effective: when you are targeting customers in your area, or if you are trying to use mailers to expand other marketing efforts.  Some digital marketing services, like Facebook ads, require mailers to be sent first, so sending direct mailers around the country can be critical to opening up other forms of advertising.

6. Social Media Advertising

The final type of marketing is social media advertising.  This advertising would be using services from websites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  Each different media outlet has a slightly different audience that may cater to specific businesses.  Instagram is strictly visual and media-heavy, so that attracts a much different audience than its parent company, Facebook. You will need to determine who your target audience is and figure out where they spend their time.  If you do not do your research, you could end up dumping hundreds or even thousands of dollars into campaigns where you do not see any real results.

Kallen Media is available to help with all of your different marketing strategies.  For any other comments or questions, be sure to contact us at kallenmediallc@gmail.com.