How Web Presence helps non-profits to grow online

With the whole country struggling with rising costs, it’s unfortunate but not surprising that charities are also bearing the brunt of the cost of living crisis. Non-profits are having to come up with new ways to get their campaigns heard and schemes like Google Ad Grants can help. Cheshire-based digital marketing agency Web Presence is one company which has take on the scheme to help optimise charity websites and boost their online presence. NewStart spoke to Astra Newton, Head of Advertising, to hear more about how the grants work. 

What kind of work does WebPresence do?

We’re a digital agency focused on unlocking free Google Ads Grants for Non Profit organisations to help them with their Fundraising, Awareness and Recruitment goals – or as we like to say ‘help them to go FAR’.

We know that charities and non profits are facing a drop in donations over the last few years, with people being more frugal with their money, so unlocking this grant can be hugely beneficial to their missions and can help them to recoup lost funding and web traffic, so they can keep doing the amazing work that forms their missions.

Aside from ad grants, we can also help them with their other digital marketing needs. From web development, landing page builds, analytics & tracking installation to marketing services like Search Engine Optimisation, social media advertising and Customer Relations Management software.

Many charities we’ve spoken to don’t have their own website, which is a fundamental requirement if they want to apply for the grant. This has driven us to develop a dedicated, affordable website development product for non profit organisations that includes all the essential, branded webpages that they will need, a donation payment gateway, and a job/volunteer application facility.

What kind of clients do you tend to work with?

We work with not for profits across the globe. The Google Ads Grant we can obtain on their behalf entitles charities to up to £105,000 a year in free Google Ads spend. Most charities are eligible, aside from healthcare organisations and hospitals, schools or universities and government organisations.

We’ve got everything from Theatre Schools to Sex Worker charities currently working with us to make use of the funding, meet their goals and expand their reach.

The Web Presence team

How important is SEO and online ads in helping businesses to grow?

Digital Advertising and marketing are hugely important for charities. As more activities move online, especially post Covid, it’s vital that non profits keep up with the trend and move to where their audiences are. The days where people would sign up to monthly donations in the street are slowly fading, as people get more concerned over sharing their information. This means non profits are more likely to get donations online, where the donations are more anonymous.

When it comes to finding people to help, most people turn to Google to research, so when charities are looking for those in need of help, it’s vital that they are visible when

future patrons are searching! With over 1 billion searches on Google everyday, there’s a whole host of people that need the help of a charity that can be targeted through digital ads, directly when they are looking for what they can offer.

Ultimately, having an online presence allows any charity to tap into new markets, build a bigger audience and facilitate more donations. This means they can do the work on the ground more effectively, extend their help to more people and grow their organisations.

Tell us about Google Ad Grants

Google Ad Grants are suitable for most charities and allow those who successfully apply up to £105,000 a year in funding for their digital adverts. Where normally, advertisers have to pay on a pay-per-click basis for their ads, the grant that non profits can get absorbs this cost. This means they can advertise to improve donations, build awareness and engagement, and drive recruitment, without paying Google a penny.

Essentially, we choose a range of keywords related to the mission of the non profit, which are entered into an online auction every time someone searches for that phrase. Whichever bid wins the auction, gets to display an advert that encourages traffic onto their website.

We can use a variety of different adverts to encourage different actions, whether it’s newsletter sign ups, donations, reading content, or submitting recruitment/volunteer/long term donor applications.

How do Google Ad Grants benefit non-profits?

By breaking down the different keywords into Fundraising, Awareness and Recruitment categories and developing highly specific ad text, non profits can meet their internal targets more efficiently, through providing enormous online visibility, which in turn allows them to find more people to help, collect extra donations, promote their events or awareness programmes and canvas for additional support.

All of these objectives work in tandem with each other, so by reaching a new audience who may read a few blogs and become aware of the charity, they may become more engaged with the goings on, sign up for the newsletter and eventually donate.

In normal fundraisers or activities that take place in charities to raise awareness or find members to help, there are costs incurred, whether it be putting on a coffee morning, developing direct mail or sending emails out. With Google Ads Grants, there is no cost in acquiring these ‘clicks’ which eventually become supporters, donors or advocators of the non profit!

One charity that we help, National Ugly Mugs struggled to get a web presence as they work in sensitive areas surrounding the support of sex workers in the UK. Because sex work is still illegal, their website was often difficult to find for those who needed it but weren’t aware of the charity. With the help of Google Ads, they are now at the top of Google for searches like ‘mental health support for sex workers’. In fact, their main source of traffic is through this ‘paid search’ channel, meaning it’s responsible for most of the people coming to the site, which they wouldn’t have without the grant.

Photos provided by Web Presence and Joel Muniz