Tag: google adwords

How Nonprofits Can Benefit from Google Ad Grants

March 15, 2016

With AdWords, an online advertising solution from Google, nonprofits can receive Google ad grants upwards of $10,000 for monthly advertising to share their story with audiences all around the world and thus recruit more volunteers and bring in more donations.

Nonprofit organizations are working on changing the world – Google wants to help them do that.

Google_2015_logo.svgGoogle Ad Grants allows nonprofits organizations to reach out to the people who matter the most. This is done by showing search ads to those searching Google for nonprofits in similar fields. Google Ad Grants also allows the nonprofit to choose how near or how far to focus the ads. Google Ad Grants also makes it significantly easier for supporters to donate. A simplified experience makes it more likely for people to be willing to donate.

Once ads go live, nonprofits can use Google Analytics as well as conversion tracking in order to understanding how their ads are performing. These tools allow the organization to see what keywords are working or aren’t, which ads are driving the most donations or bringing in the most volunteers, etc. The answers to these questions will lead to much stronger and goal oriented ads.

The way it works is pretty simple. First, check to see if your nonprofit is eligible for Grantspro. With this program, if the nonprofit meets certain criteria, they can receive up to $40,000 in in-kind AdWords advertising every month. Just check out the Google Ad Grants success stories!

Then there are two options to choose from, AdWords Express is the program best suited for those who have limited time to manage a Google Ad Grants account, or AdWords which has the powerful tools needed to manage all aspects of a Google Ad Grants campaign.

Quick Facts about Google Grants for Nonprofits

  • Ads will be entirely text-based
  • Ads will only appear on Google search results pages
  • Ad campaigns must be keyword-targeted.
  • Maximum cost-per-click (CPC) will be $2.00
  • Grantees can receive $10,000 (or up to $40,000 for Grantspro participants) of in-kind AdWords advertising each month.

Contact Van West Media today to strategically develop and manage your nonprofit organization’s Google AdWords campaigns. 

To discover if your nonprofit is a fit for the Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits program, check out these great resources:

  1. https://www.google.com/grants/index.html
  2. http://googlefornonprofits.blogspot.com/

Finding Relevant Keywords For Your Website- DIY Style

July 27, 2012

Keywords rule the internet. You type them into search engines every time you look for something new and they’re practically the highlight of every SEO conversation. I talk about link building a lot and how you can use the keywords you have to create content that will give way to links from relevant websites. If you own a real estate company, you wouldn’t want your keywords to be about dating advice, would you? A site may link to your page because you wrote some valuable things about dating, but when it comes time to search for a real estate agency, the terms your customers use will not match up with your keywords.

My dating advice example is a bit extreme, but even keywords that seem relevant for real estate such as “apartment” or “house” may not work for you. For the small business, these words are too broad. These are merely the keywords you start with in order to build a much more relevant, detailed list of valuable keywords. When you come up with a list of these general terms, you can move on to finding specifics using tools like Google AdWords keyword tool (which is free!). If you need help finding general keywords, identify the terms your competitors are using or use your current analytics tools to learn which keywords customers are already using to find your site. It’s also important to use your own intuition at this stage. In the example I used, the top four keywords are a sample of general keywords used to describe a real estate company.

Once you have these keywords, you can move on to specifics. I used Google AdWords keyword tool to search for different combinations of the four general terms. Some of my searches are below.

Keyword search using all four general terms

 

Keyword search using a combination of two general terms

I started with all four keywords, but when I changed it to only include real estate and New York, it yielded a different set of keywords. Once you do this a bunch of times, you can get an idea for what types of keywords would be perfect for you. When analyzing keyword results on AdWords, keep in mind that words with low competition are often too general to realistically use. For example, New York City has low competition for real estate because people who use this search term can be interested in a wide variety of topics. It’s also important to note that keywords that yield a high volume of searches are not always the best ones to go for. Try some with less monthly searches to serve a niche audience.

In my example, you can see that the keywords below the general four are some of the combinations I found using Google AdWords keyword tool. You may feel overwhelmed by the amount of keywords you find, so it’s important to flesh out the best ones and identify them as priority keywords. Once you have these, you can begin to use them on relevant pages on your site. Map out the best places to insert these keywords and include them in your online strategy.

If you’re having a hard time finding valuable keywords, you can run a pay per click campaign using Google AdWords to quickly test combinations that may work. This will cost you, though it may prove useful in the long run. PPC campaigns are a great way to test keywords, though it’s important to remember that testing is crucial no matter how you use your keywords. It’s important to note which keywords are performing better than others and adjust your strategy as you go.