NY Charities New FREE Events Wizzard
Now, for free for the first time, an online giving portal, has a service where a nonprofit can for no fees accept online donations for an event! Sign up at GuideStar.org and then NY Charities and list your upcoming event on your website and use their fee-free E-Ticketing Tool and easy wizzard to set up online donations for your next event!! Read more.
Easy Website Forms with Google!
In another practical and useful development for non-profits, Google Spreadsheets now allows you to create and send forms for collecting information, feedback, RSVPs and more. All of the information input into your form is automatically collected in a spreadsheet hosted online so that everyone on your team can track the information as it streams in. If you haven't yet experimented with the new feature, Google user Lynnette has created a video with step-by-step instructions for creating a form. Another user, Bob, has created a video demonstrating how you can use notifications to find out when people submit information to your form. Even better, you can embed forms into your website.
Free Website Help
Google's Webmaster Central is your one-stop shop for webmaster resources that will help you enhance and increase traffic to your website, and help you learn about your visitors and their favorite pages. This also includes an easy-to-add search box to your website, developer tools (like maps with your custom locations on it), cool widgets (so you can add the weather, time, games and a lot more easily), and much more. All free with a free Gmail account (click for a free Gmail account).
Google Analytics: Web Analytics for non-profits
I think Analytics is a great tool for all advertisers, not just those with shopping carts or e-commerce, and as non-profits there are ways you can make analytics work for you and your organization.
But what is analytics? Analytics is a service that helps you understand the way visitors interact with your website by tracking traffic as it comes into your site, moves through your content and eventually exits to other pages. Analytics can help you understand and respond to visitor behavior while generating a higher ROI on marketing and advertising initiatives. Read more about Google Analytics.
My New Favorite Video
Help empower your community to have these really important, but difficult, conversations. Learn to make video like this. Free or cheap classes at your local neighborhood public access cable channels:
Brooklyn groups: BCAT, 718-935-1122
Bronx groups: BronxNet, 718-960-1180
Manhattan groups: Manh. Neighborhood Ntwk, 212-757-2670. The best training!
Queens groups: Queens Public Television, 718-886-8160
S.I. groups: Staten Island Community TV, 718-727-1414
Favorite Cartoon of the Month
Free Website Optimizing!
Rather than sitting in a room and arguing over what page design will work better, you can save time and eliminate the guesswork by simply letting your visitors tell you what works best. We'll guide you through the process of designing and implementing your first "optimization" experiment. Start optimizing your most important web pages and see detailed reports within hours. Free tool by Google (free but you need a free Google Analytics account which requires a free Gmail account!). Warning, you need to first have Google Analytics and be using it and understand it. Read this if you don't.
Read this cool example of how SitePoint used the Website Optimization Tool.
Fabulous Color Picker Program, Kuler!
Adobe is offering a new color picker program, Kuler, for free! It is the American Idol of color picking programs as it offers both reviews/voting and the ability to create your own color schemes! Now, no worry if you are color-challenged, just use the color picks of fab contributors. My current favorite? 
uas orange by John H. French. What's your favorite?