My friend Ann Treacy of Treacy Information Systems and I presented a session on Leveraging Online Ads and Sponsorships to Stretch Your Budget (Fundraising) for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits‘ annual conference, "Common Ground for Common Good." These are some of the resources we mentioned during the breakout session:
Advertising Networks:
- Google AdSense – For displaying Google ads on your site
- Inside Google AdSense – Google’s official AdSense blog.
- Yahoo Publisher Network – For displaying Yahoo ads on your site
- Yahoo Publisher Network Blog – Yahoo’s offical Publisher Network blog.
- Clicksor – For displaying Clicksor ads on your site
- Digital Point Forum Discussion on making money from online ads
Keyword Research:
- Wordtracker – Professional level keyword research tool. Culls data from a wide range of search engines and is therefore more comprehensive and accurate than free services. Fees range from per day to per year.
- Keyword Discovery – Another professional level keyword research tool similar to Wordtracker.
- Overture Inventory Tool – Shows search volume by month. Data is culled from their pay-per-click search engine.
- SEO Book’s Keyword Suggestion Tool – Based on Overture’s search data, which, again, is biased toward commercial searches. Still, an excellent tool.
- Google Sandbox – AdWords Keyword Suggestion Tool – Find releated keywords. This free tool is included in Google’s AdWords search advertising service. You can determine the level of competition for a given search phrase–at least within Google’s ad inventory–and the relative search volume of that search phrase.
- Google Trends – See how specific search phrases fare over time.
Statistics Programs:
- Google Analytics – Free but requires a Gmail account, which is also free. Superb and comprehensive statistics.
- Statcounter – Designed to be used with blogs but works for web sites as well. Good for a quick glance at your traffic volume and recent visitor activity.
- AddFreeStats – Notice it’s ADD-free not AD-free stats. The code displays their logo on your site. Nevertheless, it’s free and they offer very comprehensive stats that get down to the individual page level.
- Performancing Metrics – Also designed for use with blogs, but suitable for web sites as well.
Affiliate Marketing:
- Amazon Associates – Amazon’s affliate marketing program.
- Commission Junction – One stop signup and clearinghouse for affiliate programs.
- Good Search – A search service geared toward generating revenue for nonprofits.
- Affiliate Tips – An affiliate marketing blog.
- Affiliate Marketing Today – Internet radio program from Webmaster Radio.
Blog Services:
- Blogger – Free service offered by Google.
- TypePad – Free and for-fee service. More features and more flexible than Blogger. This blog uses TypePad.
- WordPress – Free and for-fee service. Similar to TypePad but is more technical.
- eponym – Very similar to but not as widely used as TypePad. Offers both free and for-fee levels.
Social Networking Sites:
- Del.icio.us – Most popular social bookmarking site; recenty bought by Yahoo.
- Yahoo MyWeb – Yahoo’s home-grown social bookmarking site.
- The Social Bookmarking Faceoff – Read/Write Web’s overview of social bookmarking.
- MySpace – One of the most popular web sites. Social networking site geared toward a mainly 13-25 year old audience includes blogging and video upload features.
- Flickr – Most popular photo sharing site. Owned by Yahoo.
- YouTube – The most popular video sharing web site.
- dogooder.tv – Video sharing site for nonprofits.
- Social Bookmarking Demonstration – A how-to video from Minnesota e-democracy on the basics of how to use del.icio.us, YouTube, and Flickr.
- Digg – The most popular social editing site. Submit web pages and the community votes on them. Most popular posts rise to the front page and can generate a lot of traffic to that page.
Email Marketing:
- Constant Contact – For-fee email marketing service. Best value for cost.
- Coollist – Free but limited email marketing service. Only supports text-based emails.
- Messagebot – Also free and also limited email marketing service.
- Zookoda – Specifically designed for use with blogs. Free service.
The e-Strategy Academy covers all aspects of digital marketing including search optimization & marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, video marketing, mobile marketing & public relations.