December 2006

Posted on December 21st, 2006 by Crystal Coding

Crystal Coding Concepts Newsletter

Rliable Solutions for Ecommerce, Web Apption Development, and Search Engine Optimization

December 2006

Happy Holidays from Crystal Coding Concepts. This month’s newsletter will cover topics related to the holiday season including 3 tips on giving, shopping online, and a non-profit client spotlight. We also have a gift offer for you.

3 Tips - On Giving This Season

This month’s topic is on Giving This Season. During the holidays, we are inundated with companies and organizations asking us to give. How do you know if your money is getting to the people who really need it? Tip #1: Look up the organization on Charity Navigator

Charity Navigator is an independent evaluator of charities. With one quick search, you can see how the organization is rated using a simple 4-star system. It also considers a charity’s organizational efficiency, capacity ratings, revenues, and expenses.

Tip #2: Find out how much of your donation is spent on administrative expenses.

It is amazing how many organizations use 10%, 20%, even 30% of your donation for fundraising and administration. It is better to give to an organization where administrative expenses are less than 5%. The American Cancer Society, a highly regarded charity, has administrative expenses of about 8.1% and fundraising expenses of about 22.4%. This means that over 30% of your donation is allocated to the operations of the American Cancer Society.

Tip #3: Give your time

Often giving your time is worth more than giving your $$$.

Volunteering can be more than serving food at a soup kitchen or sorting clothes and toys. You can donate your time in your expertise. Sites like www.VolunteerMatch.org help volunteers find organizations that need help. Whether you are a designer, accountant, or marketing specialist - there is a way you can volunteer your time and make a difference.

Better Ways to Donate to Charities

Pointing, Clicking, and Buying Away to a Happier Holiday

In a not too distant past, I dreaded the drive to the crowded mall in hopes of finding some great sales for my holiday shopping. While my memory is a bit fuzzy, I have worked really hard on blocking out this traumatic experience, I do remember the agony, the heart palpitations, the cold sweat, and the blurry vision, being but a few of the physical reactions that I would get as I approached the mall. From yonder in my car, I would barely make out the department stores’ signs. They looked more like a figment of my imagination. Then the reality would set in. I had to devise a strategy to beat the twenty-plus cars in front of me to a parking spot. But that was just the beginning and that is all that I am able to remember.

Fast forward from then to the present and I am but one of the 19 million shoppers who logged on to the Internet this past Black Friday to begin shopping for the holidays. Ah, but the ease of pointing, clicking, and buying, oh my, has just made me a jollier holiday shopper.

But I am not alone. Black Friday, while traditionally a brick and mortar shopping day that marks the start of the holiday shopping season, this year experienced a growth of 42% from last year’s online shopping, or $434 million in sales, according to comScore Networks. Moreover, comScore projected that this year’s Cyber Monday, a day designated as the beginning of the holiday online shopping because employees return to work where they can access their company’s high-speed Internet, had $599 million in sales, an increase in 24% from last year.

It seems that consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with shopping online which explains why this market spends up to 60% more than if they shopped only at the traditional brick and mortar stores, according to retail consulting firm Bain & Co. The ease of pointing, clicking, and buying entices consumers to shop more, especially when lured by free shipping and other promotional deals that are offered.

Customers, like me, are hungry for electronic gadgets, clothing and other good deals that we can find online. Ah, but finding a deal is key, just like finding a parking spot at the mall during this time of the year.

Help shoppers find your deals online by optimizing your e-commerce site. In the spirit of the holidays, Crystal Coding Concepts is gifting a free consultation worth $150 on marketing your business online, getting your products listed on shopping portals, or search engine optimization. We extend this generous offer to you because we want to see your business grow and to be part of your success. This is a limited time offer for December 2006. Call us today to set up your free consultation.

Don’t you want your share of the online market?

- Giovanna Aquilar

Pointing, Clicking, and Buying

In This Issue

3 Tips - On Giving This Season

Pointing, Clicking, and Buying Away to a Happier Holiday

Client Spotlight
Asha for Education

Crystal Coding Concepts has been involved with developing the Asha for Education site since the mid-1990’s.

The robust online donation system manages donations made to over 70 chapters for hundreds of different projects. In addition, it keeps track of donations made for events such as a 5k run/walk, a concert fundraiser, or a marathon.

A tremendous amount of data mining is available on projects by:

Other features developed on the site include maps that are generated dynamically based on project location in a database, content management systems (CMS), donations by chapter / event / project / person, and donor/customer relations management systems (CRM).