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

Asking for Donations

Online marketing provides more than one chance to ask directly for money (or whatever else your organization needs). You can even ask for donations repeatedly. The person on the other end won't even bat an eyelash. If you're uncomfortable asking people for money, the Internet removes that pressure of asking for donations face-to-face.

In fact, people checking out your Web site expect to be asked for donations. It's likely that they sought you out for the purpose of giving their time and money to your organization! It's time you become comfortable with the idea of using the Internet to ask people to give — over and over again. E-philanthropy provides a host of methods for doing so.

Multiplying donation buttons on your site

One of the most overlooked online marketing opportunities is the Donate Now button, which is typically a single button (or link) on the home page of a site. Clicking the button displays an online form page where a visitor can choose to contribute.

You can increase the potential for a donor response by increasing the number of places on your site that you ask for support. Note that we don't endorse randomly scattering Donate Now buttons throughout your site. Instead, take an integrated, thoughtful approach, and follow these pointers:

• Be position-savvy. Visitors to your site view numerous pages. Make sure that donation buttons or links appear in as many spots as possible (without going overboard, of course!). Visible areas of your site include ...