Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 2: Adding Online Moneymakers to an Existing Site

In This Chapter

• Evaluating your site structure to decide which elements are plausible
• Researching technology resources
• Selling to the highest bidder as the ultimate e-fundraising tool
• Adding easy fixes to increase online donations

By now, you might have noticed two separate movements that have continued since the early days of the Internet The first movement has been filled with innovators, or sites considered to be Net pioneers, such as eBay, Amazon, Groupon, Facebook, and even smaller companies that happened to develop exciting and useful applications delivered online. The second movement, occurring simultaneously, has been filled with folks who thought that brochureware constituted a good Web site. Even today, this group has resisted embracing current online trends, technologies, and resources — and it shows!

Unfortunately, a great number of people remain in the latter group. How often have you researched a company online, visiting their Web site, only to find it looks as if someone has taken the equivalent of a marketing pamphlet and turned it into a three- or four-page Web site? You get the impression that their Web site was just another item they quickly checked off a to-do list and never touched again. Does this situation sound familiar yet?

If so, you're not alone. This description fits the position that many of your nonprofit peers are in right now. As with many important goals for a nonprofit, the lack of money ...