subject: Googles One-stop Shop For Nonprofits: What Are Google Grants? [print this page] Google Grants are part of the Google for Nonprofits program aimed to help nonprofit organizations achieve their goals. Google Grants have helped over 6,000 organizations by promoting their websites via free advertising on Google. Once an applicant is accepted, they receive an online advertising account of up to $10,000 a month to spend on Google Adwords. The ads can be used in a variety of ways, from general outreach to fundraising and recruiting volunteers. Google Grants have proved to be immensely helpful for nonprofits. Using Googles advertising program, UNICEFs ecommerce site experienced a 43 percent increase in sales, and childrens charity CoachArt saw a 60 to 70 percent increase in volunteers. To take part in Google Grants, complete the all-in-one application form at Google for Nonprofits.
Qualified nonprofits spend their monthly issued allowance by opening a Google Grants Adwords account to create and monitor text ads. By creating relevant ads and choosing the best keywords, nonprofits can draw increased traffic to their websites. Google insists on these basic rules:
1) You must have a website, and your ads must link to a page on your website.
2) The keywords you target must be relevant to your programs and services.
3) Your website cannot display revenue generating ads, such as Google AdSense or affiliate advertising links, while participating in Google Grants.
4) The on-going, active management of your advertising campaign is your organizations responsibility once your account is active.
Note that grantees remain in the Google Grants program so long as their account is active and they adhere to guidelines, so it is important to continue monitoring and making the most of the online advertising benefit. A trick to making the most of the $10,000 per month advertising budget is to set the maximum bid to $1 per keyword and the daily budget to the maximum $330. To reach your target audience, choose specific ad text and keywords. You can use the Google Adwords keyword tool to generate suggestions. Go after long tail keywords that have less competition. Track your performance on your AdWords account to see how many clicks, donations, newsletter signups, and volunteer registrations youve attained. It is important to monitor performance regularly so you can remove or edit poorly performing keywords.
Blue Interactive Agency offering a wide range of interactive marketing services including search engine optimization, email marketing, and link building strategies, Blue gives companies the tools they need to successfully promote their programs. For more tips on how to use Google Adwords or for any online marketing questions, call us at 954-779-2801.
