Our friends, the K-9 Parish Comfort Dogs, were featured on CNN while they were visiting children in a hospital in Oklahoma. Watch the segment on CNN.com

You can support the K-9 Comfort Dogs and their mission by donating to their online fundraiser.

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[Featured Fundraisers]

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[Five Fundraisers for Oklahoma]

Image via the Washington Post.

The recent tornadoes in Oklahoma have left a path of devastation in their wake. As Oklahomans struggle to rebuild their lives, we at Razoo wish to do all we can to support the organziations on the ground assisting with emergency response and relief. Here are several fundraisers dedicated to Oklahoma:

Newly Added:

Oklahoma Tornado Relief 2013

Oklahoma’s death toll and damages are still growing. Church of the Incarnation is an official Red Cross “Ready When The Time Comes” secondary response team, coordinating with the Red Cross to help offer help to victims. We have helped the victims of natural disasters in Joplin, Tuscaloosa, after Katrina ravaged New Orleans, and abroad. Help us do our part in caring for the needs of the victims of the tornadoes.

Disaster Relief – Oklahoma Tornadoes May 2013

Donate to those affected by the tornadoes that devastated the communites in Oklahoma on May 20, 2013. The Land O’Lakes Foundation will match all donations up to a total of $10,000.

Previously Added:

LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs Travel to Oklahoma

Early reports of many fatalities, injuries, and severe damage are coming in from Moore, Oklahoma where a massive tornado cut a two-mile wide path through this town of 56,000 people. The LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs have received an invitation from Pastor Muenchow and Messiah Lutheran Church, and are on standby and will deploy to Oklahoma as early as tomorrow. We are waiting for word when it is safe to enter the area. Please keep all in your prayers.

AmeriCares in Oklahoma

As search and rescue operations continue after a massive mile-wide tornado shattered a southern suburb of Oklahoma City, our disaster relief team has deployed to the region to assess urgent needs and coordinate deliveries of emergency aid for victims of the heartbreaking disaster.

Oklahoma Tornado Relief Fund

Send your compassion in the form of a dollar amount contribution to Central Oklahoma’s United Way Foundation.

Be Moore: Help those affected in Oklahoma

Help those affected by the devastating tornado in Oklahoma by donating today! United Way of Central Oklahoma specifically states on its page that a disaster relief fund will be made available on May 21st for those wishing to donate directly to the tornado relief efforts. At this point, they have said that monetary donations will be the most helpful so they can spend the money on necessary things right away. Why be less when you can be Moore? Donate today.

Feed the Children: Oklahoma

Feed The Children, the largest nonprofit in the state of Oklahoma, has established seven locations in Oklahoma City to accept donations that will aid victims of the Moore tornadoes. Feed The Children is coordinating with other organizations and with authorities at the Emergency Operations Center to deliver disaster supplies as requests for aid are received. Water and lasagna has already been delivered to the American Red Cross and Salvation Army to help with hydration and meal preparation for first responders.

 [Start a Fundraiser]

Trips for Kids Bike Thrift Shop, called the Re-Cyclery, perhaps the largest bicycle thrift shop in the country, is the quintessential “Green Business.”  Located at 610 4^th Street in San Rafael, California, the shop gives bikes a second life by refurbishing and re-selling them, along with donated used parts, accessories and clothing. In addition to donations from individuals, each year more than 100 bike companies donate new, over-stocked  merchandise that we sell at steep discounts making the shop even more attractive to customers.  Our bikes provide affordable and environmentally friendly transportation options to the entire community and are especially accessible to  low-income residents.

One of the easiest ways to support Trips for Kids is to donate your good, used bikes, accessories, clothing and shoes, and then shop for new items from our ever-changing inventory.  Your donations are tax-deductible!

Here is a sampling of what we hear from our satisfied customers:

“My car broke down and I was across the street and about to call a cab.  I saw your shop & came over and bought a bike instead for $15.”

After refurbishing an old junker bike into a shining, beautiful bike our satisfied customer exclaimed, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.”

First-time customer visited our shop and was heard saying as he entered the clothing room “I think I just died and went to heaven”.  A similar thought from another customer on entering the clothing room,  “I was going to try to be strong and not go in there but here goes.  I just came for a barrel adjuster and some cable”

“Finding things like this – a sealed bottom bracket – well, you can’t find that in any store any more. Technology has passed it by, so if you like to restore old bikes and keep them on the road, well, this is the only show in town. I would have had to spend $40 on a part in a store that would have worked. This was $5, including tax.”

“Wow…what is not to like about the Re-cyclery?  Big selection of bikes and parts, really great prices, knowledgeable and helpful staff, keeps stuff out of landfill, profits go to programs for kids who can use a break, and supported by some of Marin’s own world-class musicians!”

 “This place is a treasure trove if you’re building a bike. Plenty of “here’s one I made earlier” used models to choose from, but if it’s parts you need, then an hour sifting through their bins can turn up some gold – Thomson seatpost a prime example. “

For more information www.tripsforkids.org,  415-458-2986, info@tripsforkids.org

The K-9 Comfort Dogs will be deploying to Oklahoma as soon as the area is deemed safe for travel. Their mission is to comfort and care for those affected by tragedy. You can support their mission by donating to their fundraiser:

LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs Travel to Oklahoma

Listen to the Podcast

…via betype…

When it comes to driving traffic to your Razoo fundraiser, the same holds true.  It’s important to understand your audience and the people that are most likely to help you reach your fundraising goal.  Having an understanding of who your audience is can assist you in driving qualified traffic to your page, meaning people who are more likely to donate to your cause.  One very cost effective way to do this is through Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

SEO is the process of driving traffic from the unpaid or “natural” search listings from search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.  The goal of SEO is to have your content as visible as possible for keyword searches related to your content and thus drive “free traffic” to your page. Ideally, you want to be at the top of the first page of results for a keyword search related to your cause.  For example, if you are raising funds for your local ASPCA you want your Razoo page to show up in the top of search results for searches like ‘animal fundraising’ or ‘fundraising for animals’ in the search engines.

To get you started, there are a few fundamental steps in the search engine optimization process that we’ll review one at a time below.  The most important thing to know about SEO may seem contradictory but you should always build a website or a web page with humans in mind…not search engines!  The first step is to create content that people will like and will motivate them to donate to your cause.

Keyword Research

The first step to understanding your audience is Keyword Research.  It’s part psychology and part data mining.  You have to figure out what people would search for to find your fundraiser.  Are they typing in ‘animal fundraising’ or ‘fundraising for animals’?  There are several things you can do to obtain the top 2-3 keywords that you should be focusing on.

1. Do a search!  If you search for ‘animal fundraising’ what comes up in the results?  Are the results similar to your fundraiser page?  Chances are if you do a search and the results aren’t exactly what you expected then you might want to consider changing your keyword focus.  This is what makes search so vast!  We all search differently and think of different keywords.  For example, a mortgage broker may use the term ‘money lending’ in their day to day lingo, but anyone that’s looking for a mortgage is searching for ‘loans’.
2. Use the tools.  Speaking of data mining, there are several great tools that are free to use that can help you identify keywords to include in your copy.

a) Google Keyword Tool allows you to type in any word or phrase and see how many searches take place each month (globally and locally).  The higher the # the more popular the word is.  Keep in mind that the higher the number is it can also mean that the keyword is quite broad and may not be the most specific keyword for your fundraiser.

b) Google Trends allows you to see trends associated with a particular word or phrase.  This is particularly helpful to compare several keywords at once, and over multiple time periods (year over year, month over month, etc.).  Google Trends is also useful for identifying seasonal trends with particular keywords so you know what kind of traffic to expect at different times of the year, depending on when you’re running your fundraise.

3. Your organization’s name and cause (i.e., Second Hand Hounds, animal rescue) should be part of your keyword focus.

On-Page Optimization

After you’ve identified 2-3 top keywords for your fundraiser, here are a few DO’s and DON’Ts for how to best incorporate the keywords into your fundraiser page copy:

• Do mention your organization’s name several times along with your overall cause or mission. Your top 2-3 keywords should be used to create a theme for your page that tells someone what your fundraiser is about and what cause you are fundraising for.  Keeping with the ‘animal fundraising’ example, if you are raising money for a local shelter or rescue it might be helpful to include keywords like ‘animal shelter’, ‘animal rescue’ or ‘vet bills’.

•  Don’t stuff your content with keywords.  It’s important to remember the content you create should be focused on people (not search engines) reading your page.  You should strive to have 2-3% keyword density; meaning that for every 100 words of content you create you should have 2-3 instances of your top keywords.  The copy should sound natural, not forced.

• Do include the name of your organization in your fundraiser title.

• Do write copy with emotion.  Assuming people arrive at your page you want them to donate!  Write meaningful, impactful copy that entice people to not only donate but also link to your fundraiser.

External Linking

One of the most important factors in gaining and maintaining visibility in the search engines is external linking.  In other words, getting other sites to link to your content.

It’s not a competition to see who can get the most amount of links, rather it’s important to obtain quality links from sites that are relevant to your page.  Links from personal blogs are all great quality links and easy to achieve.  Reach out to other bloggers and top ranking websites in the same niche and tell them about your cause.  Most people are all too happy to help out for a good cause, especially if your cause is relevant to their end users.

There is more value to having a few high quality links than having a large number of low quality links.  Take the time to customize your email communication with the sites you are reaching out to when requesting these links.

Now that you have some SEO basics, take time to review your content to ensure your page is well optimized for search.  Remember!  The goal in SEO is not to build content for search engines but rather for the people who use search engines.  All of the tips listed here are meant to supplement content that is emotionally powerful and simply help you get found by more people that are passionate about the same cause(s) you are.  Now that you know your audience better you can be the life of the fundraising party.

The Lemon Lover’s Lemon Cheesecake Recipe

When you get that life giving you lemons feeling, get creative.

Check out this recipe. Lemon filling, lemon sauce… YUM!