Workshop Grantee Best Practices: Direct Relief International
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 | 10:16 AM
Labels: AdWords Basics, Google Grants Blog, Grantees, Grants Program, Optimization
In this week's speaker recap from last month's workshop, we highlight Direct Relief International, a long-time Google Grants participant. Alison Joyce, Online Communications Manager at Direct Relief International, joined our grantee panel to share her organization's experiences using their Google Grant over the years.
Here are several helpful strategies Alison offers to fellow grantees:
* Identify your organization's goals for your Google Grant early on, but also be flexible in adjusting your goals over time. For example, Direct Relief International was initially only focused on awareness with their grant, but later expanded their goals to program outreach and donation solicitation.
* Realize that the more time you put into your account, the more you get out of it! Be active with your account, blocking off time in your calendar each week (even 30 minutes) to refine keywords and improve ads with low CTRs.
* Don't be afraid to delete poor-performing keywords and ads, as they will drag your account down. Less is more here, as you improve your site traffic.
* Integrate your AdWords account into your overall communications planning, as this will push you to make time for it and have a sense of accountability for its performance. Treat it as a resource you are paying for.
* Incorporate other free Google for Non-Profit products into your online strategy: integrate Google Analytics and Google Checkout with AdWords and use other products like Google Maps and YouTube to further your mission.
For more best practices, you can watch Alison and the entire grantee panel here. You can also view all of the recordings from the workshop on the Google Grants YouTube channel. Over the next three weeks, we'll share more best practices from the other grantees on the panel. We hope that you benefit from the sharing of these strategies and that they help to make your Google Grant even more successful for your organization. See you next week!