The New AdWords Interface
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You may have noticed the new AdWords interface when working in your Google Grants account. It should feel faster, clearer and more intuitive and we hope its making it easier for you to navigate your account and make changes on the spot.Read More
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You may have noticed the new AdWords interface when working in your Google Grants account. It should feel faster, clearer and more intuitive and we hope its making it easier for you to navigate your account and make changes on the spot.
If you'd like to read periodic in-depth coverage about different aspects of the new interface, hop on over to the AdWords blog on Thursdays (or subscribe to its RSS feed) for the weekly installment of New Interface Thursdays. The blog posts will cover all kinds of helpful information about the interface and how you can use it to more effectively manage your AdWords account.
So far, they've covered:
Videos and resources on the new AdWords interface website
Using keyboard shortcuts
Using filters
If you run across something that you think would be uniquely useful for Grantees, please feel free to start up a conversation in the Google Grants Discussion Forum and share it with your fellow Grantees and non-profits.
If you want to try the new interface, but don't have access yet, you can sign up from the new interface website. During the beta, you can switch between old and new interfaces, so you'll still have access to the full range of AdWords tools and reports, if needed.
Posted by Jessica Vaughan, Google Grants Team
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Google Grants Survey
Is this survey really from Google Grants?
Yes. The survey sent out today (4/28/2009) is from our team and is not a phishing attempt. Please note that the Google Grants team will never ask you for your account password or credit card information.
How do I know if my response was received?
Once you have successfully submitted your survey, you should reach a thank you page with the following message: "Thank you for taking the time to complete our survey, your response has now been submitted." If you did not receive this confirmation message after clicking 'Submit', we ask that you resubmit your survey.
Posted by German Freiwald, The Google Grants Team
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Grantee Best Practices, Rock the Vote
Last year's elections represented a big moment in American history, and for one of our grantees, Rock the Vote, it also represented an opportunity to reach a new segment of young tech-savvy voters. By making the most of seasonality, educating themselves on the tools at hand and setting strategic goals, Rock the Vote was able to engage an important target audience and leverage their Google Grant to successfully incite young people to vote. We're excited to share some of their best practices with you here.
Know your audience and keep messaging timely
Focus your budget to reach engaged users
- Rock the Vote created state‐specific ad campaigns to focus on gaining exposure in battleground states.
- Rock the Vote only advertised on "voter registration"-related search keywords because those were more relevant to their strategy, even though keywords like "barack obama" or "john mccain" would have generated a lot of traffic. They kept these indirect keywords on pause in case their highly targeted keywords stopped maxing out.
- In the final months before the election, Rock the Vote only used their “register before the deadline” ad and paused everything else.
Leveraging Google Analytics and AdWords
Own the success of your program and do some analysis of its performance to develop your online strategy
- Rock the Vote appointed a volunteer to manage the campaign who then spent a few weeks analyzing results from the previous months in order to plan their program.
- They then reviewed the training materials provided in the AdWords Learning Center to understand the fundamentals of search engine advertising. The Google Grants Beginner's Guide can also be a helpful resource for getting started with your account.
- Based on the analysis they did at the outset of the project, they set a campaign goal for youth downloads and then proceeded to meet that target almost exactly. Because they also equated each download to Grant dollars, they were able to track their results to find that, in the course of the campaign, they reduced their dollar per download (or cost per conversion) by 80%. Some examples of the goals resulting from their new plan were: train staff, track downloads, increase funding, optimize website, target ads and evaluate progress.
- Three searches alone accounted for 81% of their total search campaign, with about 150 other keyword combinations contributing to the remaining 19% of searches. Knowing what keywords your visitors use to find your site helps you optimize your campaigns. Add irrelevant terms (example: "American Idol") as negatives in your campaigns or give more budget to highly relevant and popular terms (example: "register to vote online"). You can use either Google Trends for this information or the Keywords report in Google Analytics.
- Linking analytics directly to your AdWords account provides more accurate business intelligence and allows you to correlate your Grant dollars to your org's strategic goals.
Rock the Vote uses music, popular culture and new technologies to engage and incite young people to register and vote in every election. Rock the Vote has been a participant in the Google Grants program since 2007 and uses Google Analytics as part of its online marketing program.
If you have your own best practices or experiences 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 forum and possibly submit your testimonial to our team.
Posted by Jessica Vaughan, Google Grants Team
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Michigan Nonprofits and the Googlers Who Love Them
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I've been a
Despite these troubles, or perhaps because of them, it's easy to spot promising initiatives within our community. These bright lights are non-profit organizations that power through the trying times and aim not only to put some life back into our economy, but to grow the next generation of Michiganders into creative, thoughtful and socially conscious adults.
826michigan is one of these bright lights in our
In college, I helped 826michigan with various projects and volunteered at odd hours. But after graduating and finding a job, it became more difficult for me to find time to man their Robot Supply & Repair Store (a clever storefront facade that camouflages the tutoring sessions that happen in the back) and support their in-school initiatives. I didn't realize at the time that I might be able to marry aspects of my new job to the nonprofit initiatives I cared about - and then I discovered Google Grants.
When I first started at Google, I was awed and inspired by the company's dedication to non-profit work. Google highlighted ways we could participate in our local communities, coordinated weekend volunteer off-sites and offered non-profit organizations free advertising through Google Grants. Like most Googlers, I had a heart for non-profit work and couldn't wait to get involved with Google Grants.
It came full circle earlier this year when organizers from 826michigan approached me to ask how their organization might forge a closer relationship with Google. I introduced them to the Google Grants program, and they immediately applied. Google Grants opened the door for me to reconnect with my favorite local organization in a significant and meaningful way. And who knows? Maybe I'll find a couple hours on the weekend to sell spare robot parts.
Posted by Elyse Guilfoyle, Ann Arbor AdWords Team
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I've been a
Despite these troubles, or perhaps because of them, it's easy to spot promising initiatives within our community. These bright lights are non-profit organizations that power through the trying times and aim not only to put some life back into our economy, but to grow the next generation of Michiganders into creative, thoughtful and socially conscious adults.
826michigan is one of these bright lights in our
In college, I helped 826michigan with various projects and volunteered at odd hours. But after graduating and finding a job, it became more difficult for me to find time to man their Robot Supply & Repair Store (a clever storefront facade that camouflages the tutoring sessions that happen in the back) and support their in-school initiatives. I didn't realize at the time that I might be able to marry aspects of my new job to the nonprofit initiatives I cared about - and then I discovered Google Grants.
When I first started at Google, I was awed and inspired by the company's dedication to non-profit work. Google highlighted ways we could participate in our local communities, coordinated weekend volunteer off-sites and offered non-profit organizations free advertising through Google Grants. Like most Googlers, I had a heart for non-profit work and couldn't wait to get involved with Google Grants.
It came full circle earlier this year when organizers from 826michigan approached me to ask how their organization might forge a closer relationship with Google. I introduced them to the Google Grants program, and they immediately applied. Google Grants opened the door for me to reconnect with my favorite local organization in a significant and meaningful way. And who knows? Maybe I'll find a couple hours on the weekend to sell spare robot parts.
Posted by Elyse Guilfoyle, Ann Arbor AdWords Team
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Resource round-up for April
- Get information about the earthquake in Italy and the organizations helping in the relief efforts. (English) (Italian)
- Learn how to use a variety of Google's products to benefit your organization in this free NTEN webinar on 4/27/09.
- Follow along with the new AdWords series that will share tips on how to use Google Analytics to improve your AdWords results.
- New York's Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, announced an expansion of loan opportunities intended to help the city's non-profits find donors and reduce costs during the recession.
- Share your public service announcements via YouTube to increase awareness of your organization and encourage donations. Cute animals not required.
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 Vaughan, Google Grants Team
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URGENT: Safe practices for accessing your Google Grants account
- Be careful about responding to emails that ask you for sensitive information.
- Go to the site yourself, rather than clicking on links in suspicious emails.
- If you're on a site that's asking you to enter sensitive information, check for signs of anything suspicious.
- Be wary of the "fabulous offers" and "fantastic prizes" that you'll sometimes come across on the web.
- Use a browser that has a phishing filter.
- Be careful about responding to emails that ask you for sensitive information.
- Go to the site yourself, rather than clicking on links in suspicious emails.
- If you're on a site that's asking you to enter sensitive information, check for signs of anything suspicious.
- Be wary of the "fabulous offers" and "fantastic prizes" that you'll sometimes come across on the web.
- Use a browser that has a phishing filter.
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charity:water, a YouTube Nonprofit, Raises $10,000 for Clean Water Using Ad Overlay
Last week, we launched a new feature for all YouTube nonprofit partners, which allows them to do exactly that. The feature, called "Call to Action," gives nonprofits the ability to use InVideo overlays (transparent ads that show up during the video) to drive traffic to an off-YouTube web page. Already, we're seeing organizations use the feature with great success.
On Sunday, to commemorate World Water Day, we featured a video from charity:water on the YouTube homepage. The video included a Call to Action overlay that encouraged YouTube users to donate money to help build wells and provide clean, safe drinking water for those who don't have it.
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The response from the YouTube community was overwhelming and charity:water was able to raise over $10,000 in one day from the video. That's enough to build two brand-new wells in the Central African Republic and give over 150 people clean drinking water for 20 years!
Interested in adding Call to Action overlays to your organization's videos? It's easy -- just go to "Edit Video" and fill out the fields in the section marked "Call to Action overlay." All you have to do is include a short headline, ad text, a destination url, and upload an optional image, and the overlay will appear whenever someone watches your video.
Posted by Ramya Raghavan, YouTube Team
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Google Grants turns 6!
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On our last birthday, we took you on a little trip down memory lane and shared the history of Google Grants. This year we'd like to take this opportunity to share our vision for the future of Grants, and how you can become more closely connected with the program and your peers.Read More
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On our last birthday, we took you on a little trip down memory lane and shared the history of Google Grants. This year we'd like to take this opportunity to share our vision for the future of Grants, and how you can become more closely connected with the program and your peers.
Posted by Jessica Vaughan, Google Grants Team
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