Promote a Charity Event

At WalkJogRun we may not have the coffers to donate vast amounts of money to worthwhile charities but we like to think we offer something more valuable. This guide will help you get the most out of our site to help you promote your race or event so you can attract participants and donations for just a little investment in setup time.

We'll walk through the process of getting your route mapped on the site, getting the event listed in our event directory, leveraging your own website and social media to promote the event and lastly getting a free ad running on the map for people in the city where your event will be held.

Step 1: Create an account

Choosing your account name is your first important decision. Even if you have your own personal WalkJogRun account you should create one specifically for the charity. You'll protect your own password but it also means the member page is only charity event routes and not your own.

The name you pick must be 20 characters or less so you'll have to be creative but make it recognizable. It shows up all over the site and if it doesn't look anything like your business name people will be less inclined to click on it.

Step 2: Add your route to the site

Once you're logged in you'll need to map out the route(s). Adding your route gets you exposure all over the site. Your route will be featured:

• In the route list when people are looking at the neighborhood where the race is to be held.
• In your member page e.g. (my page)
• Any member page who favorites your route by clicking the star icon in the top right
• On the city page, accessible any time someone clicks the city name in any route.

Most importantly you'll be able to show a preview of the route on your own site and include a link so the participants can explore every turn of the course.

1. Click the WalkJogRun logo in the top left to go back to the map page.
2. In the search box beneath the logo search for the address where the race starts. Be as specific as you can and the map will show that location.
3. Click "Create a route" in the top right of the map and hit OK to start mapping.
4. Each click you make will add a turn/marker to the map and you'll see the distance accumulating in the list on the left and the status bar at the bottom. You can click the pencil next to pace and enter the pace in minutes to see how long it would take different participants to run the race.
5. If you make a mistake you can click "undo last point" in the top right to remove it or if you need to move a point other than the last one you can just hover over the white square for that turn on the map and drag it.
6. If your route is an out and back type route just map the first half and hit "out and back" and your course will double back to the start.
7. Once you're happy with the route hit "Save this route" in the top right to see the save dialog.
8. Give it a name people would search for. We optimize the route pages to be found in Google so carefully picking the route name will increase the chances of people finding the route if they search for it in Google.
9. Give it a great description and include a link to your site. A good description describes the course features, introduces the visitor to your cause and offers a short link to your registration page. The links aren't clickable since we don't allow links in descriptions but if it's short enough or a bit.ly link it's easy enough for them to copy or type in.
10. Be sure to set the activity type to run, walk, swim, bike or kayak because we automatically adjust the page title to match whatever you pick here.
11. Hit save and you're done!

Step 3: Promote the route

Once you've created the route you'll see some options you can use to begin spreading the word:

• Use the share buttons for facebook and twitter on the left of the map - for facebook make sure you've clicked "use facebook as yourpagename" from your facebook page to make sure it posts there and not on your personal wall.
• You can add the route to your website or blog. Click the embed link under the route actions selector. Right click the code underneath the preview and copy it to your clipboard. Paste the code directly into your webpage or blog. You may need to select "View HTML" in the toolbar where you write your content and paste it there instead. When you view your page the route should be shown with a link back to the race page so people can see the route.
• Share the link. Copy the URL and use a tool like bit.ly to create a memorable link. If you have a bit.ly account you customize the short code to make it memorable.
• Visit your member page by clicking the username in the top right and you'll see this route and any others on your member page. Be sure to like, plusone and tweet this page for more exposure!

Step 4: Add your event to Active.com

Active.com allows you to list your race in their directory and even collect registrations if you don't want to handle it yourself. The events show up in our event directory once they have been approved.

• Create an account at active.com for the charity and add your event. Be as descriptive as possible and add your logo so the event page really stands out.
• Once your event is listed on active.com email us at with the name and location of your race and the link to the route on WalkJogRun and we'll connect them so the route map is shown on our events page right next to the description.

Step 5: Create an ad for our site

We offer registered charities free ad slots on the site to help promote their races (any other races are charged $200 per month for an ad).

If you have a designer who can create an ad for you we accept 300px wide x 250px tall images or flash movies. Make sure the ad is attractive and has a very clear "call to action". This means using a phrase like "learn more" or "register now". If you don't ask people to do anything they won't!

We only host charity ads for free - if you aren't a registered charity the fee for an ad is $200 (email us for details).

Email us the following information:

1. The image or flash movie 300x250px
2. The webpage you want it to go to If you send us the ad and tell us where you want the ad to link to
3. Proof of your registered charity status or, if you're not a charity, details of where we should send the invoice for the ad.
4. The date of the race and links to your active.com page, your route on WalkJogRun and your WalkJogRun member name.
5. The location of the race and the cities you want the ad to appear in. Be realistic though - as much as we'd like to think people would fly around the world to take part in your race, we know you'll most likely get people within, say, 25 miles of the start line...
6. When do you want the ad to start running?

Step 6: Tell your runners/walkers about us

Once people have signed up for the race you can let them know about WalkJogRun. The account is free and lets them plan out their training routes but also log their training to a diary to track their progress. You might offer prizes to the participants who log the most training miles in a month as a way to keep them excited about their upcoming event.

Step 7: Let us know how your event worked out!

If you follow these steps and it helps your event we want to hear about it so we can feature you as a testimonial to encourage others to use the site!

What have we missed?

Is there anything you'd like to see added to this guide we've not covered? Let us know!