Biggest Mistake? Not Using Google Grants

We’re sure that you’ve come into contact with or have researched
yourself the program that is Google Grants. We’ll give you the highlights: qualifying
nonprofits (when approved in the application process) receive $10,000 in free
money to advertise on Google through using handpicked keywords that are related
to the nonprofit. And while there are a few things to keep in mind, we firmly
believe that it would be in your nonprofit’s best interest to
, at
the very least. If you’re still not convinced, we’ve put together a few things
to consider.

With Google Grants you’ll be able to…

Run focused advertising: Through targeted advertising, your nonprofit will be able to reach more specific sets of people – those who would be interested in your nonprofit and its work in the first place. The tailoring aspect of keyword selection through Googe Grants allows you to do that, as opposed to trying to fight through the general population to reach those who could mean more to your nonprofit.

Achieve a small sense of automation: Google Grants is not exactly a “set it and forget it” kind of thing but more of a “set it and check up on it” kind of thing. However, once it has been set up to the specifications that you took the time ti put together, you would only need a few people to work with it as time goes on. These people would perform the necessary follow-up tasks like testing, re-testing, reassessment, and adjustments as needed.

Have access to an expansive toolkit: You’ll have a pretty good arsenal of tools at your disposal through Google Grants, helping your nonprofit up its marketing game through audience reports that give demographics and geographical locations. By being able to do more, you’ll be able to reach more. Thi can be achieved as the more you know about your targeted audience, the better you can craft and adjust your ads.

Google
Grants can increase...

: By advertising with Google, the largest search engine
in the world, more visitors and clicks will be brought to your nonprofit website.
Google Grants allows your nonprofit to stretch its hands over more avenues and
have a more developed presence online. This is especially important as the
entire world has already gone online and mobile.

: Brand exposure will also increase as visitors will come into
contact with your nonprofit’s brand (its mission, vision, beliefs, good will,
etc.). This sort of brand recognition will help to ensure that should these
visitors decide to leave without registering or making a donation, when they
come into contact with your nonprofit, they will recognize who you are and what
your mission is. This will increase the possibility that they will do more,
like donate and register, the second time around.

: Because more visitors are brought to your website
through your Google ad, more users will interact with your website, meaning
more people to call to action and potential for new donors and donations. Turning
click into conversions,
, however, will be up to your
nonprofit and what strategy is has in place.

Still need a bit more convincing?

If you read through a couple of articles concerning Google Grants, more
often than not you come across a few success stories of nonprofits who were
able to get that extra boost using Google Grants.

Take Arthritis Research UK, for example. As reported by KnowHow
Nonprofit’s “How to Get Free Advertising on Adwords Using a Google Grant,” Arthritis
Research UK applied for a Google Grant and was approved within 6-8 weeks. They
had some clear goals in mind for their Google Grant including driving traffic
to their website and increasing website conversions, with the addition of
increasing registrations and the number of people who were donating and sharing
their content.

, per month the Arthritis
Research UK gained 25,000 new users, 30 new registrations, and multiple
donations. They were also able to secure 15 data captures, which were described
as testimonials made by users describing the role arthritis plays in their lives
and how it has effected them. So not only did Arthritis Research UK achieve its
goals, it also received the added bonus of having users interact with their
nonprofit in a very special way: by allowing them to share their own story.

A shout out to smaller nonprofits.

We haven’t forgotten about you, small nonprofits. Although Google
Grants may seem like a program for a larger nonprofit, we believe your
nonprofit could benefit from it as well. It is rightly assumed that smaller nonprofits are generally unable to complete with larger nonprofits. In some cases, that assumption holds true; however, we believe that small nonprofits
actually have a better chance than they think. Google prizes searchability and realtability above all else. For smaller nonprofits that operate at a more local level,
when creating keywords for ads, include your city or region.  You actually have a better chance of reaching
those who are more geographically connected to your nonprofit than larger
nonprofits who operate at a national level. Your ads hit closer to home because
you are targeting those who share the space of “home” with you.