Top 5 Tips to Improve Your Digital Dollars in 2009

Tip No. 3: Use common sense
Resist the urge to revamp your entire Web site. I know it would feel good to do away with the site you’ve been using for the past few years, but don’t make hasty and expensive decisions. Once you have some baseline information about how people are using your current site, use common sense. Where are most visitors going? How long do they spend on your site? How do they find your site? Your existing site is a treasure trove of information waiting to be studied.

Tip No. 4: Conversion first, traffic second
Before you have a big party, you make sure your house is in order. In terms of your Web site, understand what your conversion rate is. How many visitors does it take to get one online donation? Is it five, 10 or 100? The answer to this question is extremely important. If one out of every 100 visitors is currently making a donation, you have a 1 percent conversion rate. You can double your digital dollars in one of two basic ways: work to get your conversion rate to 2 percent, or double your Web site traffic. Measure, test, refine until you are happy with your conversion rate before you start spending resources on driving traffic to your site.

Tip No. 5: Tell a great story
Most fundraising organizations I know have an abundance of great stories about the good work their fundraising supports. Lucky for you, there have never been better storytelling tools on the Internet, and many of them are low- or no-cost. Try something new this month: Rather than sending out a long, text-heavy e-mail to your past donors, send a video. Get any basic digital camera, look into the lens, and tell a story you’re passionate about. If you don’t like the first take, delete it and do it over. Repeat as many times as necessary. Once you’re satisfied, upload it to YouTube and send the link to your past donors. Immediate and authentic impact!