Your Crowdfunding Project Page

Today on Crowdfund it! we are featuring a guest post by Camille McClane.
You can find out more about Camille at the bottom of the post.

Setting up a crowdfunding project page isn’t terribly difficult. In fact, a lot of the third-party crowdfunding sites make it incredibly easy for you to do so.

What’s not so straightforward is getting people to initially take notice of your crowdfunding page. The amount of attention you drive to your crowdfunding page will have a huge impact on whether anyone will donate to your project or not.

With that being said, how you market your campaign and how you plan to get it in front of potential donors’ eyes is extremely important, especially when it comes to content.

Not only is it a matter of people seeing the project’s page, but it’s a matter of them becoming interested and engaged in it as well. It’s a tough sell to ask people to invest their own money into your personal project, but when done correctly, it can yield some incredible results.

So when you setup your crowdfunding page, consider the following qualities, as they’re sure to help you get more attention and engagement from other people:

1. Novelty and a unique message

In an age where unsolicited information is at an all-time high, a crowdfunding campaign isn’t going to get anywhere without a unique premise and mission statement.

You’ve got to keep in mind that people are constantly being bombarded by internet campaigns and a variety of solicitations, crowdfunding or otherwise. In order to avoid falling into the category of internet white noise, your crowdfunding campaign needs to have a novel idea at the root of it, as well as a unique message that will set you apart from all the rest.

In your message, you’ll want to be able to provide your audience with the story behind your campaign and answer these questions:

• Why should they invest in your project?
• Why is this project important to you?
• Why choose you to deliver on the project?

If you’re planning on making a video (as described below), you will also want to make sure address these questions, as not all donors are guaranteed to read your message.

In addition, you’ll also want to take the time to include other examples of your other projects (if any) to further gain trust in your potential backers, as well as links to your blog, site and social media pages to encourage them to become more engaged.

2. A solid video

While not every crowdfunding platform will make it mandatory, every project should have a video, as your campaign could immensely benefit from having a short and to-the-point introductory video that explains your cause and why you’re asking for money.

Make sure that the video quickly engages the viewer while getting the message across in a classy and succinct manner. If your video happens to be long, it is crucial to keep the attention of your potential backers throughout the entire length of the clip.

While on the topic of video, you will also want to take advantage of this option to give your investors updates on how your project is coming along. People will be more likely to stay on board with your campaign when they feel like they are a part of the process and your success.

3. An established social media presence and networking

You can start from the ground up when it comes to social media, but what can really help a crowdfunding campaign is if you already have a well-established social media following.

Once your campaign is up, you can leverage your accounts to get the word out and market your mission statement. The larger your following and presence, the more success you’ll have marketing your campaign and networking with other people.

Getting attention from people you don’t have any connections with (at least in the beginning) can be difficult in the crowdfunding world. What can give your campaign a springboard is if you have a healthy network of personal and professional relationships that you can draw on to get started, before you’ve even started crafting your crowdfunding campaign.

Even if those people don’t end up donating, they’re likely to spread the word and get your page in front of those who they think would be interested in your cause.

Always include links to your social media profiles and do your best to keep them updated on a regular basis.

4. Real value

Perhaps the most important commodity that your crowdfunding project can possess, is real, genuine value.

This goes back to the issue of so much information being shared online – if something doesn’t have value these days, it will immediately get looked over. When aiming to grab the attention of potential backers, you’ll want to make sure that you are able to hold on to that attention as long as possible, or at least long enough to get them on board.

The only way to do that is to have a unique and valuable project for them to support. Take the Robot Dragonfly campaign, for example. Because their idea was so unique and offered so much value, it raised a tremendous amount of interest, and the ultimately were able to raise over $1.1 million, which was a tremendous success considering that their initial goal was to raise $110,000.

Sylvanaqua Farms

Of the initial $5,000 they intended to raise, they ultimately ended up collecting over $8,000. So what made this project so successful? The implemented every point: uniqueness, video, social media and value.

They clearly stated their mission right from the start: to “grow the world’s healthiest food, improve the quality of the land, and encourage communities to take control of their local food supplies.” As if that wasn’t enough to catch the eyes of possible donors, they explained everything they wanted to accomplish in their self-made video, and even connected with the rest of the world through their Facebook page to spread the word. As far as value goes, depending on how much a donor pledged, backers would be able to receive anything from a personalized “thank you” card ($10 or more value) to having personal help from one of the farmers on Sylvanaqua Farms for an entire weekend (household work or even assistance on your homestead or farm), for donors who pledged $1,000 or more.

Being a Good Marketer

Effectively marketing your crowdfunding campaign will mean utilizing everything at your disposal, especially your blog if you have one. If you already have a blog, you should consider using that as a base camp for marketing your crowdfunding project.

If you haven’t already, switching to WordPress could provide you with a powerful new set of tools in the form of plugins and template customizations options, which make a perfect combination for marketing your project, as well as building out your campaign. WordPress has a reputation for being geared towards professional bloggers, due to the level of control that it gives you over your blog. So, if you’re looking for a lot of say and creative input, WordPress is a cut above its competition in that regard.

Once you settle on your platform, take every opportunity you have to market your campaign– but just be sure that you don’t tire people out with it.

Keep in mind– a good campaign should speak for itself.

Camille McClane is a freelance writer and online entrepreneur living in the Los Angeles area. As a writer for HostPapa, she understands how important content is for a campaign or website, and she often enjoys searching for interesting crowdfunding projects to get an idea of how these entrepreneurs are getting attention for their pages. How successful have you been with your own crowdfunding projects? Leave your comments below!