Free assistance offered on online marketing and social media

Hello everyone,

I'm happy to share my knowledge and online influence to assist permies and cottage industries in getting visibility online. If you have questions about blogging, social media, advertising, content, getting featured on major sites - that kind of thing - just ask me questions here and I'll come back and answer it. If you need something promoted online, I have 90,716 followers tonight on Twitter and boards with 3200+ followers on Pinterest where I can share for you. I'm not as strong on the other major social networks, but I have accounts on all of the non-mobile only networks.

If you need a web page up I have a domain we can put it on so it won't cost you anything unless you want to register your own domain (which is a good idea). Domains cost around $12-$15 a year and can be pointed at any page.

I live in Costa Rica on the Pacific side. A friend of mine has a howler monkey rescue center in Nosara. The monkeys are brought to her from all over the country....most commonly an orphan whose mother has been bar b cued on electric wires. The monkeys are raised and those that are able are released back into the wild. The release ranch in Norsara is over populated now & we have talked about building a new release center here on my ranch up in the mountains above Nosara. They would have access to over 1500 hectares (1 hectare=2.46 acres) of forested land.
What I am wondering is if you have any connections with people who would be willing to donate to build the holding pen here. The monkeys are kept in a very large cage with individual sleeping platforms for 45 days and fed (as always) only what they will be grazing on in the wild. then the door is opened and they are fed until they venture off.
Donations could be made directly to the sanctuary so as to be certain where the money is going.
If you have ANY ideas that could help me with this I would be most grateful
Thank you
Pura Vida, Nancy

Nancy Bush wrote:I live in Costa Rica on the Pacific side. A friend of mine has a howler monkey rescue center in Nosara. The monkeys are brought to her from all over the country....most commonly an orphan whose mother has been bar b cued on electric wires. The monkeys are raised and those that are able are released back into the wild. The release ranch in Norsara is over populated now & we have talked about building a new release center here on my ranch up in the mountains above Nosara. They would have access to over 1500 hectares (1 hectare=2.46 acres) of forested land.
What I am wondering is if you have any connections with people who would be willing to donate to build the holding pen here. The monkeys are kept in a very large cage with individual sleeping platforms for 45 days and fed (as always) only what they will be grazing on in the wild. then the door is opened and they are fed until they venture off.
Donations could be made directly to the sanctuary so as to be certain where the money is going.
If you have ANY ideas that could help me with this I would be most grateful
Thank you
Pura Vida, Nancy

Hi Nancy,

This is the kind of thing that can do well on crowdfunding platforms like IndieGoGo or Kickstarter. The key is to have excellent photographs and at least one video and tell the story well when you set up the campaign. You only get a short window of opportunity to grab attention while you are featured briefly, so it has to be very compelling and emotional.

Be sure to read the fine print. There are two types of fundraising. One kind you must raise your goal or you get nothing. The other kind you get whatever you raise even if you can't get to your goal. One of two things typically happens. Either a project grabs people's attention and takes off - or it doesn't. So you must do everything you can to make sure it takes off.

Also note that some platforms only take credit cards (so anyone without a credit card can't contribute) and others take PayPal. Some may prohibit donations from particular countries.

This page lists the Top 10 Crowdfunding platforms http://crowdfunding.com/. Choose the one you find most appealing and create - but DO NOT make it live. Once it is ready, let me look at it and tell you how to get some advance support so it takes off instead of fizzles out at the very beginning.

One way to make sure it takes off is to line up supporters in advance who are willing to at least donate a dollar or two or whatever the minimum is. The more activity on your campaign, the longer it will be visible and have a chance to go viral. Remember that cute photos and videos are the key to getting people to donate. I will try to watch for messages here, but just in case you can reach me @GrowMap on Twitter (send a regular tweet) or message me on Skype (username growmap) or message me on LinkedIn or Facebook. (I am growmap everywhere.)