What makes someone hitting your web page stick around, join an e-mail list, forward to a friend? This Slideshare presentation makes clear that design and content both play crucial roles in creating (or undermining) an appearance of credibility on a website. The research here is much deeper and could be of particular interest for anyone involved in a redesign ("Websites lose credibility whenever they make it hard for users to accomplish their task at hand"), but here are a handful of top-level takeaways of use for any nonprofit whatever their web presence or expertise:

• Show your physical address -- proving the existence of a real organization that stands behind the site.
• Don't link to non-credible outside sites ... but do link to source material for your claims, showing confidence in your positions.
• Update often.
• "Small errors like misspellings and broken links hurt a site's credibility more than most people imagine."

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Last week, I went to the New Media Marketing Conference offered by DMAW. My reason for going was that I wanted to see what for-profit's were doing with marketing in the days of web 2.0 goodness. Fear not, nonprofits; they're trying to figure out what we've been up to for the last few years. Most of the conference was about the basics of "new media". Should you have a blog? Answer: probably. The most rousing contribution came from CC Chapman*, who delved into just how wide the reach of digital media is for for-profit companies. People are blogging, posting, Twittering, and Facebooking about YOUR company. Angry is better than silent, so pay attention.

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I had the opportunity to "sit down with" -- read: e-mail -- Jim Gilliam of Brave New Films about the Fox Attacks campaign to hit the "news" channel where its advertisers are. The campaign has taken blogistan by storm, which Brave New Films seems to have down to a science. So what's the magic behind the curtain? Read on ...

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In this week's edition, we circle back to donations analysis to explore an oft-asked question.

A Word From Our Attorneys This entry is meant to aid ROI calculations for marketing, not for purchasing e-mail addresses. DIA users in particular should be aware that our opt-in policy prohibits mailing a purchased list from a DIA account.

Last month, the Tipsheet's three-part series (I, II, III) explored timing the release of your donations appeal. Today, we're getting a little bit more abstract. Using the entire year's collection of gift data from throughout the DIA universe, we're going to try to get at what a supporter might be expected to contribute ... and as a result, what they're worth to obtain in the first place. Numbers on the flip.

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