How to create a self hosted Crowdfunding campaign

How to create a self hosted Crowdfunding campaign
Using the Sedra widget

Do you want to create a Crowdfunding campaign, and do not know where to host it? You may want to consider hosting the campaign on your own website, or other websites that will bring more traffic to your campaign. This article will show you how to create a self hosted Crowdfunding campaign using widget code.

In this article, we are going to explore several options for those who want a successful strategy for running a self hosted Crowdfunding campaign.

Your options

First, is the Reach Crowdfunding platform. Reach is a free to use Crowdfunding platform with the Sedra widget built in, so that you can host your Crowdfunding platform on any new or exisiting website of your choice.

The second option is using the Atlas subscription plan. Atlas will allow you to run fully white labeled Crowdfunding platforms, and campaings. It is fully customizable via Administrator dashboard where you can manipulate the look, and functionality of the website, and the front end source code where you or your developers can manipulate the platform and campaings to its full extent.

No matter what option you decide to use, the process of creating a campaign, and and adding the widget to your site will be the same.

Why should you use a self hosted Crowdfunding campaign?

Below is a list of reasons to use a Crowdfunding campaign hosted on your own website:

  1. Brand/Label it as your own. When hosting a Crowdfunding campaign on a separate website, you are also promoting that platform rather than solely your own brand.
  2. Do not have to pay a percentage fee. You can avoid the transaction fee that the platforms take from your campaign by using the Sedra widget. You only pay the monthly fee. If you are using the Reach platform, it is 100% free.
  3. You will be approved. Most platforms have to approve your campaign, which takes time. You can skip this step all together with your own self hosted Crowdfunding campaign.
  4. Keep your customers/backers in your own system. You can fully control the customer experience.
  5. Track and export all of the data. You can track which marketing avenues are performing best by using analytics software on your website, and export all of the data into a .CSV file for future campaigns.
  6. Add any custom workflow. You will have access to the front end source code, so you can create any type of custom feature that is needed for the campaign when using the Atlas subscription plan.
  7. The widget can be used on any website. If you do not have a website, you can still provide another website with the widget code, and they can host the campaign for you.

There are many platforms available that you can post a Crowdfunding campaign on, but they typically do not provide any code to use on a separate website. This is considered widget code, as the widgets can be used anywhere.

If you are considering to create a self hosted Crowdfunding campaign, you need to know what software to use for your campaign. There are various options available that you can use to host your own Crowdfunding campaign on your website of choice. For this article, we will describe how to use the Sedra widget so you can use self hosted donation and reward capabilities on your website of choice.

What does the Sedra widget do?

The Sedra widget allows users to view, and donate to the Crowdfunding campaign without any redirects. It provides self hosting donation and fundraising capabilities for any website. Copy a small snippet of HTML code to your website page and get CrowdFunding campaign running instantly. Customize and White-label the widget through settings or via front end source code.

How to use the Sedra widget

You can watch the following video to learn how to use the Sedra widget:

 

How to get started

Step 1

Sign up for the Atlas subscription plan, or use the Reach Crowdfunding platform. Interested in the Atlas subscription plan, but dont want to purchase yet? You also have the option of signing up for the 14-day free trial if you want to test out the functionalities that are available on Atlas and make sure that you are making the right decision for your Crowdfunding campaign. The sedra widget will work the same no matter what option you decide to use.

Step 2

Create the campaign. Once you sign up for the Atlas subscription plan, or create a new Reach account, you can click on the start button on the home page. Which will bring to the following page:thrinacia-title

Next, fill out all of the campaign creation steps:

 

campaign creation steps UI
Create new campaign UI

Step 3

Copy and paste the widget code. To do this, you can go to the preview step, and click on the preview tab. You will see the widget code to copy and paste on to another website of your choice:

widget3

That is it, you are done! As you can see, it is quite simple to add your own self hosted donation and fundraising capabilities on your website of choice. If you decide to use the Atlas subscription plan, you may want to learn how to quickly set up the platform to use the widget.