Posted by Jessica, Google Grants Team Read More

Before the year comes to a close, we wanted to share some of our proudest 2008 moments with you and wish your organization a safe and joyous holiday season.

We're growing up! In April, we celebrated our fifth birthday with over 4,000 non-profit organizations, 700 Googler volunteers and more than 20 countries worldwide. Thinking back to when the program launched in 2003, with only a few organizations and a vision of extending the power of AdWords to the non-profit community, it sure does feel like we've come a long way.

Another piece of our program's initial goal was the ability to offer AdWords grants worldwide. To that end, we worked hard this year to launch Google Grants in eight new countries and territories -- China, Israel, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico, Austria and Belgium.

We then spent a good part of the year implementing the technology at our fingertips by launching the Google Grants Blog and Help Forum, enabling us to better share our webinar series, tracking tips, success stories and other helpful information on a broader scale with grantees and the greater non-profit community.

Just a short while later in October, we also unveiled our new website. We're hoping this new site, with its improved navigation and dynamic content, will help us tie together the technology, information and community resources we're striving to develop for the benefit of your organizations.

It's been a busy year, with more excitement to come in the next 12 months. We're looking forward to kicking back with a a hot mug of cocoa to reflect on the year's accomplishments and begin cooking up more program improvements for you and your organization in 2009.

Cheers to the new year!

Posted by Jessica, Google Grants Team

The holidays bring much joy, but this year, they may also bring uncertainty for those feeling the affects of this economic downturn. Wallets are a little tighter this year, so it's important to remember that there are other ways to ‘give’ without getting a large credit card bill come January.Read More

The holidays bring much joy, but this year, they may also bring uncertainty for those feeling the affects of this economic downturn. Wallets are a little tighter this year, so it's important to remember that there are other ways to ‘give’ without getting a large credit card bill come January.

For me, working with Google Grants gives me the chance to see firsthand that many organizations, like yours, are doing great things for our world by giving attention to those in need. Each day, you encourage people to give what they can to help those less fortunate, which is an ideal that many of us remember during the holidays, but something you all act upon year round.

I have been a volunteer with the Google Grants program since October 2007, helping with application reviews, activating grantee accounts and alerting organizations of their acceptance into the Google Grants program. Beyond the Grants program, I have volunteered in a local elementary school's first grade classroom to help promote workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Last Christmas, I volunteered along side other Googlers wrapping and sorting gifts for underprivileged children, and will do the same this year. During my time as a student at Vanderbilt University, I volunteered weekly in a preschool classroom in a low-income area of Nashville, TN. All of these activities were valuable and rewarding experiences that didn't come with a hefty bill, but rather, enabled me to give something back to the organization, their constituents and the community.

Based on my experiences, this was proof that the gift of time can be a meaningful and valuable one.

Working with Google Grants gives me the opportunity to see that one thing has remained the same despite the economic downturn: People are still helping people. People are still doing great things. All of you are working hard to make the world a better place, and that is the true spirit of the season.

Posted by Betsy, Mountain View Google TV Ads Team & Google Grants Volunteer

Our resource round-up for December includes tips for staying in touch with donors, open registration information for NTEN's next conference, an invite to join our new discussion group, ways to use YouTube for different initiatives, a list of 12 fundraising strategies created specifically for times of recession and more.Read More

Our resource round-up for December includes tips for staying in touch with donors, open registration information for NTEN's next conference, an invite to join our new discussion group, ways to use YouTube for different initiatives, a list of 12 fundraising strategies created specifically for times of recession and more.

• One non-profit volunteer summarizes a Salesforce.com Foundation's conference and provides some tips for staying in touch with donors, references for measuring success and an overall summary of the day's events.
  
  
• NTEN.org is now accepting registrations for their 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference in San Francisco.
  
  
• Check out the new Google Grants Help Forum to get involved with the greater Grants community, ask questions of your fellow grantees or just get information about how other non-profits are using AdWords.
  
  
• Organizations are using their YouTube Channels to promote activism, challenge stereotypes, raise awareness, speak out against violence and raise funds. Could your organization use of any of these strategies to further your mission? If so, check out the YouTube for Non-Profits program today!
  
  
• How do you find the link to Google Grants? Google it. This MBA student summarizes the simplicity of applying for a grant and the benefits of the program.
  
  
• Graham-Pelton, a fundraising consulting firm, released a list of 12 fundraising strategies (pdf) for nonprofits to use during recession that may make a difference for your organization. One of the strategies they noted, "Keep those you know close", really hit home for me as I've seen organizations with whom I communicate frequently, using some of these tactics with grace and efficacy. Even just the quick, but personal, handwritten "Thank you!" on a donation receipt can go a long way.
  

If you come across resources that would be useful to the greater non-profit community, feel free to post it to the appropriate topic in our Help Group so that everyone can benefit. If there are some resources you'd like to see featured in these round-ups, let us know. If you'd like to review previous round-ups, just click here and read through previous month's round-ups or search for "resource round-up" from the search box at the top of the page.

Posted by Jessica, Google Grants Team

Gather your website goals and recent learnings and let's walk through how to use Google Website Optimiser to test changes to your site.

Step 1.
The first step is to sign into your ...Read More

Gather your website goals and recent learnings and let's walk through how to use Google Website Optimiser to test changes to your site.

Step 1.
The first step is to sign into your Google AdWords account. Once signed in you should see a link for Website Optimiser in the primary menu.


Step 2.
Next you will see an introductory page to Google Website Optimiser. Click on the get started button.


Step 3.
Next you will be asked to select a location and timezone, select whatever applies to your region.


Step 4.
You will need to agree to the terms and conditions for Google Website Optimiser.


Step 5.
You will now be presented with the Experiment List page. This page shows you all the experiments you are running or have previously run. Since this is the first time you have used Google Website Optimiser there isn't anything running yet.

Congratulations, you now have access to Google Website Optimiser tool.

That concludes part 3 of the series. In the next part we will cover implementing Website Optimiser and show you some examples of installing it on different types of websites (including those using content management systems). Stay tuned.

Posted by Gavin, Dublin AdWords Team

Posted by Handy Annie, The Google Grants Team Read More

The Google Grants team would like to cordially invite you to the opening of our new Google Grants Help Forum. 

We hope that by now you've found the Google Grants Help Group to be an outlet to ask questions and share tips with other nonprofits. We've been listening to your feedback about features you'd like to see in the Help Group, and we're excited to announce that we're moving from Google Groups to a brand new platform.

As of today, we've moved the the new Forum next door to the Google Grants Help Center.  In this new platform we have some extra things we hope you'll really like: a system of levels to reward your contributions to the Forum, and profiles where you can put a picture next to your name. You can subscribe to the Forum (or to individual discussions) by RSS feed. You can post a question and receive your answer by email. You can even vote on which response best answers the question and mark a best answer to a question you asked. 

We hope you'll come take a look, and we hope you'll stay a while, sign into your Google Account, and ask and answer questions.

Posted by Handy Annie, The Google Grants Team

Thinking back to our last post in this series , we walked through a few goals you might consider for your organisation's site. Whether you're considering testing your site to increase donations or awareness, there are a variety of configurations for Google Website Optimiser to help you achieve your goals.Read More

Thinking back to our last post in this series , we walked through a few goals you might consider for your organisation's site. Whether you're considering testing your site to increase donations or awareness, there are a variety of configurations for Google Website Optimiser to help you achieve your goals.

Google Website Optimiser can be configured to allow you to make radical or subtle changes to your website.

Q. So how do I know what to change and how radical should the changes be?

A. Every website is different, however if your conversion rates are relatively low, for example less than 1%, you could probably benefit from more radical changes. If your conversion rates are higher, perhaps 5-10%, you should probably start with more subtle changes.

Q. Does Google Website Optimiser suggest changes for me to make?

A. No, Google Website Optimiser takes variations provided by you and tests different combinations of all these variations for you. For example, you might try two variations of your headline and three variations of images of your offerings, and Website Optimiser will create the six possible combinations. At the end of your test, you'll see reports for each combination. Also each variation is given a score based on how much it impacted your conversion rate.

Q. Why should I use Google Website Optimiser, can't I just make changes to my website and see if conversion rates improve?

A. Google Website Optimiser saves you the effort of manually recording and reporting on what changes have the biggest impact. You also get to test several design changes simultaneously. This is particularly beneficial if you are running advertising campaigns and targeting visitors through paid search such as Google AdWords. There is also the possibility that your "improvements" may actually lower conversion rates. When you use a tool like Google Website Optimiser, you be able to see if your changes are actually helping your site.

Two Ways to Start Testing

1.) A/B testing - Test two different versions of a single page on your website. Perhaps you want to try a two-column layout as opposed to a three-column layout as you feel it's a less cluttered design. Or maybe you want to see if moving your call to action items above the fold (the visible area of the screen before a user has to scroll down the page) to see if it has a stronger impact on conversions? Or maybe you want to try a whole new colour scheme?

Page Version A


Page Version B

Note: Version B has no image and the donate button has been moved.

A/B testing can be a little more involved because you will need to create two different versions of the pages you wish to test. However, if you already have a new page created, as part of a site redesign perhaps, setting up an A/B test is very quick. If you do decide to create a new page with a new layout, remember to test that the new version works as expected across other web browsers.

2.) Multivariate testing - Using the same webpage, you can try variations of different sections of your page. For each section (i.e. headline, call to action button, product image, etc.) Google Website Optimiser lets you test different variations. For example you could use new wording in your page headline or test two different call to action buttons.

As you can see from the image above. You can test things like which button works best, which headline is important, and what image on your page works best.

One of the best things about using Google Website Optimiser and is that you do not need to create any additional pages for your website. Google Website Optimiser automatically inserts variations to the page as specified by you and records the conversion rate for each variation on your site.

Further Example:
You create a webpage but want to test a new headline, two different call to action buttons and two slightly different images. So on one page you have three areas that can be changed.

Total Combinations = 2 headlines x 3 call to action buttons x 2 images = 12 web pages you would have to create.

However using Google Website Optimiser you only need to make changes to 1 page on your website.

Google Website Optimiser Features
One of the best features is that Google Website Optimiser measures which changes and elements on your pages are making the biggest difference and which combination of all these elements is working the best for you in terms of conversion.


The above report shows which changes to your page have the biggest impact on conversion rates.

Section 2 shows that variation 2 has a 11.9% improvement in conversion rate over the original design and variation 1 has a 0.26% improved conversion rate over the original. The tool also indicates that variation 2 has a 99.8% chance of beating the original version.

Section 3 shows that variation 1 had the biggest impact with 15.2% increase in conversion rate. Given the data collected by Google Website Optimiser it is confident that this has the best chance to beat the original version. Variation 3 and 2 also showed improvements over the original design. There is a strong chance that all variations will beat the original design and this is indicated in the column chance to beat all.

Section 1 shows that the original version performed better than variation 1. The red shows a drop in conversion of -3.71%. The original shows a gray bar to indicate no improvement.

Although not shown in the table above, you can view the best combination of all 3 sections to see the ideal conversion page. You may be surprised by the results!

In the next part of the series, we'll go over how you can start using Google Website Optimiser for your organisation. Take some time before, "Part 3: How do I use Google Website Optimiser," to walk through the different configurations for Google Website Optimiser and get to know the tool before deciding which is right for your organisation's website goals.

Posted by Gavin, Dublin AdWords Team

Learnings

• Quality of visitors from the Google Grants AdWords is higher, with ads showing more pageviews per visitor versus organic (non-ad) traffic
  

• Test new initiatives and content by setting up adgroups with few targeted keywords and tracking response via Analytics

Read More

National Public Radio has been an active participant in the Google Grants program for some time. During their participation in the program, they've developed some best practices and learnings that we thought would be helpful for other grantees, as well as other nonprofits using AdWords and Google Analytics outside of the Google Grants program.

We hope that you'll consider these tidbits as you manage your organization's marketing campaigns, whether you're involved in the Grants program or are running your campaigns separately.

Best practices for AdWords and Analytics

• Use AdWords conversion tracking data for bid management purposes

• Devote a few hours a week to reviewing trends and checking keyword performance in your analytics reports. The keyword report is helpful here, as is comparing date ranges on your important data points to uncover trends.

• Centralize marketing efforts to remain consistent across all messaging. (Example: If you solicit donations for a holiday pledge drive via mail, you can include your website address in that direct mail piece as well as have mirrored pledge drive language on the website.)
  
  

Learnings

• Quality of visitors from the Google Grants AdWords is higher, with ads showing more pageviews per visitor versus organic (non-ad) traffic
  

• Test new initiatives and content by setting up adgroups with few targeted keywords and tracking response via Analytics

National Public Radio (NPR) is a privately supported, not-for-profit membership organization that produces and distributes noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming. NPR has been a participant in the Google Grants program since 2003 and uses Google Analytics in conjunction with other analytics tools to track visitor data for its sites.

If you have your own best practices or learnings that you'd like to share with other grantees and nonprofits, we encourage you to strike up a conversation with other members in the Discussion Group and possibly submit your testimonial to our team.

Posted by Jessica, Google Grants Team