Using the Internet to Promote a Cause: Introduction
I have received a number of emails, questions, and requests for information about how to use the internet and internet marketing techniques in order to promote humanitarian, charitable, and non-profit causes.
Rather than spend my time re-explaining things to dozens of people in emails or over the phone, I’ve decided to write a simple series of posts about just that subject – how to use the internet to promote a cause.
The questions I have received did not come from individuals who already work online or who could be classified to any degree as computer or internet “geeks,” but from individuals with more offline lives, to whom these subjects are relatively unfamiliar. Therefore, in writing about this subject I will not assume that you know anything about the internet or have any familiarity with using the internet to promote anything – causes or otherwise.
If you are an experienced blogger, internet marketer, or webmaster, these posts will contain a lot of what you would consider old data. I wanted these posts to communicate to those who have very little familiarity with this field.
Why use the Internet?
The fact is, the internet is possibly the most powerful tool we have ever had for the broad-scale and rapid spread of ideas and communications on a broad scale.
Compare our current circumstances to just a few hundred years ago, and what it took to get a message across long distances or distributed to many people. When one had to ride overland on horseback with a letter, signed and sealed in wax, and often through dangerous environments or enemy territory. In those days, one never even knew for sure if such a message would reach its intended recipient – and if it did, the originator did not always know whether the message had arrived or not.
Just fifteen years ago, the only way for most people to communicate over long distances was through paper mail, expensive phone calls, or perhaps a fax. In many areas of the world, no international communication was possible, even when phone lines and basic infrastructure were in place. In some places, one still had to use a telegram service.
While it is true that there are still many areas of the modern world which do not have ready internet access, I’m sure you understand that this is not really my point. The reach and scope of the internet is growing every day. Even in the middle of nowhere it is technically feasible to go online. You might need a special satellite connection, but less than two decades ago, it was not even a possibility.
Fifteen years ago, if you wanted to research a subject, or find out more information about a particular place or organization, you would most likely visit your local (or not so local) library.
These days, you sit down with your laptop – possibly in a cafe, or in your Saturday morning pajamas with your coffee – and you go online. Or at least, most people do!
Furthermore, the speed with which ideas and communications can spread on the Internet is phenomenal. The most famous example is the spread of one of one of the first free email services in 1996. The service expanded from having under 500,000 users, to having over 12,000,000 users, in less than a year’s time. The reason for this was because a simple advertisement was placed at the bottom of every email which was sent, encouraging the recipients to try using the free email service as well.
Entrepreneurs and businessmen have already caught on to the power of the internet in order to expand their businesses, earn a considerable income while working from home, or to become millionaires.
The non-profits are catching on as well. Though, not as quickly as they could.
I am writing this series from the viewpoint of how the internet can be used to promote non-profit activities and humanitarian or charitable causes.
Many of the concepts I will go over are basic to businesses, social purposes, and income-generating activities, but the central focus will be how the Internet can be used to promote non-profit activities and humanitarian causes.
The internet is a constantly changing playing field. Promotion strategies which seem to work today might not work a month from now; and within a year, some “successful” techniques might become completely defunct. However, in order to “ride the waves of change” and come out on top every time, one does not need to do any super-complex study. One mainly needs to comprehend some very basic principles, and try to stay up-to-date with our changing times in cyberspace as much as possible – which isn’t all that hard either.
I will cover these concepts in a few basic stages. I will begin with the concepts that are most applicable to anyone who uses the Internet, and who would like use simple techniques to support or promote a charity or a cause. I will possibly follow up with information that is relevant to those who already have their own websites, pages, or videos published online (or who would like to).
Basic Assumptions
I will write this series from the standpoint of a few assumptions.
- I will assume that you have some interest in promoting humanitarian or charitable causes and are willing to spend some time to do this (even if just a little).
- I will assume that you are somewhat familiar with the internet, that you know how to read and respond to your email, how to search for information online, and how to start up your computer (at least most of the time).
- I will not assume that you have any more advanced knowledge than that. Those of you who do might still find beneficial information in this book, although some of it may not be new.
Please leave a comment if you have any questions, so that I can direct you to more information, add additional data as necessary. I am also very happy to hear your feedback.
Remember, if you come to any word or term you don’t know, you can look for a definition in a dictionary or at www.onelook.com. If that doesn’t work, try searching for the term in http://www.google.com or in a dictionary.
For example, if I used the word “dog” and you didn’t know what a dog was, you could go to Google and search for “what does dog mean” or “dog definition” or “dog glossary.”
