Quick Response Codes!
Usually these are called QR Codes, and they’re just a type of bar code. Unlike most bar codes you see, these can store a fair amount of information, topping out at about 3000 characters. And, any smartphone with a camera can decode that data.

There are a few types of things that are commonly stored in these codes.

• Website links
• Contact info (vCards)
• Event info (to import into a calendar)
• Text message links
• Plain text

They’re easy to create and don’t take up much space. You can make your own at http://www.qrstuff.com/ It will take you seconds and create an image you can use in printed materials or online. If you want a larger one, you might try http://goqr.me/

They’re easy to scan; you just use the phone’s camera. If you have an app that scans product bar codes to check prices online, it should handle QR Codes too. Also, many Android phones come with Google Goggles installed, which reads QR Codes in addition to doing visual searches. There are plenty of dedicated apps too. Just search your app store for “qr code.”

For example, this QR Code stores a link to my Twitter profile. If you have a smartphone, just fire up a barcode scanning app and point it at this image. You’ll be shown the link and be able to go right to the website with zero typing.

You can put those on any type of printed marketing materials to make it easy for people to connect with your online presence. You could also use them in store to take people to detailed product pages, or at the point of sale.

This code has my vCard in it. Give it a scan and you can add me to your contacts instantly. Now that saves some typing! Why not include a QR vCard on your business card?

As I understand it, not everyone in America knows what these are. In Japan, everyone knows. In Europe most people know. Here, it wouldn’t hurt to include some instructions. Something like, “Scan this with your favorite smartphone bar code app to visit our website.”

There are countless possible uses for these codes. Here are a few more ideas to get you started:

• Put a link to your Facebook page at your point of sale and offer a small discount to anyone who “Likes” you on the spot.
• Use a QR Code to reveal a promo code that people can redeem
• Put one on your website so people can open it on their phone without doing any typing.
• Print up some QR Code stickers and create a virtual scavenger hunt with each code containing a clue for finding the next one.

At the very least, I suggest putting a vCard QR Code on your business cards and one linking to your website on any fliers or posters.

You can also get a bit fancy if you like. If you understand how they work you can alter a code to include your logo, like so:

If you’d like help integrating QR Codes or other forms of mobile marketing into your efforts, drop me a line. I’d be happy to help out or point you in the right direction if I’m not the right person for the job.

I’ve put together these 7 rules from a few different sources: Hemingway, Orwell and Bird. If you ask me, it’s worth brushing up on these sorts of things periodically. I should probably do it more often.

Use short sentences.
Hemingway was a master of this rule. He learned it from a newspaper’s style book. Short sentences make your writing easy to digest. That’s very important in our fast paced world.

Eight words make for an easy sentence. Sixteen words is okay. Thirty two is too much. Your reader may lose track and lose interest.

Use short paragraphs.
Nothing deters a reader like a wall of text. Break up your ideas into easy to digest chunks, and don’t make every paragraph the same length.

Break up your text.
There are a number of ways to make your text less intimidating beyond short sentences and paragraphs. For example,

• Bulleted lists
• Headlines and sub-headlines
• Images
• Bold or italic type

Be positive.
That doesn’t mean to always be happy. It means describe what something is rather than what it is not. Call something affordable rather than inexpensive. That produce is organic rather than pesticide free.

You can compare your offerings to your competitors and still be positive. Just talk about what your offering is rather than what theirs is not. For example, “Acme widgets are 32% stronger than Brand X widgets.”

Use the active voice.
This one will keep your sentences shorter and more potent. You wouldn’t say, “the championship was won by us” would you? No. You’d say, “we won the championship.”

Draw the reader along.
Make it easy for your reader to keep reading to the end.

Build curiosity. Don’t give everything away in a headline. Use curiosity to draw your reader along. What else?

Questions help. You can bridge two paragraphs by ending one with a question. Naturally the reader will go to the next for the answer.

Additionally, you can use carrier words. At the start of a sentence, these tell the reader that there’s something more to get. Examples include, furthermore, plus, also, finally, next and and. (It’s okay to start a sentence with and. You aren’t writing a term paper.)

Stay lucid.
What this all boils down to is clarity. Your writing should make sense and have a logical flow.

A good test is to ask a layperson to read your writing. Ask them if it’s clear. If not, revise.

Finally, I don’t know who said this, but here’s a quotation to keep in mind:

“Something written to please the writer rarely pleases the reader.”

You can go on and on about how great you are and all the benefits people get when they do business with you, but it’s still just you talking. You’re biased, and people know it… “Of course they say it’s the best thing since sliced bread, they came up with it!”

When a third party talks about how great you are, it’s completely different. They don’t profit when you make a sale. Yet, they took the time to write a few words expressing their satisfaction. A visitor to your site can read some testimonials and feel reassured that real people have gotten real benefit from doing business with you.

Of course, since the testimonial is on your website you could have written it yourself or edited it heavily. In fact, a lot of people do write the testimonials themselves and ask clients to sign off on it as if they had written it. Don’t do that. Your testimonials will all sound the same and people will not be swayed by the words.

Your testimonials must be authentic, and there’s a few basic things you can do to make sure they come across as the words of real, three-dimensional human beings:

• Get people to write their own testimonials. The main reason I hear why people write testimonials for their customers or clients is that they asked for testimonials and never got them. It’s not because people don’t want to write them or don’t have time. It’s because they don’t know what to say.

  When you ask someone for a testimonial, give them some guidance. Ask them what benefits they received from buying your products or services. Ask them what they would tell a close friend who was considering buying your products or services. Whatever you do, don’t just say, “Can you send me a testimonial?”

  Everyone has their own voice and that’s the single most important thing to capture in order to make your testimonials authentic. The varying tone and voice in your testimonials will make everything believable to the reader.

• Give attributions for each testimonial. Real people have names, occupations, and live in specific places. Provide that info along with the testimonial!

  Nothing says unauthentic like testimonials without names. Granted, some industries shouldn’t give out names for confidentiality reasons, but whenever possible provide a name.

  If you serve a wide geographic region you can show that off by listing the location with each testimonial. This will reassure readers that you’re a match for them even if they live further away from your home base. Additionally, it adds another layer of authenticity.

  Listing the occupation of your testimonial’s author is another way to show visitors they’re in the right place, that what you offer can help them. This is especially useful in the business to business market. It lets you demonstrate that you either serve a wide range of industries or have a specific niche that you focus on.

• Got pictures? Use them! Reading words and names is one thing. Seeing someone’s face is another. If feasible, provide a picture along with each testimonial. Outside of video, nothing will make your testimonials more three dimensional than a picture.

Remember to capture and showcase the unique voice and identity that goes with each testimonial. Your visitors will recognize the authenticity and be reassured by the third party validation.

Of course, testimonials aren’t as powerful as reviews in third party websites or publications, or word of mouth. They are a powerful sales tool, though. I suggest having a section of your website devoted to showing them off, and using them any place where a visitors will be making a decision on whether to do business with you or not.

In crafting all your marketing materials tune your message to your ideal audience. Whether it’s an ad on Google or a sign out front, you want the ideal prospects to feel like it was written just for them. So, why not write it just for them?

First, you’ll have to figure out who “they” are. For example, let’s say your making a sign to draw college students into your store. Imagine your favorite student customers, or what perfect student customers might be like. Then, narrow it down and imagine a single ideal student customer. Give this ideal a name, an age, and some hobbies. What are they like? What interests them? What gets under their skin? Who do they vote for? Do they have any pets?

Create your own Avatar, as local marketing guru Howie Jacobson calls it. (He took a group of us through this exercise for Google Adwords a few weeks back.) So, you have this three-dimensional idea of your ideal prospect. Now, imagine they’re about to read your sign. What’s going through their head? Maybe they have just walked in your store and are making up their mind. What are they concerned with as they see your sign?

Grab a sheet of paper and write for three minutes. Write their internal “diary” as they are about to look at your new sign. Taking a few minutes to put the words on paper can help you really flesh things out. Think about what brought them in, what they want, and what they don’t want. Then write a short stream of consciousness diary for them.

Now you have your target. Write your sign or other marketing message to appeal directly to your diary author. Use your copy to help them get what they want faster and wash away their worries. If they’re thinking about options when they come in, then give them a handy guide to their choices on your sign. If they’re worried about their purchase holding up, then show off your guarantee. If they have a specific price point in mind, then pump your low sale price. You get the picture.

A little imagination can go a long way, so don’t forget to explore things from the perspective of your ideal prospect. You can make a few avatars to cover the different kinds of ideal prospects you have. You can use this technique for any of your marketing message, from in-store signage to e-mail newsletters.

This post first appeared in my Small Business Email Newsletter

First, a video of Seth Godin talking about standing out. Some of you might remember a previous newsletter on this topic. Well, I don’t think I ever included this video. It’s worth watching just to find out how Silk brand soy milk tripled its sales. Running time: 17 minutes Seth Godin on Sliced Bread & Soy Milk

This next one is a bit off topic. It’s an interview with Richard Stallman. Never heard of him? I’m not surprised. He’s sort of an underground hero. You see, when he was a student at Harvard and working in the MIT artificial intelligence lab, he started creating free software so that academics could freely modify it to suit their needs. What he started back then, in 1983, was called the GNU project. You’re probably familiar with it. Most people just call it Linux. The correct title is GNU/Linux, as it’s a combination of Stallman’s work and a kernel by Linus Torvalds. Anyhow, Stallman recently gave an interview to Mashable that I think should be required viewing. Running time 3 minutes Stallman on Software Freedom

Finally, for you copywriting geeks out there, here’s a video presentation by Drayton Bird, who, according to David Ogilvy, “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world.” In it he breaks down and analyses four advertisements — two by him, one by David Ogilvy and one by Claude Hopkins. If you’re a student of the persuasive power of language then you’ll love this one. The link is to a summary, just click through to watch the video. They won’t try to sell you anything. Running time 50 minutes Drayton Bird’s Ad Crunch

Sorry, I can’t embed this last one, and I don’t think it will be available forever. It seems kind of hypocritical to post this non-free video after Richard Stallman, but hey – I’m not perfect.

Think about it.  When you pick up a newspaper you glance at 80% of the headlines and read about 20% of the articles.  Why?  All those unread stories weren’t what you were looking for, and you decided that in a few seconds.  So, in the newspaper business headlines are vital… actually in every business.

Websites have a lot more going on than just the headlines.  So does a brochure or a full-color mailing.  There are colors, photos, graphics, and even video (on websites, not on brochures yet.)  All of it can contribute to a prospect’s decision to stay or leave.  All of it, but I’m just going to talk about colors for now.

Colors can convey information, along with being pleasant or not.  Have you ever seen a red pickle jar?  No, they’re green.  So, when you want pickles you look for the green jar.

Is there a fast food chain that doesn’t use red in its logo?  I can think of only one: Subway.  Even their colors tell us that they’re totally different from those greasy burger/pizza/chicken joints, which all use red in their logo.

Beyond the information in colors there is color preference.  Everyone has a favorite color or two.    What’s interesting is our choice in colors might not be totally random.   USA Today gave a color test to its panel of 877 CEOs.  The results were that the CEOs “were three times more likely to favor magenta than the public at large.”  They were also less likely to opt for yellow or red.

Am I saying that if you use magenta and not yellow or red on your website you’ll convert more CEOs?  No, but I’m thinking it pretty loudly.  Who knows.  There doesn’t seem to be enough published research to say whether there’s anything to this notion that color preference and personality are linked.  If you’re getting enough traffic to your site, you could test it for yourself.

Now, I took this color test too and was surprised by the results.  It’s a personality test, where all you do is click on colors.  It decided my personality type was The Creative, with a secondary type of The Persuader.  Yes, it suggested I pursue a career in advertising, marketing, writing, or web design.  That’s what I do all right, weird.

You can take the test too, it doesn’t take long.  At the bottom of your results page you can click to see a list of 50 careers that suit you.  Ignore it, it’ll cost you ten bucks to see the top 25.  Let me know what you thought of your results.

One last thing about color.  Color combinations can be harmonious or not.  If you’re looking to pick out a color scheme then it’s worth using a tool to be sure you get colors that work with each other.  The tool I’ve used for years is ColorSchemeDesigner.com.  Adobe also now has one that’s integrated into all their design software at kuler.adobe.com.

Got any interesting ideas about color? Share them below!

Twitter’s weird.  It’s a bit hard to wrap your head around it.  My best advice is to worry about that later.  Whatever Twitter is and whatever it does, it’s evolving.  So, don’t worry about understanding it before you use it.  Through using it you’ll come to understand it, and maybe you’ll even figure out new ways to put it to use.

That said, there are some things that are helpful to know.

What is a Tweet?

Let’s get this out of the way:

A tweet is a piece of text no longer than 140 characters. Spaces and punctuation count. Think of it as a blog entry, a bitesized blog entry.

For reference, that definition is 140 characters long.

Timelines

A timeline on Twitter is a collection of tweets in chronological order.  The Public Timeline consists of every public tweet made.  When you tweet, you create your own timeline that people will see when they visit your profile page.  You can see your own timeline by clicking the Profile link in the top menu.

Every user also has their own unique timeline that consists of the tweets from everyone they follow.  This is what you see when you click the Home link in the top menu.  It’s like your own personal news ticker.  You can follow bunches of different people and all their tweets, except messages to other people, will show up here.

Your Twitter Profile

Click the Settings link in the top menu to edit your Twitter profile. One thing to keep in mind is everything in the Account section is publicly visible.  You can put whatever you like as your name if you don’t want your real name to be public.  Using a head shot as your picture is the norm.  It’s also helpful in convincing people to follow you because it shows off your humanity.  If you aren’t comfortable putting your picture out there try for something eye-catching instead.

Further into your profile options you can upload a background image and change your color scheme.  I think it’s good to stand out a bit here, but it’s also easy to look tacky.  Best to leave the color scheme alone at first.

Following & Followers

Following is Twitter’s word for Subscribing or Friending.  Whenever you visit someone’s profile page you’ll see a little Follow button below their picture.  Click on that button and their tweets will show up on your home timeline.  Following is a one-way action on Twitter.  Unless someone has made their updates private, they don’t have to approve your request to follow.  If they haven’t turned the feature off, they will get an e-mail telling them that you are now following them.  They may well check out your tweets, and follow you back if it looks like you put interesting stuff out there.

Some people will automatically follow anyone who follows them.  In fact you can find websites with huge lists of people who will auto-follow you back.  I strongly advise against this tactic for gaining followers.  Quality is definitely better than quantity when it comes to followers.  I’d much rather have 100 followers who actually read what I tweet than 10,000 who could care less.

As you tweet you’ll start getting those e-mails to let you know that someone is following you.  Your first question will probably be, “Why are they following me?”  Often people will discover you and follow after finding a tweet of yours in a search.  Something you posted might also get ReTweeted by one of your followers, leading their followers to check you out.  People might discover you through a link on a website, or some random e-mail newsletter.

Here’s what I do when I get a new follower:

• I click the link in the e-mail to look at their profile.
• I look at their ratio of Following to Followers.  People who follow many, but are followed by few are often a bit spammy in their tweeting.
• I read their little bio, and inspect their tweets.  I ignore any tweet that starts with @somebody because those won’t end up in my timeline unless they’re directed at me or someone else I follow.
• I look at how often they tweet.  If someone’s tweeting 20+ times a day then their tweets have to be pretty good for me to follow back.
• If there’s more than one or two shamelessly self promotional tweets I won’t follow them.
• If they seem to be advertising ways to make money on twitter or gain thousands of followers, I’m gone.
• If they seem genuine, remotely interesting, and I have some interest in common I’ll follow back.

Remember that people will look at your Profile this way before following you.

Conversation

Direct Messages are private.  Only the sender and recipient can see them.  You can only send them to people following you.  In my experience, Direct Messages are not a good way of communicating.  They are often ignored and often used to spam.  You’re much better off with e-mail or Google Wave for private conversation.

You can see tweets mentioning you by clicking the @YourName link on the right side of the Twitter page.  To direct a tweet at someone specific begin it with @ followed by their username.  For instance, after reading this you might want to tweet:

@PGrandstaff Wow, that newsletter was great! I’m going to tell all my friends about it.

Or, maybe you’ll want to tell me where to shove this tutorial.  Either way, you can be sure I’ll get the message because you directed it at me.  The rest of your followers won’t see that tweet, but it would be publicly visible on your Profile page.

To let your followers get the tweet in their timeline, and direct it at someone just include the @username someplace other than the beginning.  For instance:

I just finished learning all kinds of stuff from @PGrandstaff’s newsletter. You should check it out!

I bet I’d even ReTweet that one.

ReTweets (RT)

ReTweeting is when someone repeats someone else’s tweet, so their own followers can see the original message.  This is now a full fledged feature of Twitter, but it started organically.  People wanted to pass on tweets, so they ReTweeted.  Twitter listened, and now tweets in a timeline have a ReTweet button.

The traditional way of ReTweeting follows a formula:

RT @OriginalAuthor Content of original tweet [ReTweeter's comment]

It varies of course, some people credit the author at the end with “via @OriginalAuthor.”  The nice thing about this method is you can add your own thoughts.  However, problems arise with the 140 character limit per tweet.  In order to credit the author or add a comment tweets can be edited for length when ReTweeting.  There is a risk of altering the original meaning, though.

So, the new, official ReTweet feature lets you send someone’s tweet to all your followers with a click.  Your followers will see the tweet as if they were following the original author, with their picture and name.  Your name will appear underneath as the person relaying the tweet.

The Official ReTweet function probably won’t replace the original.  So, for optimal ReTweetability leave room in your tweets for people to add “RT @YourName ” — that’s 5 characters plus the length of your user name.

Hashtags: #hashtag

Hashtags let you add categories or keywords to your tweet.  Using hashtags allows people to aggregate all the tweets on a subject.  They consist of the hash sign, #, and a keyword with no spaces.  This is another feature created by Twitter users that is now official.  Hashtags are now automatically turned into links to Twitter searches.

You’ll see hashtags being used for conferences and events a lot.  You can follow live coverage of all sorts of things by searching for the associated hashtag.  You can track what’s going on in a city or state, or you can tune in to a topic.

A couple of examples for you, #NaNoWriMo #NC #SmallBiz.  It isn’t always easy to tell what a hashtag is about just by looking at it.  A Google search should tell you if clicking on the hashtag doesn’t.

See also, How to Tweet Well.

This post first appeared in my monthly small business newsletter.

• Aweber – No footer ads, ever.
• MailChimp – Footer ads can be disabled easily in your account if you’re a paying customer.
• Vertical Response – You’ll have to contact support to get the ad removed.
• Constant Contact – Same, you’ll have to put in a support request… adding your logo costs extra.
• iContact – Pay 10% extra per month (minimum $4.95) to remove the ad.  In their defense, iContact does have the least intrusive footer ad, plus they’re based right here in Raleigh, NC.

While I’m at it, I have to tell you why I hate Constant Contact.  It’s the name.  Sure, you want to be in constant contact with your list, but I’ll wager you’re readers would rather not hear from you constantly.  Years ago, I actually unsubscribed from a local company’s newsletter because of that Constant Contact logo at the bottom.  “Constant Contact?  I don’t want that.  My in-box if full enough already!”

Got a tip or something I missed? Share it in the comments below!

This post first appeared in my monthly small business newsletter.

image credit

How To Tweet Well

Well, Twitter became even more important this month.  Deals were announced with both Google and Microsoft to include Twitter posts — tweets — in search results.  So, before long, when someone searches for your company they might also see what people are saying about you on Twitter.  In my book, everything in search engine results matters big time, period.  Twitter also matters because it gives you another outlet to stay connected with your clients, donors, peers, etc. as well as to attract new ones.

Tweeting seems really simple.  Twitter seems really simple in general, at first.  It is a simple concept: write little messages no longer than 140 characters.  In theory each tweet should answer the question: What are you doing?  Dead simple.  But, actually doing this well gets complicated.  You’ll need to balance the amount you want to communicate with the amount of room you have, and still write something readable.  You’ll also need to stand out — catch people’s eyes.  You’ll want to elicit a response from the reader as well, e.g. click your link, reply to you, or just empathize with you.  Finally, you have to provide actual value in your tweets.  A few examples should help.

Bad Tweets – I’m making these up, to protect the guilty.

‘Buy our great widgets at http://www.example.com’

This kind of self promotion only works when someone has just said to themselves “Wow, those are some nice widgets, and I do need some new ones.”  On Twitter these types of give-me-your-money tweets are a sure fire way to be ignored — with sort of an exception for non-profits, see below.  If you want to get shoppers through Twitter, you’ll need to talk about benefits and provide useful content.  Really though, traditional selling doesn’t apply here.  Don’t pitch people.  Instead, talk to them, and engage with them.  Join the conversation.

‘I just posted a new article at http://www.example.com’

Unless you’re famous, and everyone just loves to read everything you write, this kind of tweet will do nothing for you.  If you want someone to read what you’ve just posted online tweet it with a strong headline, call to action, and link: ‘Meaning of Life Discovered – Learn the Truth at http://www….’  Okay, that’s a little over the top, but be sure to give people a reason to click.

‘I’m stuck in a meeting.’ or ‘I’m brushing my teeth.’

Okay, everybody brushes their teeth, and everybody goes to meetings.  This is what’s called life-casting, it very literally answers the question: What are you doing?  You might be thinking this kind of tweet has no place in your marketing plan.  Guess what though, when you do it right it shows off your human side and gets people to relate to you at a more personal level.  Just be sure to add some actual personality to the mix, e.g. ‘I’m brushing my teeth and dancing to my new Righteous Brothers CD!’

Good Tweets – These are actual tweets, with links to their tweeters. (The @ sign denotes Twitter user names.  I’m @PGrandstaff.)

‘Sprig Eco Recycling Truck – An Amazon Exclusive in Frustration Free Packaging http://bit.ly/x2aQg‘
– @amazon

It wasn’t easy to find a good example of a tweet used to sell a product.  Most people doing this don’t do it well, and even this one from Amazon isn’t perfect.  This tweet is promoting a toy recycling truck, made from a composite recycled plastic and sawdust material.  They tie the eco-toy theme in with their new Frustration Free Packaging strategy, and give a link.  What’s really excellent here is the link.  It doesn’t take you to a product page on Amazon, it takes you to a page all about this toy, Amazon’s efforts to save the environment, and an interview with the toy’s creators.  Perfect!  You’re not going to make a sale in 140 characters, but you are able to grab the reader’s attention and build some curiosity.  Satisfy the curiosity on the linked page, and build up desire for what you’re selling.  Then, you can try to make a sale or get their contact information.  Whatever you do, keep these types of tweets to a minimum.

‘The Omid e Mehr Foundation. Doing real good work on the ground in Tehran. Save the girls: http://bit.ly/p14Uh #iranelection’
– @oxfordgirl

This tweet came from an Iranian activist, and provides a good example of how non-profits can pull off blatant ‘selling’ on twitter.  It’s totally different to come right out and ask for money when it’s being done selflessly.  This example was also particularly powerful in the context of this person’s other tweets, which have detailed countless human rights violations in Iran.  The call to action, ‘Save the girls,’ is awesome, but I think I would have opened with it since not everyone has heard of this organization.

‘Three Ways to Make Your Competitors Irrelevant – http://bit.ly/3a7oYC‘
– @copyblogger

This tweet yielded over 500 clicks.  It has a compelling headline.  It appeals to our need to beat the competition.  It implies easy to digest information (just Three Ways!) Then it links to an article that’s well written, informative, and delivers on the headline’s promise.  The only thing lacking is a call to action.

“My son, 6y/o, asked me for the first time today how my DAY was . . . I about melted. Told him that I had pizza for lunch. Response? No fair!”
– @BrentDPayne

This is a great example of life-casting done right.  It’s personal, but universal enough for anyone to relate to.  It also tells a complete story in 140 characters, impressive.  Mixing a few tweets like this in with your normal strategy will make your humanity shine.  In turn, you’ll really stand out from the crowds of faceless product pushers.

Okay, obviously there’s a lot more to Twitter than just tweeting well.  However, tweeting well is probably the single most important thing to understand if you want to make this social media outlet work for you.

Stay tuned for next month’s conclusion, where I’ll get into more of the nuts and bolts of Twitter.  For now, get on there and start tweeting.  All the knowledge in the world won’t do you a bit of good if you don’t use it.  Don’t worry about getting lots of followers, or knowing all the ins and outs.  Just try to put some quality tweets out there and let the rest grow organically.

Are there any lessons about tweeting well that you’ve learned the hard way?  Share your experiences below.

This post first appeared in my monthly small business newsletter.  Newsletter subscribers will get the next installment weeks before it appears here, on my blog.  So, sign up today to keep ahead of the curve!

As I got to thinking about it I realized that there must be other great free for non-profit services out there. I’ve been doing some research and below you’ll find 8 useful eResources that are completely free to qualified non-profits. They include web hosting, marketing, software, and web application solutions.

Some of these are even free for anyone, and can be of great value to businesses, small and large.  I include them because they can be especially valuable to non-profits.  By employing free open source software you can keep your IT budget to a minimum without sacrificing.

DreamHost – Web Hosting Free For Non-Profits

DreamHost offers their powerful carbon-neutral web hosting for free to non-profits. Instructions for claiming your non-profit status are on the DreamHost wiki.

DreamHost is the hosting company I use, and suggest for most of my clients. They are an employee owned company that offers solid service at a low price with impeccable customer service and a great control panel.

If you don’t qualify as a non-profit you can still make use of this DreamHost promo code to get a discount of $50 on any plan. Just enter the code GRANDSTAFF to claim your discount when you sign up.

DreamHost also offers 1-Click Installs of some of the web applications mentioned below such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.  It’s very easy and they guide you through the process with ease.

Google Analytics – Website Statistics and Analysis

Google Analytics is a versatile and powerful website traffic analysis package that is free for anyone.  That is, unless you get 5 million page views per month, then it’s free if you are an Adwords customer.  Of course if you’re getting that many page views then you’re already using Adwords.

When you sign up you’ll get a snippet of code to put at the bottom of all your website’s pages.  Once you’ve added it all you need to do is log into Google’s site and you’ll have access to a dizzying number of metrics for your site’s traffic and useage.  There’s nothing more useful when you need to propose new funding or projects to your board (or your boss) than hard numbers, and Google Analytics will give you just that.  It even creates custom graphs and lets you download everything in PDF format!  You can also grant access to the data to other users so your whole team can stay up to date.

Vertical Response – Email Marketing

Vertical Response offers email marketing that is free for non profits up to 10,000 emails per month.  They also provide discounted rates on their survey and postcard services.  Direct email can be an incredibly powerful way to stay on your donors’ minds and to keep your volunteer base up to date and in the know.  You can use it for a monthly newsletter, or to get the word out quickly when needed.

Now, if you’re looking for an email marketing solution for business I use and suggest AWeber. They have a extensive feature set at a competitive price. Perhaps what really sets them apart is their emphasis on educating you in how to make the best use of their service and their outstanding customer support. There are tons of videos, tutorials, and webinars to make sure you know how to take full advantage of your email marketing campaigns. They are also always adding new features and have stood the test of time. You’ll also get a free month to test drive it and make sure it’s right for you, so there’s no risk!

I just heard from AWeber regarding their discount for any non-profit:

* The account will include 3 months of service at no cost then following this period a discount of 25% off monthly billing.
* You will need to postal mail or fax us the order form completed with cc number and a copy of your 501c3.

With Vertical Response or AWeber you’ll get reporting features for your email campaigns.  You can see what percentage of people opened your message, how many clicked a link, which links, and more.  This alongside Google Analytics  will give you all the metrics you need to report on the effectiveness of your on-line presence.

CiviCRM – Open Source Constituent Relationship Management

CiviCRM is a completely free (as in speech and beer) relationship management system designed for non-profits.  The feature set is aimed at activism groups, non-profit organizations, and non-governmental organizations.  It is designed to integrate seamlessly with either Joomla or Drupal, which are both free and open source content management systems.

Optional modules can be added for specific needs such as fund-raising, event registration, and more.  Combined with the flexibility offered by Drupal or Joomla this is a free website platform that can meet the needs of even the largest organizations.  There are reports of it managing a database of 7 million constituents, but it’s free and you could even run it on your DreamHost account!

A few of the non-profit organizations using CiviCRM are…

• Amnesty International
• Creative Commons
• Wikimedia Foundation
• Atlanta Audobon Society

Google Grants – Free Advertising

This might be the highest value item on this list.  It’s also the most exclusive.  Non-profit organizations  meeting Google’s eligibility requirements may may apply for a grant to receive up to $10,000 of free Adwords advertising per month.  Yes, that’s Ten Thousand dollars worth of advertising free for non- profits!

Adwords is Google’s advertising program.  You bid on keywords to have your ads appear alongside search results for those keywords.  It’s pay-per-click advertising, which means you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.  In addition to targeting keywords you can exclude keywords or target your campaigns to specific geographic areas.  Adwords is an effective way to advertise any size website.

Google Grants is not open to everyone, but most community organizations and advocacy groups should be eligible to apply.  They also expect you to make use of the free account and may terminate it if you let it go dormant.

OpenOffice.org – Open Source Office Suite

Also known as OO.o, OOo, or plain old Open Office.  It is a completely free for anyone office suite including word processor, spreadsheet, presentation creator, and more.  This can save a non-profit a couple hundred dollars per computer.  Just make sure Microsoft Office doesn’t come on your new computers.

It seems like everyone thinks they need Microsoft Office, but Open Office will meet all their needs and add features they’ve always wanted in Microsoft Office.  For instance Open Office can open MS Word and Excel documents and it can export files as PDF, easily.

On top of all the great features Open Office runs on MacOS, Linux, and Windows!  That means you can open your files on any computer.  If you’ve ever tried to open Microsoft Works documents on a Mac you know how valuable that can be.

Google Apps Education Version – Web-based Mail & Collaboration Application Suite

Google Apps Education Editioni is a set of web-based applications and services that runs on Google’s servers but using your domain name.  You can outsource your email & office applications, use instant messaging, host video, and collaborate.  The Education Edition includes some extra features and is also free for non-profit organizations.

You can use Google Apps with any domain, but the Education Edition has some extra features that could benefit larger organizations.  If you use DreamHost for your hosting you’ll be able to install Google Apps when you set up a new domain in the control panel.

WordPress – Blog & Content Management System

WordPress can confuse people at first because there are two WordPresses: WordPress.org is home to the free and open source blogging software, and WordPress.com is a site that runs the WordPress software and lets you host your own blog on their site.  The are both free to anyone and great for non-profit organizations.  If you have your own website you can install WordPress as an add-on to provide a blog on your site, or it can be used to run the entire site like a content management system, or CMS. In fact you’re looking at WordPress right now, as I use it to run my website.

You can log into an administrative panel on your website and write or edit content as if you were using a word processor, or using HTML if you prefer. WordPress stores your content in a database and automatically applies styles or themes to your work so you can worry about creating content rather than making things work and look right.

Out of the box WordPress isn’t the best CMS.  (It’s a great blogging framework!)  Luckily there are many many freely available extensions that add all sorts of features to WordPress making it a very adaptable and easy to use CMS.  You don’t need to be an expert to use it or install it, especially if you use DreamHost!

Finally…

For sticking it out to the end of this post I’ll tell you about one last resource: Me, Peter Grandstaff.  I do consulting and implementation of web solutions at no cost for select non-profits.  Currently this is by invitation only.  I will offer discounted pricing to most 501(c) (3) entities though, so be sure to ask about it!

If any of these resources sound like they could be of use to your organization, but you’re not sure how to go about putting them in place, you should contact me for a free consultation.  I will be happy to help you navigate the options and find the best fit for your unique needs, whether you’re a non-profit organization or not!

Got one I didn’t cover?  Share other free resources for non-profits below, and have a great day!