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The secret ingredient for Adwords success

March 14, 2017May 10, 2016 by bgerstein

Are you managing your Adwords campaigns based on a hunch or are you making decisions based on actionable data? Linking your campaigns to Google Analytics will provide a treasure trove of useful information that can save you money and produce better results. The example below demonstrates how.

One of my clients was spending half their budget on a campaign that asked people to sign a pledge supporting girls’ education in Africa. The campaign went live in early 2016 and at first glance, the numbers reported in Adwords appear great.

A Two-Stage Process To Boost Your Adwords Campaigns

March 14, 2017March 1, 2016 by bgerstein

Does your nonprofit use Google Adwords to raise donations? Whether a text or banner ad, the creative probably asks for a donation and sends potential supporters directly to a donate form right? Based on my experience this is the wrong approach. Below I explain the technique I recently used for year-end fundraising campaigns to achieve much better results.

Planting the seeds for end of year fundraising

March 14, 2017October 9, 2015 by bgerstein

As we approach the end of year, nonprofits are in the process of getting their house in order so that they can take advantage of the surge in fundraising that’s about to come. Last year, according to Network for Good, non profits raised slightly more than 30 percent of their entire year’s fundraising in December.

One of my clients (which shall remain nameless) has been making improvements throughout the year which will hopefully bear fruit at this critical time of year.

Here are several mistakes of note that needed to be fixed and how we went about doing it.

Sending only one email per month:
Most of us already feel bombarded by emails, but sending only one email per month makes it difficult to stay front of mind. While the organization in question has limited staff resources, they are now sending one email per week on average. One way they were able to do this easily is by sending upcoming event emails which are easy to draft. Prior to this they simply listed all events in their monthly newsletter.

Google Adwords tricks of the trade – part II

March 14, 2017June 11, 2015 by Brett Gerstein

Continuing with my tips on Google Adwords, today I explain what you need to know once you have completed the initial campaign set up process as described in part one. The following pertains to display advertising which shows ads on the millions of websites Google has partnered with through its network.

Targeting
One thing you should be aware of is that there are different targeting options which determine who your ads will,be shown to. You can target websites based on keywords, topics, interests, and demographics. Google then determines which sites to show your ads on based on what you specified. You can also choose individual websites (called placements on Google) where you specify exactly what websites you want your ad to appear on.

The Google display planner can help you determine which sites to target based on a relevant term you enter. For example, if your organization focused on disaster relief, you would enter that term and the display planner would provide a list of keywords, topics, interests and demographics you might consider targeting. Look these over carefully since only you know what’s relevant.

Google Adwords tricks of the trade – part I

March 14, 2017February 1, 2015 by Brett Gerstein

With year-end fundraising officially over I thought I would share some insights from the various Google Adwords campaigns I manage for my non-profit clients.

There a few things you should know upfront. First, the campaigns were run on Google’s paid advertising platform — not Google Grants.

Also, my tips are based both on my experiences and calls placed to Google Adwords. Many people don’t know this but you can call Google directly at 866-246-6457 and they will answer any questions you have with hardly any wait time.

In part one I explain things to be aware of during the set-up process in order to get optimal results. So let’s get started.

3 tips for finding keywords for Google Adwords campaigns

January 12, 2016November 16, 2014 by Brett Gerstein

When trying to identify keywords for your Google Adwords campaign does it sometimes feel like a shot in the dark? Fortunately, Google provides several solutions that can clear up the process so your ads will be found by the right people.

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Tip: how to acquire emails for your organization for free

March 14, 2017June 3, 2014 by Brett Gerstein

Are you looking for new ways to acquire emails for your organization for free?

One effective way I’ve found is to piggy back on trending news items and creating a blog post and action around it.

Here is how we did it for one of my clients.

Three tips for improving an email welcome series

March 14, 2017March 10, 2014 by Brett Gerstein

For anyone considering an email welcome series I have some tips on how to make it better.

Let’s say you are a cancer organization and you want to gather more information about your supporters after they have subscribed to your newsletter. Here’s what you can do:

My inside view of the Justine Sacco incident

January 12, 2016January 6, 2014 by Brett Gerstein

One of the most thrilling moments in my professional career occurred right before the holidays. On December 20th my client – Aid for Africa – was linked with the Justine Sacco debacle.

If you haven’t heard, Justine Sacco, a prominent public-relations executive, was boarding a flight from London to Cape Town, South Africa when she tweeted “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” For 24 hours, #HasJustineLandedYet was the number one trending topic on Twitter. Soon after, an anonymous supporter registered the domain justinesacco.com and forwarded it to Aid for Africa’s donate page providing Aid for Africa with the type of publicity small non-profits only dream of.

A better way to engage facebook fans

March 14, 2017December 20, 2013 by Brett Gerstein

I recently discovered Action Sprout which is a social engagement tool for Facebook. So far I’ve really liked it. It provides your fans with additional ways to engage with your posts other than like, comment, and share. You create the campaign on Action Sprout and then link to it from your Facebook post. They offer over 30 … Read more