Tip # 1 Software Data Security

Unfortunately, cyber crime does exist. Anything posted online has the potential to be taken by someone else for their own gain. This includes credit card information and personal information from your donors as well.

When you are looking at fundraising software take the time to verify that it is PCI/DSS compliant. This will make sure that the software has met the minimum requirements of both MasterCard and Visa thus giving you and your clients the peace of mind in knowing that all information is encrypted and secure.

In addition to this, all your information should be saved on a redundant server in the event that there is an outage as well. That way any equipment failure or malicious user cannot destroy your valued information.

Tip # 2 Social Network Access

To get the most from your Online Fundraising Technology, find one that is compatible with email marketing and social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. Facebook and Twitter, in particular, connect with millions of people, which can help you to expand your donor reach significantly. Having the ability to connect through your supporters’ social networks will create more of a buzz around your cause and get more people more interested in donating.

Tip # 3 Unique Is Vital

Fundraising Software that delivers the cookie-cutter appearance can be a low cost way to get your feet wet with online fundraising technology, but it can also limit your potential. Fundraising software that mirrors your company brand can help deliver a more powerful impact on your potential donors. Remember that you don’t want to blend in with other sites, this could lead to the confusion that similar sites with similar causes are the same organization.

Tip # 4 Reports With Options

The report for fundraising company A may not meet the same reporting needs by fundraising company B. With this in mind, finding Online Fundraising Technology that gives you the option to generate reports tailored to your organization’s needs will benefit you in the long run.

Tip # 5 Features that Serve Your Needs

There are all kinds of bells and whistles you can get with fundraising software. The goal is to make sure you get exactly what you need. While some features might be nice to have you should make sure the software covers your basics. Once it has managed to do that, anything above and beyond would be a bonus to you. Some features that might interest you are:

• The ability to designate funds that are donated
• Automatic monthly donations
• Donations over a time frame
• Sponsorship Payments
• Memberships
• Registration for Events
• Events ticket sales
• Donations made in memorandum
• Individual fundraising (such as walking events, or local events) 

Tip # 6 Know Your Donation Potential

If your donation strategy centres on a large total amount of donations, a charge per each donation might not be an issue. However, If you anticipate a large volume of small donations, for instance in the amount of $5 – $20, you will quickly see your funds devoured in fees. In these cases, you may want to consider a flat fee donation system. That way, all donations, regardless of size or volume, will go directly to your account and your cause. What you pay won’t increase with the more funds you raise.

Tip # 7 Conspicuous “Donate” Button

Getting a potential donor to your website to engage them in your cause is only the first step. Making giving an online donation as easy as possible is the next and crucial step.  An effective donation system should allow you to include a conspicuous “Donate” button on every page of your site in order to capture a donor’s impulse to give no matter where they are on your site.

Tip #8 Easy As Possible Is Key

Again, make the donation process as easy as possible. On average, if it takes more than a couple of minutes to donate, you may lose that donation. A good way to avoid having this happen is to focus on a user friendly interface where donors can breeze through the donation process.

Tip # 9 Customer Service for You

Your customer service may be top notch, but what if the provider of your Online Fundraising Technology is difficult to work with? Solutions won’t come easy. This means it is vital that you take the time to focus on companies that offer excellent customer service with easy accessibility.

Tip # 10 Don’t Settle

When it comes to fundraising software, too often, people choose to settle. Maybe it’s because they don’t know what else is out there, or it could be in connection to figuring that there isn’t anything more to the process than a donation button. But these systems are considerably more complex and time should be given to make sure you get exactly what you need. Don’t be afraid to tell a company that they won’t work for what you need. Your donations are directly affected by this online fundraising technology.

Within the abundance of online fundraising software service providers, there is bound to be a suitable fit for your needs. But, take the time to explore all your options and think about the pros and cons to each of the providers you find. When there is a perfect match, take the steps to sign up for their services.

There are a number of different ways that you can go about increasing the traffic your website sees. Consider article distribution, for example. Article distribution (or article marketing) is an internet marketing technique that is easy to implement, but the rewards can be impressive. Taking the time to familiarize yourself with article distribution will be time well spent.

Article distribution involves the use of websites that are known as article directories. Article directories are websites that host a large collection of articles. To make finding and reading those articles easier, most article directories place each of their articles into categories, such as education, business, automobiles, or travel.  In each article, the writer is able to create a link to one of their websites. That link is often accompanied by background information about the website in question or the webmaster. The ideas is, when the reader of your article clicks on one of your links, they then get directed to your website.  This connection will increase the amount of traffic your website sees and it may also help to increase the amount of profit it generates.

Although article distribution is an effective way to generate website traffic, it is one that needs to be managed properly. Otherwise, you could end up wasting your time.  The first step in using article directories to your advantage is focusing on a topic that you would like to write about.  For the best success in gaining website traffic, choose a topic related to the website’s products, service or solutions that readers can be directed to. For instance, if you are selling a service, such as web development (shameless plug here), you may want your article to focus on the benefits of using professional web services. 

Once you’ve determined the main topic or focus of your articles, believe it or not, the hardest part is over. Well, at least, that’s how I see it. Finding the topic and determining the focus is my biggest obstacle. But, if you find writing to be the more difficult part, create an outline of the main points of your topic.  An outline will act as a guide for you. It will also help to ensure that you do not leave out any important information. 

Now that you’ve got your article’s focus and/or created yourself an outline, you can start writing. Use your personality here and write as if you were having a conversation with your reader. Afterall, your article may be posted to technology, but in the end it will be a person reading it. Keep your content interesting and easy to read.  Be cautious of using technical words that many internet users might not understand. Your article should provide your reader with valuable information, but leave your readers wanting to learn more. You want your readers to click on your links to get more information at your website.  If your article is too informative, they may already have found what they needed and a visit to your website may have been eliminated.

After your article has been compiled and thoroughly proofread, now you can submit it to the article directories of your choice. Here is a great list of top article directories with Alexa ratings and Google page rank information.  Although you might assume that your job is done after this point, it isn’t or at least it shouldn’t be. Article distribution is a great way to generate traffic and should be done on a regular basis. You may want to set a goal of submitting at least five articles a month or even more.  This will help to ensure that your readers are always given new, updated information to read and absorb.  In fact, the more articles you distribute the more links you will create.

Article directories welcome your content with open arms. In exchange for providing them with unique and quality content, you will be getting links back to your own website; therefore achieving the ultimate goal of increasing its traffic.

So which is more important, to please the visitors or the search engine spiders? The undeniable answer is to please the visitors. After all, what good is a site that attracts spiders but not actual people? However, on the flip-side of this, what good is a site that only attracts some visitors but not search engine spiders? In this post, we’ll go over writing content that interests and satisfies both your readers and the spiders.

So how do you write content that satisfies a visitor?

1. Stick to writing content that is relevant to your site. That means, if your site is about pets, you should not have any content about rock music, unless it’s somehow about dogs in a rock band. And that’s just weird anyway. But, I digress. Unfocused content only makes your site look bad and repels visitors.

2. Write content in an easy to understand, conversational manner. Do not use big, fancy words just for the sake of looking smart or pleasing search engine spiders.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve visited a website with content that is so hard to comprehend that I have no interest in going back again. You want to make a good first impression on anyone who takes the time to look at your site, so make sure your content is easy to understand.

3. Never ever write content that is long, dull, and boring. If the point you are trying to get across can be well said within 500 words, then don’t waste another 300 words droning on and on about the topic. This is a huge turnoff to potential visitors.

4. Make sure that all of your content is grammatically correct. I know, this is hard because we live in a text message instant messenger world, where sentences like “how r u?” and “lol,” have become acceptable. However, anyone who is well-educated will appreciate good grammar. Make your site shine in this area.

5. Don’t overuse keywords and keyword phrases. In other words, don’t make it blatantly obvious to the reader that you are trying to attract search engine spiders to your site. Make an effort to make sure that your keywords and keyword phrases flow into the content of the article. This is easier said than done, but can be accomplished with a little fine tuning.

But what about search engine spiders? How do you please them?

1. Search engine spiders are actually quite easy to please, much easier than actual human beings. Search engine don’t care what the subject is about; they just care about the number of keywords and keyword phrases. 

2. One way you can displease a search engine spider is by overusing a keyword or keyword phrase and making your site reek of spam. Search engine spiders are now more advanced than ever, which means they are better able to ignore sites that are riddled with spam. Too many keywords or keyword phrases that are blatantly there will hinder your site from being crawled by spiders.

3. Keyword density of 1-3% is generally considered to be good. Any less than 1% may make it harder for your site to get listed on search engines for your keyword; any more than 4% makes your site look like spam. If you’re not clear on what Keyword density is, basically the number of keywords or keyword phrases in a piece of content divided by the total number of words. But, taking math out of the equation here, an easy way to manage keyword density is to simply use your keyword or keyword phrase once per paragraph.

4. Before you write your content, take some time to make up a short list of keywords that are relevant to the topic at hand. Then try to naturally sprinkle them into your content, so that your content will please both the search engines and your readers. If you are able to do that, you will have a successful site in no time. Not only will the search bots love you, but actual people will, too!

Writing content that is good for both people and search engines is absolutely essential to making your site a well balanced powerhouse. So follow the rules above and you will be able to write excellent and pleasing content!

The November Group unveils a new website design and a new blog! After much planning and programming, our hard work has come to a proud and happy ending. Welcome to the new and improved TNG website and blog.

Earlier this year, we took a hard look at our website and had to admit, it was time for an update. So, we went over the shortfalls of the site’s design and function in detail and constructed a plan that would not only revamp our site’s visual appeal, but also streamline our customer service processes and improve communications with our readers and clients. Like the saying goes, “Change is Good.

Through a redesigned website and blog we hope to:

1. Enhance our web presence with clearly dedicated pages to each of our products and services
2. Improve customer service through our new ticketing system
3. And, kick our communication up a notch through our new blog

Out with the old website, in with the new
Our customers often lend valuable tips and suggestions as to how we could improve our services and our website. With the supportive and encouraging comments that spurred our redesign plans, we now proudly present our new website design with improved navigation, clearly dedicated web pages to each product and service, and online demonstration log in to test drive our TNG Software Solutions.

A Swifter response is our goal
We always strive to provide you with high quality and timely services. Because of this, we’ve been working behind the scenes to implement a new communications tracking system for new and ongoing projects called a Ticketing System (sometimes known as a support ticket or issue tracking system). As we have grown, and continue to grow with the addition of new employees, utilizing a Ticketing System for project management will help to keep our Clients and TNG Employees “in the loop” and “on top” of the status of all projects. We expect this system will help to increase our response times significantly. The Ticket System is now accessible to our clients from our website at www.novgroup.com, or directly at http://support.novgroup.com. 

Communication is key
One of my favourite updates is our new blog. We love to interact with our customers to talk about common interest and share insights. We’re hoping our new blog will be the arena that provides web development, web applications and Internet marketing topics that you want to read about and talk about.

A big thanks to all our clients’ feedback that brought us to the creation of our new site and services.

By partnering with Rackspace, The November Group enables our customers to leverage an existing relationship for web hosting services. Rackspace delivers mission critical hosting solutions for our customers with industry leading SLA’s and award winning Fanatical Support™.

Amounts generated were from E-commerce products such as (in order of transactions):

Book•tng Online Hotel Reservation System
Gift•tng Online Donations System
Send•tng Email Marketing System
Shop•tng Shopping Cart Software
Assist•tng Group Administration Software