Develop Email Fundraising

by Randall Mains

The primary goal of your email fundraising is to raise gifts or sell products, not deliver ministry (that’s what your e-newsletter does). E-fundraising is an entire course in itself that fundraising professionals like Pathmaker Marketing teach, but when done effectively, it can become an monthly income-producing channel for your ministry that might even rival your direct mail and telephone fundraising efforts.

But you’re not ready to do e-appeals until you’ve properly introduced your newfound friends to your ministry. Once they know who you are and what you stand for, then you can begin implementing fundraising for nonprofits and begin requesting their support for your worthy causes.

In general, the basic components of any email solicitation include your Subject Line, your message in HTML and/or text, and your Landing Page.

The primary goal of your Subject Line is to get your emails opened. The primary goal of your email is to get click-through traffic to your Landing Page. And the primary goal of your Landing Page is to get conversions on your offer (i.e., gifts or sales, leads, list signups, etc). Each component has a specific goal, but they must all work together harmoniously to produce effective results.

There are different schools of thought on basic email fundraising strategies like: short email to long landing page, or long email to short landing page, but to determine what works best with your constituents, you just need to test, test and continue testing.

In addition, there’s the landing page process of effective internet marketing, which brings to mind to importance of your understanding of landing page conversion protocol. This subject is a big one and we’re only touching its surface today, but to show you how advanced you can become in this arena, here’s a patented formula I use to improve landing page conversion:

Landing Page Conversion = 4m+3v+2(i-f)-2a

m= the user’s motivation; v= clarity of the value proposition; i=incentive to take action; f=friction elements of the process; a=anxiety about entering information. Proper use of this formula from the Marketing Experiments Corp. can significantly improve your landing page conversions.

The formula basically says that the greatest weight in the conversion process is given to the motivation of the donor to support your cause, followed by the strength of your value proposition, followed by your incentive less the friction of your checkout process, less the anxiety that the donor feels about doing business with you online. Three factors can improve your conversion rates, while two factors can decrease them.

For more assistance with your email fundraising, contact Pathmaker Marketing 623-322-3334.

Tap International Markets

As we enter into the second decade of the 21st Century it is more and more apparent that we are living in an ever-shrinking world! The people at Pathmaker Marketing are not only aware of this, but, rather, they stand ready to help you and your company compete in an ever expanding arena where English is not the only language spoken. As a result, Pathmaker Marketing is always looking forward to helping you accept the challenge of Internationalization!!

At one point in time, Internationalization meant that a company would be reaching out and expanding into other nations around the world. Today, however, the nations have come to us. The number of ethnicities that surround us is remarkable and, as astute business people, we need to do all that we possibly can to tap into these most viable markets.

How, exactly, can Pathmaker Marketing help you do this? First, they can assist you in doing a survey regarding the number of possible ethnic markets that you are currently missing out on! Once accomplished, the next step will be to help you consider to be the major aspects of Internet and Social Network Marketing!

The key to this program will, of course, be the utilization to put virtually all of these Marketing Programs into a myriad of languages. To show the extent of what can be accomplished, please take time to visit one of Pathmaker Marketing’s most recently completed projects, a 3D Virtual Tour of the Tenboom Museum in Haarlem, Holland at www.tenboom.com. Due to the extensive worldwide interest in this particular topic, the client’s goal was to have it presented in twenty different languages.

Think of how wonderful it would be if prospective clients could go to your Website and click on a tab that would allow them to read it in their native tongue - - Español, Deutsch, Francais or whatever! Rather than struggling trying to decide what, exactly, you have to offer that they may need, you can imagine their thrill in being able to do their research so much more readily and easily.

In regard to Keyword Research, you will be opening up a whole new world of obtaining Winnable Keywords for Page Ranking with Google, Yahoo, Bing and other Search Engines This, in itself, might open the doors to actually doing business overseas, to say nothing of serving the prospective clients in your own community!

Building on the concept of Keywords and Winnable Terms, imagine how beneficial it would be to have your Blog Posts be in more than one language! As your knowledge is shared in multiple languages, your stature as an expert will build exponentially and there is no telling what heights that can lead you and your company to!

As you increase the number of languages you are offering your services and products in, you increase the number of Websites and Directories that you can be Linked to. Whether you strive for Unilateral or Reciprocal Links, additional links will give you additional opportunities.

As Social Networking continues to be the rave, imagine how many more “friends” you can have, and how many more people you could “tweet” if your postings and twitters were multi-lingual. A wonderfully simple way to expand your number of contacts, with the help of Pathmaker Marketing your Networking efforts can become even more profitable!

One of the areas we have been particularly successful in is assisting clients with instituting and conducting Contests and Sweepstakes. By conducting your contests in more than one language, you have positive testimonials that are not limited to only those individuals who can speak and read English.

Finally, imagine the positive affects of being able to produce a monthly E-Newsletter that could be distributed in multiple languages! Again, whether you want to Market around the world or just in your own community, the ability to do so in more than one language can be a tremendous boon to your business!

To learn how, exactly, you and your Company can benefit from an Internationalization Program you need to contact Pathmaker Marketing to schedule a private phone conversation with CEO Randall Mains as quickly as possible. After all, you want to reach everyone in your community!

Keyword Research Is The Foundation Of Search Engine Marketing

Creating a Search Engine Marketing Program without conducting an extensive Keyword Research is like building a house without a foundation - - it might look good at first, but it won’t weather even the minutest of storms! And, in the ever-changing business climate we face today it seems there is always a storm just around the corner!

Search Engine Marketing is chasing those individuals who want your product or service and are using the internet to find you! Pathmaker Marketing's goal, on your behalf, is to determine and isolate the words, terms, and phrases they type into Google. Your goal is to make sure your company "comes up” when they type in their search words! And it is only through comprehensive Keyword Research will you be able to uncover these keywords.

Pathmaker Marketing stand ready to assist you in creating a Keyword Research Program that pinpoints your Winnable Terms for ensuring Page Ranking and driving potential customers to your website! Don’t allow yourself to fall victim to the temptation of aiming for the bullseye with a blindfold on! Rather, understand the key concept that Keyword Research is the foundation of effective Search Engine Marketing.

Tips For Ranking Higher in SERPs

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a specialized field that helps a website get higher rankings in the search engines results page (SERPs) by making it more relevant for both search engines and people. The goal of search engine optimization is to capture as much of the page 1 real estate in searches relevant to the targeted keywords.

Whether you’re developing a new website or updating an existing site, you should keep the following guidelines in mind as new content is developed and coded.

• Structure your site appropriately to be found by search engines.
• Make navigation easy, clear, and intuitive.
• Remember that “content is king.”
• Think through and liberally use appropriate keywords.
• Make sure <TITLE> and <META> tags are used appropriately.
• Check for broken links and correct HTML.
• Keep parameters short on dynamically-generated pages.
• Be straightforward in your site structure.
• Make your photo captions text rather than embedding inside an image.
• Use <ALT> attribute and descriptive names for all photos and images.

Pathmaker Marketing offers a full range of services - web design, search engine optimization, email fundraising services, business marketing promotion online, Christian marketing, keyword marketing and more. Give Pathmaker Marketing a call at 623-322-3334.

Monetize Your Email List

by Randall Mains

Email fundraising has proven to be one of the best emarketing channel you can leverage to develop online fundraising sources for your not-for-profit organization. A good qualified internal email list should generate substantial gifts toward your annual fund, add to your monthly donor groups, and even raise funds for special projects. I will show you how to monetize your email list later, but for now I want to focus on how to begin building your lists, since many charities are literally at ground zero when it comes to their email lists.

Most companies don't know how to start building their email lists. While there are numerous methods you can use, both online and offline, you're best to grow your email lists by addressing your website traffic conversion plan first, which is generally an overlooked subject. I personally prefer incentive-based email sign-up offers, which I'll explain later.

Much of the focus I hear about is on generating visitors to your website, rather than converting the visitors you'll get. Generating traffic to your website without having a plan to convert the traffic into non profit marketing assets is the equivalent of having a billboard on the highway--you do get brand awareness because of the traffic that sees your ad, but you don't get many tangible assets to work with after your ad ends.

We here at Pathmaker Marketing believe that a non profit website design strategy that concentrates on traffic conversion will add people onto your email list. Using this method you collect as many names as possible that you can convert into gifts or sales today, plus names that are likely to convert in the weeks and months to come through online fundraising.

Most companies will dedicate zero real estate, or very little online real estate, to traffic conversion efforts. Installing a good one will increase the size of your email lists, and eventually lead to significant results out of your email fundraising.

What Is Your Ministry's Niche?

As non profit fund raising professionals, Pathmaker Marketing often starts by asking our clients, "What is unique about your ministry or non profit organization that separates you from the rest?" Isolate that area of differentiation and then determine the ways you might convey that uniqueness online. One idea for accomplishing this objective is to think about the ways you already provide ministry:

• Do you have a radio show? Then place your radio broadcasts online in MP3 format.
• Do you preach sermons? Then have your messages converted into MP3 format and upload them online for people to hear 24/7.
• Do you have a television ministry? Then convert your TV programs into QuickTime or Windows Media file formats for online viewing. You can even upload your shows to YouTube or other online video portals.
• Do you have a drama ministry you can videotape? Then do the same.
• Are you a prolific writer? Then consider:
• Publishing your books online as e-books or using print-on-demand processing.
• Developing white papers on subjects of expertise for you.
• Creating an online library replete with articles on various topics of relevance to your audience.
• Starting a blog.

The key here is to isolate what ministries or services you provide offline, particularly those that are especially unique, and then determine if you can provide or enhance them through non profit marketing online.

What Do You Mean They Weren't Looking For Me!

by Floyd Allen

Boy, I hate to burst a friend’s bubble! Especially when that friend thinks he is excelling in my area of expertise. Especially when that friend is Jim.

Now, you probably have already read about Jim though he wasn’t referred to by name. Jim is the gentleman who referred to “Pay Per Click” as “Paper Clip,” and wasn’t thrilled by the program’s results, nor by the fact that I had corrected him on it. Anyway, he is doing his best to keep up with technology, and decided he would start a Blog. The owner of an independent sporting goods store and a pretty fair fisherman, Jim decided he would do a Blog on fishing. He has been at it for about a month, and when we had lunch the other day he breezed into the restaurant and announced that he had finally hit the big time!

Enjoying the beaming smile on his face, I asked what was up. He explained that he had fourteen hundred hits on his latest offering, 5 Important Facts about Fly-Fishing in Arizona. And, he proclaimed triumphantly, he didn’t think that many people even knew his name. Without thinking I informed him that undoubtedly most of them didn’t. He gave me a hard look - - he wasn’t to the point of fuming, but he was, at least, brooding. Knowing he deserved an explanation, I shared a few Internet Marketing ideas with him.

The reality is, I explained, that approximately 82% of the people who read our Blogs have not typed in our name, but rather a keyword. This, I went on to tell him, is the basis for Keyword Marketing. Keyword Marketing is an excellent Online Marketing Tool, and one that Randall Mains and Pathmaker Marketing, the firm I am associated with, feature as part of their Search Engine Optimization Services. My best guess was that people were looking for advice on fly-fishing in general, and fly-fishing in Arizona in particular, and that’s how they came upon his Blog.

Jim was a little deflated; there was no doubt about it. He is a friend, and not wanting to bring him down and leave him there, I shared some of the positive aspects about his situation. I first pointed out to him that now fourteen hundred people do know his name. Next I suggested to him that he might want to use what he had started as a social Blog as a subtle way to market his business. His spirits were lifting, and he seemed genuinely interested in the prospect of using his Blog to increase his business.

Warming to the discussion myself, I explained how another Pathmaker Marketing associate, Karen Randau, knew a gentleman who had developed leads for a hunting lodge that he owned and operated. He just wrote about some of the interesting experiences the people who stayed there had enjoyed, and before long people were asking about flyers and what not. Utilizing all of the knowledge and expertise at Pathmaker’s disposal, I assured him, would allow us to help virtually any business use a Social Networking program such as Blogging to promote their business without violating the unwritten code of “fun” that is associated with Blogging.

By the time lunch was over Jim had returned to being his beaming self. We discussed some other topics that might bring him new readers, and speculated on how many hits each one would receive. He was thrilled that he might get fourteen hundred new customers, until I pointed out to him that probably half of them were probably from out of state. I got that hard look again, until I explained to him how he could deal with that, too - - - but that’s for another day and another Blog!