I am starting an online charity with a friend.  It is not operational
yet, but when we start it up, the amount of money we generate will be
proportional to our internet traffic.  You can take a look at our site
here: http://www.clicks4education.com.  Neither I nor my friend has a
great deal of experience with internet publicity or generating
traffic.  I am looking for a sort of primer on the best ways to
enlarge my charity's presence on the internet and the most cost
effective ways to advertise.  We're on a low budget: we probably
aren't going to be able to spend over $200 during our first year on
advertising.  Thanks.

Hi, thank you for submitting your question to Answers.Google, I hope I
can provide the information you are seeking.

There are four main methods of legitimately spreading the word about
your charity. Random e-mails or SPAM, is NOT legitimate and if you try
it you?ll be sorry in the long run.

Press coverage ? this definitely includes local newspapers. Contact
all your local publications with a press release announcing your new
charitable operation. Especially during the summer silly season of
July and August when the government and many businesses cut back for
summer vacations, it is relatively easy to entice free coverage
because of the lack of hard news stories. This is when you see all the
man-bites-dog and cat-stuck-in-a-tree type of stories. Don?t neglect
the local TV stations, but radio probably isn?t worth it since people
need to see your Web address.

www.4hb.com/communicate/0249flcraftpressrelease.html
www.iboost.com/promote/press_releases/00311.htm

Co-marketing ? this includes link exchanges with other Web sites as
well as convincing local merchants or other community groups to print
your Web address in their promotional material. You can also simply
ask companies if you can post a small poster. I?ve never been denied
such placement for community service-type sites even at giants such as
Wal-Mart. Also, remember that all Wal-Mart supported charities are
selected by the local store managers.

www.powerlinks.com
www.superlinks.com
www.linkadage.com
www.links4trade.com
www.link-swapper.com (free)
www.gotop.com

Search engine submissions ? do this on an individual basis or
wholesale by using multiple submission software or services.
www.wpromote.com
www.morevisibility.com
www.addme.com/
www.submission-pro.com
www.submitexpress.com/
www.SearchEngineRankingService.com
www.submit-it.com/

You will need to understand meta tags and how they tell search engines
what people will find on your page.

www.webdeveloper.com/html/html_metatags.html


Finally, you can simply go to various Web portals, such as
www.google.com and check into paid advertising rates
(http://services.google.com/marketing/links/US-HA-CMBNINE2/) to get
your site displayed when people visit the site and use certain search
terms. This can be highly effective and you should remember that
virtually every charity has to spend large portions of the money they
collect on marketing.

I would suggest you check out Google AdWords
https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=Login&sourceid=AWO&subid=US-HA-CMBNINE2/aw

The rates are highly competitive and I?ve found them very useful.

A special word of advice - make your site interesting and
ever-changing. To keep people comming back post news stories or even
your own musings on the site every few days at the most. These days
everyone has a Web site, the trick is to get people to visit it not
just once, but multiple times. If your Web design software permits,
you should include a button to share the site with friends and some
sort of message service or sign-in book.

www.homestead.com offers many useful tools if you need a hosting service.

Google search terms: search engine submission
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-43,GGLD:en&q=search+engine+submission

Google search terms: meta tags
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-43,GGLD:en&q=meta+tags


Thank you again for turning to Answers.Google for help. Best of luck
with your charity.

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Request for Answer Clarification by nateg-ga on 29 Jan 2005 11:04 PST

Thanks.  Great response.  Just one question.  What kind of support do
local Wal-Marts give to charities?  Do store managers have a grant
budget for local activities or do they just offer in-store advertising
such as posters.  Thanks.

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Clarification of Answer by siliconsamurai-ga on 29 Jan 2005 11:16 PST

Hi, they have a budget and can contribute directly to the charities
they choose to support. Just don't be scared off by the size of the
company, I happen to know that decisions are made locally which is why
I didn't post a link to HQ.

The free advertising is entirely seperate and will simply require you
to contact the manager and present him or her (it's a her here) with a
copy of the small poster you wish to post.

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Clarification of Answer by siliconsamurai-ga on 29 Jan 2005 11:42 PST

If I didn't make it clear, I have actually gone to the local Wal-Mart
and had my small posters placed on their bulletin board, that's not
just a theoretical suggestion.

Best of luck and, if you found this answer useful I hope you will post
an appropriate rating when you have an opportunity.

Well a link exchange is always good. Don't forget to submit your
website to search engines. As it is a charity you could always post
items on ebay and maybe that would help. If you are a registered
charity maybe you could get some different web sites to help you out.

By link exchange do you just mean emailing people and asking them to
exchange links?  As for all the other stuff you've mentioned, we've
either done it already or it doesn't apply to us.  Thanks, though.

You get with companies that offer link exchanges and by that it will
require you to place links on your site where as your link will be
placed on other sites.