Non-profit organizations need marketing, and luckily for them, it can be done online for less. It just takes some time to develop. Here are some things charity & non-profit groups can do to promote themselves. We’ll Use African United Partnerships for these examples.

1. Start a blog. Yes, this is obvious, but the way you craft it really counts here. To be really effective, talk about what you are doing. Tell stories about what is going on. Most importantly though, show the results that donations are doing. Keep it positive and show people that their donation money is being put to good work, and to make them feel good about helping out.
2. Fundable.com. This site is totally dedicated to fund raising. It allows users to set a timeline and dollar amount for your cause. Its quick and easy to use, to boot. The only thing to be aware of is that if you don’t meet your goal within the deadline set no money gets donated at all. If you are confident you can make it though, this is a great, easy tool to use. For an example of this, check out the page for African United Partnerships .
3. Squidoo. This was originally started for charity groups, so this should be a no brainer. You can eve submit your group to be added to their list of charity/non-profit groups. This means that any user creating a lens can have a portion of any profits made on it go to your group. Be sure to join groups to take advantage of this. Once again, check out the lens from African United Partnerships to see how it’s done.
4. Blog Networks. Once you start a blog be sure to claim it on a blogging community like MyBlogLog.com and BlogCatalog.com. Be sure to follow other blogs here to grab their attention as well.
5. Mingle. Don’t just build these things and sit on it. Talk to people! Read other blogs and comment on them. Send them emails with helpful things. Make them see you as valuable. When the time comes, they will return the favor.
6. Main Site. Make sure you have a professional looking main site that details your cause well. Also, make sure there is a very clear, easy way to donate. It doesn’t help to get people rallied for your cause, but be confused on how to help.  Here, we see that AUP (http://africanunitedpartnerships.org) has a professional site with obvious donate buttons on every page.

The important thing to note is that you really have to focus with these and take the time to cultivate them. Use the powerful social aspect of these tools to build links and relationships with other people. It is also important that you look professional. People want to make sure their money is going to a good cause. Leverage the power of relationship building combined with good design on your sites to build that trust and audience. The web has some powerful methods of reaching people around the world. Take advantage of it to spread the word.

This post, Web Marketing Nonprofit Organizations is written by guest writer Hans Strock.