CSDi Training for Individuals, Communities & Nonprofits

The Beginner’s Guide to Online Donations Syllabus

Get Online Donations with Your Website & Newsletter

Each of the 10 weekly steps include 3 step-by-step guides that lead you in developing a modern website, launching a donor newsletter program and accepting online donations. See what the 30 guides include.
 
The Beginner’s Guide to Online Donations

Detailed Syllabus of the 10 steps, 10 weeks and 30 guides

 

PART 1: YOUR WEB PRESENCE

STEP 1. How to Create a Website for Your Nonprofit Fundraising: Setting Up & Launching Your New Online Fundraising Website: choosing a name, web site services and connecting to the Internet
  • Guide 1. Choosing a website host and registering your website address.
  • Guide 2. WWW: Weebly, Wix, or WordPress? Choosing a platform.
  • Guide 3. Selecting an attractive website theme with modern features.
  • Guide 4. Important basics:quick and easy navigation—and mobile phone friendly too.
  • Guide 5. Organizing your initial pages: keep the structure simple—but plan for growth.
  • Guide 6. Quick start your SEO: Make including these ultra simple search magnets in your initial pages a habit now.

STEP 3. How to Create an Online Fundraising Website: Your Brand, Page Design & Compelling Content.
  • Guide 7. Branding: adding a logo and slogan; choosing fonts, colors and columns.
  • Guide 8. Posting a new blog and adding a new webpage: Let’s create 2 copy/paste/edit templates.
  • Guide 9. Four ways to add written content: which one is the easiest for you to use? Plus, adding links and photos.
  • Guide 10. Four must-have copy/paste webpage snippets for tables, bullets & indents.
  • Guide 11. Get collecting right away: Quick start volunteer and subscription forms. Collecting online donations.
  • Guide 12. Pre-Publish Checklist: Final page edit. Checking spelling, grammar and links.

STEP 5. Landing Pages that Convert & Optimized Keywords. The importance of landing pages,keywords and conversions.
  • Guide 13. Keywords and the 21st Century Communication Secret: [Shhh… It’s all about them!]. Use the same language your visitors use.
  • Guide 14. Landing Pages are Your Salesmen: They convert a casual visitor into a donor, volunteer or subscriber.
  • Guide 15. 12 steps to building a perfect online fundraising landing page template. Bonus checklist.
  • Guide 16. Demystifying SEO. Use keywords in your headings, page title, page description and content. Post information rich, long content.
  • Guide 17. Writing Techniques.
  • Guide 18. Build visibility and attract visitors: Promote your blog or landing page to colleagues: get them to link to your page (Google likes links!).


PART 2: MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

STEP 7. Fundraising Goals, Target Markets and Your Nonprofit’s Story. Determine what to market to whom—and then do it!
  • Guide 19. Your needs: get specific about your support goals. Do you want supporters that are donors, volunteers, subscribers? How many?
  • Guide 20. Who is your target market: Who are these new supporters you are hoping to reach? What causes do they want to support? We need an avatar here!
  • Guide 21. Your brand: who are you? What does your nonprofit do? Specifically, in sound bites, let’s make this sound attractive to your new supporters.
  • Guide 22. Develop an achievable online fundraising communications calendar.
  • Guide 23. Your communication connection: where will you launch your first campaign? Clearly define the channels that connect you to your target supporters: newsletter, blog, social media?
  • Guide 24. Launch your first online fundraising campaign. Let’s connect your first campaign to your perfect landing page—and convert visitors into donors.
 
STEP 9. Email Lists. Capture Names: signing up new subscribers. Signup forms, pop-ups and incentives.
How to capture valuable new subscribers—and then send them the newsletters that convert them into donors.
  • Guide 25. Collecting subscribers. What information should you ask of a new subscriber?
  • Guide 26. Installing pop-ups on your website. Which type? Where? What should they say?
  • Guide 27. Do you have a free offer? Compiling an e-book or membership program to entice new subscribers.

STEP 10. Email Newsletters. Romance your Subscribers: subject lines, the best email format, click-through buttons, launch a new compelling email campaign.
  • Guide 28. Subject lines. Your chance to be both creative and a Sherlock too.
  • Guide 29. What should your email look like? How long? What will lure subscribers to click through to an actionable landing page?
  • Guide 30. Launch. Write a new, compelling, newsletter, dovetailed with an action-oriented landing page. Then send it!
 
We look forward to your insights and comments!

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