[Photo credit: Adopt a Pet, Live Longer! by sayheypatrick, on Flickr]

You may already have a Donate page on your website where you make it possible (and easy) for people to support you. But how many people click through to your Donate page compared to other pages of your site? I’m willing to make the sad bet it’s not at the top of the list.

Some pages, though, are stars. They consistently receive more visitors than other pages. This might be the Dog of the Week adoption page or your contact information page. People either love or need what’s there, so they come back, day after day.

While you should stay true to the main focus of these pages, start to think of them as a way to reach out to potential donors by putting a call to donate on these busiest pages of your site.

To find which pages pull in the droves, tap your Web analytics service, such as Clicky or Google Analytics. Most have a section that lists the top 10 or more pages in terms of traffic. Pick the top pages from this list and ask people to support there.

It helps if you can elegantly work in the plea for funds with the focus of the page. If it’s the Homeless Dog of the Week page, for instance, you may want to include something like:

“Can’t take Buster home? Support him and his doggy friends by donating $20 right now by clicking here.”

That’s it. Stand back, keep checking your traffic and donation box, and see if your income doesn’t increase. Make sure to come back and tell us how it went.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has a great article about what prevents people from giving online (Confusing Web Sites Discourage Donors From Online Giving). What does it come down to? Bad design.

Nielsen Norman Group, which conducted the research and wrote it into this report. A summary of the biggest problems, which I can testify are the same problems we fix too:

• Poor presentation of the charity’s mission
• No information on how contributions are spent
• Poor page design and unclear content makes it hard to find how to donate

Most of those issues are text related, so make your changes right now.

Nothing wrenches the heart like a dehydrated koala. I know I’ve watched the koala drinking water on the YouTube Bush Fire Tragedy Crisis video at least a dozen times since it went up.

It’s sweet and heartrending, but it’s also a great lesson by in the power of the video, the web and asking for money when you need it. This isn’t just a YouTube video. It also contains a plea from Victoria, Australia’s RSPCA for animal welfare donations and a note that international donations are welcome. It’s working. People from all over the world have given a money – sometimes just a few dollars – to help. It’s adding up to a lot more support than this koala would receive if it hadn’t starred on the web.

But it’s also a lesson in making sure your backend is capable of handling a sudden influx of support. The RSPCA servers are having trouble accepting all the donations that are coming in. If you have a cause for money (especially if it involves a desperately cute cuddly animal that drinks from a bottle while holding your hand), make sure you have a backup plan for taking donations when they’re offered.

See the video:

With some mighty big funders losing money because of the bad economy and the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, this is a good time for nonprofits embrace grassroots fundraising. This, after all, is how the president-to-be was able to raise such an enormous sum: lots of people making moderate donations.

If you’re not raising funds online, do it! Too many websites make it too hard – or impossible – to give online. Here are the top 10 transgressions I’ve seen many times. Learn from these mistakes.

1. No Donate or Give button. Don’t be shy. People want to donate. How will they know to if you don’t ask?
2. Donate/Give button not big enough. Make it easy for them to see a donate button. Big red or orange buttons are good.
3. No way to pay online. Sometimes those big buttons lead to an e-mail or snail mail address. People sit at their computers with a credit card in hand, ready to pay. Our clients use our shopping cart technology to collect donations, sell T-shirts and mugs or accept reservations for events – all classified as fundraising. That’s the best return on your investment, and there are plenty of free services out there too.
4. Clashing systems. Make sure your fundraising efforts dance together, not bump into each other. Coordinate direct mail campaigns with online campaigns, with a goal of moving more online. It’s vastly cheaper.
5. Neglecting other technology. You can ask for support though e-mail, blog, Facebook, and other places in addition to your website.
6. Paranoia. I’m always a little surprised to hear how many people think it’s unsafe to ask for money online. True, nothing is completely safe from fraud, and you shouldn’t be taking credit card numbers through e-mail, but donating through a secure website is much safer than a check in the mail.
7. Asking for support once. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
8. Not rallying the troops. Tell others to tell their friends about how they donated. Give them a button for their website that links back to yours. Have your supporters help by spreading the word.
9. Not tracking. There are great tools out there that you can use that track the number of people who’ve visited your site and what they did when they got there. Make sure you keep records of traffic and compare it month by month to see how your online fundraising campaign is doing.
10. Bad publicity. Asking for money isn’t enough. You need to market your campaign. Aim for media coverage, write about new campaigns in all of your literature and partner with other organizations for added punch.

If you have a second, check out Wikipedia, which is trying to earn $6m through donations. They’re asking for it in the best way, which is to put a prominent request at the top of the page, remind people how useful Wikipedia is, and tell donors how much they count on their support. All in just a few words.

A strategy any nonprofit can follow to raise funds.