For Nonprofits Blog
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OMG, it's the OMG!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Last March, we announced that we would be requiring all US grantees to
actively manage
their accounts. In a couple of months we will be extending this requirement to all of our
grantees worldwide
. To help grantees better learn how to manage their accounts, we are happy to announce that we have created an
Ongoing Management Guide
(OMG).
Let's take quick look at what the OMG includes:
Account Overview:
In this section, grantees are given a quick tour of their account. This may be especially helpful for current account administrators who did not initially build their account themselves.
Basic Management:
In this section, grantees are shown how to schedule automatic reports and how to make use of the data in those reports as quickly and easily as possible. Account management has never been easier!
Intermediate Management:
This section is for grantees that would like to
evaluate the success of their campaigns
based on specific online goals (for example, which keyword is fueling the greatest number of newsletter signups). Here, youʼll learn how to implement
AdWords Conversion Tracking
, which enables you to identify which keywords and ads are leading to the valuable actions taken on your site.
Advanced Management:
This section is for grantees who are considering using Google Analytics. If youʼre looking for further insight into how users find and interact with your site, you may want to consider implementing
Google Analytics
. Weʼve included a quiz in this section to help you decide
if Google Analytics is for you
.
We hope each of you download your own copy of the OMG today!
Posted by German Freiwald, The Google Grants Team
Climate Change in Google Earth
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Google recently released the first in a series of
Google Earth
tours called
Climate Change in Google Earth
in the lead up to the
UN Conference of Parties 15 meeting in Copenhagen
in December. The first tour released, Confronting Climate Change narrated by Al Gore, presents scientific data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change alongside temperature rise models, precipitation change, water stress, food scarcity, sea level rise, and much more. In the first of this series of tours, learn about the mitigation techniques and adaptation strategies people around the world are confronting.
Tropical deforestation is one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide, and much of this is from burning down rainforests for agriculture or cattle grazing. In the next tours released as part of the series, the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International have created Google Earth tours from two unique areas in the world where they have successfully helped local communities avoid deforestation or start reforestation projects -- in Borneo and Madagascar. Meanwhile, Greenpeace worked together with large multinational corporations in the food industry to initiate a mutually agreed-upon ban on soybean plantations, one of the primary causes of Amazon deforestation.
View the tours at
www.google.com/cop15
. Get involved at
youtube.com/cop15
.
Posted by Tanya Keen, Google Earth Outreach Team
Workshop Grantee Best Practices: National Public Radio
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
As we've done for the past several weeks, today we are highlighting another speaker from our recent
Google Grants Workshop
. Today, we'll hear best practices and strategies from
National Public Radio (NPR)
, a
Google Grants
recipient and
Google Analytics
user that provides non-commercial news and cultural programming. Javaun Moradi, who manages digital media at NPR, shares some tips below which have led to his organization's success with their Google Grant for AdWords advertising. He encourages other non-profits to put these strategies to work for their own organizations.
* Discuss your campaign goals up front (increased donations, volunteer registrations, newsletter subscribers, etc.) and set a measurement plan to track these goals.
* Regularly discuss AdWords with stakeholders in your organization. Coordinate the use of AdWords with other marketing campaigns, special events, and PR.
* Experiment often. This means experimenting within an ad group (changing keywords, ad copy, or bids) to achieve greater efficiency. But don't be complacent optimizing what you already have. Dedicate some time to experimenting with new campaigns and objectives as well.
Javaun also shares this valuable point for new grantees:
* Be sure you have a firm understanding of your organization's business before jumping in. To be effective with AdWords, there is a requisite level of knowledge about campaign creation, management, and measurement, which you can learn about in the
Google Grants Help Center
and other online resources. Without a clear understanding of your business, articulated goals, and a plan to measure your progress, it's much more challenging.
We hope you've found Javaun's insights helpful in thinking about your own Google Grants account. For more from Javaun and our other panelists, watch the recording of the session from the workshop
here
. You can also check out all of the other recordings from the Google Grants Workshop on
our YouTube channel
. Finally, feel free to share your own experiences using these and other best practices on the
Google Grants User Forum
.
Posted by Kristie Ferketich, Google Grants Team
Workshop Grantee Best Practices: Elder Wisdom Circle
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
This week's speaker recap from the
Google Grants Workshop
is courtesy of
The Elder Wisdom Circle
. The Elder Wisdom Circle is an online inter-generational program connecting young people seeking advice on life with seniors ages 60-100 with wisdom to share. Doug Meckelson, founder of the EWC, had the following to say when asked to share tips and best practices for achieving success in the Google Grants program:
Take time to learn about your account, how it works, what tools are available. When we first started I would log-in multiple times each day to tweak and adjust.
Look at your ads from the visitor point of view: is your ad is enticing them to click? Does the page they land on and the content they see after clicking on your ad make sense? Just having someone click into your site is not the end goal, creating some form of action usually is.
Negative keywords are invaluable. We do not offer any type of medical, tax, legal or investment advice and early on we burned up quite a bit of resources dealing with advice-seekers we could not help.
The message is pretty simple and that is to take the time to understand how things work. In the end this one little tool allowed us to reach the correct audience.
You can also check out all of the other recordings from the Google Grants Workshop on
our YouTube channel
. Also, feel free to share your own experiences using these and other best practices on the
Google Grants User Forum
.
Posted by AnnMarie Hill, The Google Grants Team
Your best keyword forward
Thursday, October 1, 2009
When creating an AdWords campaign for your charity, it's very important to organise your account so that there is a distinct relationship and correlation between the keywords you select and the ads that run against them on Google.com. As you build your account, you may
generate a large number of keywords
that you think people will search for or associate with your organisation.
Once this list has been created, try to put the keywords into groups of around 10 to 30
based on
common themes
. The numbers aren't really important; it's more important that the keywords are grouped according to on concise themes, product offerings, etc. and aren't overly generic or broad in their meaning.
Your keywords will trigger your ad on Google. Therefore, once you have a tightly-themed group of keywords, you should
write around 3 to 4 ad variations
that reflect the theme of the
ad group
. This ensures that when someone enters one of your keywords as a search query on Google.com, your ad that's related to the keyword(s) the user entered will be eligible to appear. This is the ideal situation, because if your ad satisfies the need of the person who performed the search, they'll be in turn, more likely to click on your ad and then visit your site, which is the ultimate goal of your campaign.
Repeat this process of creating ad text and relevant keyword groups until you've covered all the key areas of your site. It is also vital that you send people to the the most relevant part of your site via your
destination URL
. For example, if your ad and the keyword that triggered it is about giving donations, you should direct users to the page within your website about how to contribute donations.
If you have any trouble generating keywords, you can try
the keyword tool
to find new ideas.
Some key points to note are:
Keep ad groups small and tightly themed.
Choose keywords and ads that match and follow a single theme.
Send traffic to the appropriate part of the site that matches the ad group theme.
Use the keyword tool to generate related keyword ideas.
Posted by
Barney Durrant, London Sales Team
Pre-Campaign Strategy In the Pre-Season
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Just three weeks ago, schools resumed session and
AdWords in the Curriculum
embarked on a new semester. With a portfolio including a Google Grantee's site, mission statement and contact information, students are faced with the familiar question invoked by any assignment: where to begin?
The
holiday season
at the end of the calendar year is well known as the busiest time for both charitable donations to non-profits and sales for profit companies. Identifying strategic goals in September will lead to better outcomes in an end-of-year assessment of marketing success.
The most important place to start for any Google Grants recipient is deciding on campaign goals -- not keywords. What should the advertising accomplish? How will it improve your organization's exposure, and what audience are you trying to reach?
Starting a campaign without answering these important initial questions can lead to a hodgepodge of keywords, ad groups and ad texts that attempt to cram an entire mission into unstructured campaigns, potentially ineffective ads, and longer term struggles with determining whether the campaign is working.
After a set of goals are established, the next step is to determine
a success metric to track
. Is there a particular page that would be valuable for users to reach? Or is there an online conversion such as a donation, purchase or information request that you'd like to achieve? Determining success metrics will help non-profits determine whether the campaign is bearing fruit, or if it needs further refinement. This is especially relevant for campaigns that will run during the busy holiday season when you want to ensure your advertising is as effective as possible.
When creating your first AdWords campaign, also consider using the recommended steps available on the the
'Solutions for your advertising campaign'
page to help generate ideas.
The work of both becoming experts in the AdWords program and helping with Google Grants recipients manage accounts and meet their goals is now underway for AdWords in the Curriculum students. Stay tuned for an end-of-semester update that will spotlight high performing AdWords in the Curriculum accounts for local non-profits in Michigan.
Posted by Anita Varma, Google Ann Arbor
Workshop Grantee Best Practices: Direct Relief International
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
In this week's speaker recap from
last month's workshop
, we highlight
Direct Relief International
, a long-time Google Grants participant. Alison Joyce, Online Communications Manager at Direct Relief International, joined our grantee panel to share her organization's experiences using their Google Grant over the years.
Here are several helpful strategies Alison offers to fellow grantees:
* Identify your organization's goals for your Google Grant early on, but also be flexible in adjusting your goals over time. For example, Direct Relief International was initially only focused on awareness with their grant, but later expanded their goals to program outreach and donation solicitation.
* Realize that the more time you put into your account, the more you get out of it! Be active with your account, blocking off time in your calendar each week (even 30 minutes) to refine keywords and improve ads with low
CTRs
.
* Don't be afraid to delete poor-performing keywords and ads, as they will drag your account down. Less is more here, as you improve your site traffic.
* Integrate your AdWords account into your overall communications planning, as this will push you to make time for it and have a sense of accountability for its performance. Treat it as a resource you are paying for.
* Incorporate other free
Google for Non-Profit
products into your online strategy: integrate Google Analytics and Google Checkout with AdWords and use other products like Google Maps and YouTube to further your mission.
For more best practices, you can watch Alison and the entire grantee panel
here
. You can also view all of the recordings from the workshop on the
Google Grants YouTube channel.
Over the next three weeks, we'll share more best practices from the other grantees on the panel. We hope that you benefit from the sharing of these strategies and that they help to make your Google Grant even more successful for your organization. See you next week!
Posted by Kristie Ferketich, Google Grants Team
How to Turn the Use of Negative Keywords to a Positive
Thursday, September 24, 2009
WHY ARE NEGATIVE KEYWORDS GOOD FOR YOUR CAMPAIGNS?
Negative keywords
can have a positive impact on your campaigns because they help you filter out irrelevant searches. When you include negative keywords, you're essentially requesting that the system does not show your ads against search queries containing those words. For example, if your organization works to prevent animal cruelty, you might want to add the keyword, adoption (-adoption) as a negative term. Why? Because you don't want your ads to show on queries such as "animal adoption" since you are not providing animal adoption services.
WHERE CAN I FIND NEGATIVE KEYWORDS TO ADD?
The
Keyword Tool
automatically gives you suggestions for negative terms, and the
Search Query Performance
report is another great way to find relevant negatives. The report shows all the various search queries that triggered your ads and generated a click. By reviewing these terms, you can identify any irrelevant keywords that trigger your ad and include them as negative keywords.
HOW DO I ADD NEGATIVE KEYWORDS?
Adding negatives is easy. You can manually
add negative keywords
to your keyword lists at both the ad group and campaign level. Simple add the irrelevant terms by placing a negative sign (–) before the word in your keyword list. Keep in mind that you can also add negatives as different match types. Here's how different negative match types work:
Negative Broad match:
keyword (no punctuation)
Allows your ad not to show for searches on similar phrases and relevant variations of the term. For example, if you add -"adoption," your ad will not show for animal adoption, pet adoptions, animal adopted.
Negative Phrase match: -
"keyword"
Allows your ad to not show for searches that match the exact phrase and terms that have the phrase in it for example if you add -"animal adoption" will not show for "animal adoption California."
Negative Exact match:
-[keyword]
Allows your ad to not show for searches that match the exact phrase exclusively.
By adding negative terms to your AdWords account, you ensure that you're spending your Google Grant only on relevant clicks and improving your account's overall performance. Here's a great video on
Negative Keywords
that provides more tips.
Posted by Sherry
Zarabi
, AdWords Team
Workshop Grantee Best Practices: Energy Action Coalition
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
This week's speaker recap from
our recent workshop
shines the spotlight on
Energy Action Coalition
, a non-profit organization using multiple
Google for Non-Profit products
. At the event, attendees heard Danny Marx, Internet Manager at Energy Action Coalition, share his experiences working with free Google products including YouTube, Google Apps, Google Sites and more.
Here are some best practices that Danny shared:
* Consider creating
YouTube videos
as a way to train volunteers
* Keep decentralized efforts in your organization coordinated with powerful tools like
Google Apps
* Stay current on news in your space with
Google Reader
and
Google Alerts
* Use
Google's mobile tools
to keep your information current, especially if you're out in the field
* Understand that the benefits of adopting Google tools often outweigh the temporary challenges of transitioning to them
* Be creative in using
Google for Non-Profit tools
in general; think about how they might help solve your organization's challenges
You can view Danny's entire presentation, including several amazing YouTube videos from his organization,
here
. Danny's slides are also available
here
. To watch other videos from the Google Grants Workshop, visit
our YouTube channe
l. We'll see you next Tuesday with more best practices from another non-profit using Google products.
Posted by Kristie Ferketich, Google Grants Team
Does your Spanish org want to be more Google Search-friendly?
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Attention all Spanish language NGOs: Would you like to receive advice about your website for Google Search?
The
Spanish Webmaster Blog
is looking for websites that might be good candidates for participation in an upcoming
Site Clinic
. These sites will be analyzed, and through a blog post write-up, receive tips and suggestions for improving accessibility and becoming more Google-friendly.
If you're interested in submitting your site for evaluation, visit the the original blog post for all the details about this
Site Clinic
and send us your site via the available form. The open submission period is between 9/15/09 and 10/15/09, and then three to five sites from the first 200 applicants will be selected.
Don't miss this opportunity - submit your site today!
Posted by Esperaza Navas, Search Quality Team
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