AnnMarie Hill

Did I See you at the NTen Nonprofit Technology Conference 2011?

There is a first time for everything.  For me, attending the NTen Nonprofit Technology Conference in Washington, DC was like walking into the schoolyard as the new kid who can’t speak English.

Believe me, if it was just that, I would be fine.  Been there, figured that one out.  However, this time it involved other ways of communicating where I had to hit the ground running.  Another reason not to where stilettos to a conference.

More on shoes later.

Team Google

Why You Should be in the Google Nonprofit Program

OK.  On Thursday, I sat in the Google Lounge and listened to very perky, energetic Googlettes explain their tools and the newly rolled out nonprofit program.  When I grow up, I want to work for Google, wear those cool grey jackets and be a smart and sexy Googlette.

The good news is that even if this is something I may not be able to do, what I can do, and what you can do, is apply to their nonprofit program.

Once accepted into the program, you get $10,000 worth of marketing dollars a month on Google, or $329 per day. This is a huge opportunity to ride on the coattails of the most powerful search monster and to become discoverable.

There are approximately 800 Google grantees which is, as someone in the room pointed out, not a large number considering how many nonprofits there are worldwide. AnnMarie Hill, the charismatic Google Goddess and her team pointed out that this program had not been heavily promoted in the past but now that it will be rolling out (launched just a few days before the conference in San Francisco), they expect a whole lot more people to apply.

Including everyone furiously tapping away on their iPads and laptops in the room.

It turns out that Queens Council on the Arts was accepted as a grantee a few years ago.

What did we do?

Shrug our shoulders and say, “Now what?” and not do anything, I am embarrassed to say. Fortunately, one of the Googlettes assured me this happens a lot and not to worry about it. We can still move forward with our adword campaign. Whew!

AnnMarie spoke about how to run a great ad campaign shared some great common sense guidelines:

1. Think like a user
2. Use multiple word keywords
3. Add common misspellings and variations
4. Tailor your theme so it is specific not generic
5. Highlight your ad word theme in ad text, headlines and descriptions
6. Use call to actions in ad text

Sounds pretty intuitive and obvious, doesn’t it? Well, it helps me a lot to hear it and judging by the takeaways of many of the other sessions I attended, we all need to be reminded of this in communicating our story.

Well, what are you waiting for?

Here are some links to get you started:

Www.google.com/nonprofits

Www.google/support/grants

Www.adwords.google.com/support/aw

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If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

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Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

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