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I am doing some freebie work for a wonderful non profit.
Does anyone know of niche non profit directories, and any directories which wave their fees for a registered 501c website.
Thank you very much
Steven
...what's £40 quid these days...
£800 if you submit to twenty directories.
In addition to the first three suggestions, simply emailing them may get your site in, especially if you can prove the non-profit status.
You may not obtain a listing within a business category in Yahoo as there isn't generally an option for that in business related categories.
Neither Yahoo nor ODP charge for submission of nonprofit organization websites.
Those are the two most valuable directories, and as noted, for your site you won't pay. If the sites are worth listing (unique content), then it shouldn't be any great problem getting in.
So in theory going with the Yahoo dir, could result in losing the 200 dollars. Now people only have $600 more to lose out of Martin's suggested $800.....
Few directories REALLY deliver, and the ones that do are greedy - very greedy, as they are usually established and know they can get away with it. Unfortunately, these players aren't in the market to serve the small webmaster and to them we are but a number. Ka-ching Ka-ching - may be demotivational to some, but a fact of life with these companies.
They are giant cash eaters, who are used to dealing with large businesses that don't care about chucking away £500 to £8'000 on a directory campaign. So they treat everyone and think every new business has some team and investments etc - and that's why there's so much of this telesales. Yes, it may be a numbers game for these major publishers, but they think every business has massive funds when it's just not the case at all.
Find a few targeted websites and 1 main SE and plough cash into some kind of campaign. That will get things moving and deliver much more than a general directory ever can. Once some profits are made - think about an ad agency, as they are experts with everything to do with advertising.
Once some profits are made - think about an ad agency, as they are experts with everything to do with advertising.
EK, what the hell are you talking about? The original poster is promoting a non-profit organization.
It would be helpful if you read the original post before launching into a response.
Ah, yes I know - but you did suggest $800 in directory fees, in response to my point about him not to be worried by paying £40 to JoeAnt, because of hbird64's comment regarding the benfits of becoming an editor.
Phew!
Whether it's non-profit or whatever, everything costs, and he's going to have a hard time tracking down a directory that won't charge. Or do you think BT will just give you a free phone line, or maybe Yell.com will give away one of their enhanced entries for free.
In short, nobody is going to wiave their fees. Non-profit org's pay professional fund raisers to convince companies to let them have millions in donations, and that is a fact as I see MIND's sales people every weekend doing that very thing. Non-profits don't usually make a profit, but they still got bills to pay and staff too, so how are they to get free anything.
No directory will give this to them or waive anything - and all they will do is sell to anyone, profit and non-profit. See it's the sole job of a 'fund raiser' to do just that - it's about approaching investors to 'donate' but it's hidden objective is to find large amounts of cash or something free, like valuable ad space.
See, I know a lot about this, and it looks like I have a grasp on what he means and needs and the reality of getting this. I'm trying to advise the guy here and you're taking the mickey.
Not helpful mate.
Whether it's non-profit or whatever, everything costs, and he's going to have a hard time tracking down a directory that won't charge.
Not quite the case. As someone who runs a "non-profit" organisation (which however supplies some of us with funding), I can say with some assurity that you can get into the Y directory for free, and very quickly. The ODP, of course, has no fee and they look favourably on non-profit organisations. Other than those two, I don't know, but the original poster would make good progress by pursuing those avenues.
Corporate sponsors come in all kinds. My employer (a major corporation) "sponsors" a particular medical foundation. That entails giving employees paid time off from work to organize, promote, etc. The company probably gets some free PR out of it -- their name is on the t-shirts given away, and their facilities are in the background of the photo-ops.
And this isn't at all unusual. Quite a bit of the sponsorship of one local performing arts corporation where my family has volunteered, comes in the way of supplies. I suspect that even some advertising agencies would be willing to give in-kind help to a worthy cause -- not all marketroids have sedimentary hearts!
Think locally, even on the net! If the local Chamber of Commerce has a website, see if they have a directory of local public service organizations. (If not, ask them why not!) When you're asking for donations for local businesses, offer them a "sponsor" logo and a link to add to THEIR website. Remember, the key here is REAL networking, not the virtual kind.
There are a zillion websites asking for money -- some of them even legitimate -- but people (other than total suckers, from whom all the loose money is soon parted) -- people who want to contribute will want to know something first. So it's the people who tell their friends and neighbors and co-workers -- the folk who could be the next volunteers -- that matter. (I've got the logos of the websites _I_ contribute to, on my cubicle wall. And I'm looking for more volunteers.)
When submitting to Yahoo be sure to include the relevant geographical info - you can usually get a couple of regional listings if applicable.
Email the editors of the directories you're interested in being listed in - inquire about a discounted submission rate if they won't give you a free listing.
I'd hope that most quality directories would be willing to add good non-commercial content without charging a fee. It goes to help create a useful directory.
A lot of charities do this fund raising and use a combination of telesales, direct mail and field sales to accomplish different objectives. Each 'technique' has advantages and disadvantages, but they are basically 'begging' for money - and the corporates want more than some link on a website, and I'd imagine it's to be involved in the non-profit's PR campaign.
So, it's unless this guy has something massive incentive for these corporates - he's going to get a lot of NO's... Most contact is done by telesales, as it's success rate is higher than direct mail, infact success rate is about 8%, compared to mailings (4%) - but even then the 'hook' has to be perfect, er like the incentive and many non profits don't possess this leverage or the manpower or expertise to make that impression. I assume the original poster owns/works for a charity of some kind? well, not all non for profit orgs make it to charitable status and many need substantial backing from other sources - before even getting that. So it's tough and a lot more to it than thinking a dmoz link is the answer. Infact why is someone going this route, as I can tell you chasing directories is a waste of time and his time would be better spent utilising other methods for this non for profit org. He's just using the wrong methods for generating cash.
Has he got a release out yet or contacted ad agencies about this? The results would be far superior than seeking out a few namby pamby directories. I mean that concerns me and raises questions in my mind about his skill and what he wants to accomplish here.
But the original post led me to believe this isn't that sort of operation, and the more it DOESN'T look like that sort of operation, the better off both it and its potential contributors will be.
In short, nobody is going to wiave their fees.
That is just plain wrong. If it is a genuine non-profit that does good work, then you should not have to much problem getting some free listings in some of the directories mentioned. Yahoo, ODP, Zeal is all non-profit or non-commercial. It may take some time to track down the right person or editor.
Even Google has the grants program for non-profits:
[google.com...]
That too, will take time to file and get aproved for but they do give away a lot of advertsing to non-profits. They made quite a significant donation to a pro-bono breast cancer .org we used to work with.
That matters not. I bet they only offer this to certain non for profits that fit their 'criteria', and I also wager that they scrutinise to very high standards.
Directories or Adwords is NOT the way to do this, and we don't know anything about this poster's Non-for-profut org anyway, which make advising pointless without more details. But hey, let's all just project our entire subect knowledge (which isn't that much) in the hope it makes us look clever.
Perhaps that isn't the best way to help him, and he'll just go off and do his own thing anyway....
I bet they only offer this to certain non for profits that fit their 'criteria', and I also wager that they scrutinise to very high standards.
Well of course, Google is not going to give free advertising to anyone who calls themselves a charity. Do you have any experience working to promote a non-profit online EK?
Bottom line is if you have a genuine non-profit website for an organization that represents a bonafide charity or volunteer org, there are oportunities out there for free listings, free advertising, corporate sponsorships and more. They aren't going to come out and bite you and unless you are the red cross or a similar size/scope, web properties probably won't seek you out to to give out free advertising. It does take some leg work but can be done on a shoestring budget, consisting mostly of time.
The legwork thing should be a concern for these charities, as money has to be collected quickly so some methods are faster than others - including the telesales route.
Four that I submitted over the last year or so were in within a couple of weeks, two even got sunglasses and one of those, though not commercial in that it sold nothing (a hobby site essentially), had AdSense on it at the time it was submitted.
Sorry, but please don't sticky me looking for a freebie, as I have decided to maintain my anonymity here on WW.
Any tips on getting into the Y directory? I have been trying for the past 2 years with no success. I run a non-profit and have repeatedly posted the site for inclusion into the Y directory. What's funny is the fact that the site pops up #1 for several popular phrases in their web results. I have heard on other parts of this forum that some get approved within weeks, others never. I don't understand, though, why they won't list the site. I got it in the regional AND for a specific subject in DMOZ. It seems thier criteria are more strict the Y's.
mmmmmm.....
