Indiegogo is a crowdfunding website that offers users the opportunity to raise funds for an idea, start-up business, or charity. Crowdfunding comes in handy for small businesses looking to source extra funds to expand, buy equipment or have a new product idea they need help developing.

Unlike traditional funding, Indiegogo is risk-free compared to seeking bank loans and circumvents application and approval stages. Indiegogo has helped bring more than 800,000 innovative ideas to life thanks to its more than 9 million strong backers, representing 235 countries and territories. The popular crowdfunding platform has some fifteen million people visiting the site each month. Find out everything you need to know about Indiegogo here.

What Is Indiegogo?

Indiegogo is a crowdfunding platform launched in 2008 that lets users finance and launch their startups, campaigns, products, and services. Indiegogo platform users can set up a campaign page to tell their story, introduce their project to potential backers, and then start raising funds by soliciting donations from these potential backers.

It comes with data-driven insights that can help you tweak your proposal for effective campaigns. For its service Indiegogo charges a 5% platform fee on all funds raised for your campaign. The fees are calculated and deducted from the funds you actually raise and not for the financing goal you set.

Benefits of Indiegogo for Small Business Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding through Indiegogo is not simply a way to raise money to finance a new product or venture it comes with other benefits as well, these include:

It is quick and versatile: crowdfunding can raise funds very quickly and also reach a lot of people through marketing campaigns.
Easy to run: You can easily put together a crowdfunding marketing campaign more easily and quickly than pitching to larger investors. Most people who invest in crowdfunding campaigns do so without requiring extensive background information because they tend to be investing a relatively small amount of money.
Access to relatively easy money: crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo lets you raise money for your projects or business without the need to sell off an equity stake or offer collateral for a loan. The money comes in the form of free donations.
The ability to validate your idea, product, project, or startup: crowdfunding platforms can be a great way to get feedback on new products and on whether people would purchase your product or service. It can let you see if people are interested in your products, what problems they want to be addressed, and more.
Create a community around your product or service: They also offer an opportunity to get feedback on improving your product or service while helping to create a community to raise your profile and build bonds with fans and supporters. In addition, investors can track your progress helping you to promote your brand through their networks. Building communities around your product or service can also help you determine to add more features, add tweaks or incorporate other features.

How Does an Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign Work?

Indiegogo offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to find support and financing for their projects. Besides offering you an opportunity to raise funds Indiegogo also offers perks to say thanks to backers, in exchange for different contribution amounts. If you successfully reached your crowdfunding goal, you also have the option to use Indiegogo’s InDemand to continue raising money and build your backer community after your campaign ends.

Any campaign which meets its goal by the campaign deadline, and is in good standing with Indiegogo may move into InDemand. If your campaign did not meet its goal by the deadline, it is not eligible for InDemand and your campaign will remain closed. In addition, successful campaigns can offer your backers ‘perks’ that can be objects, acknowledgment, a thank you, services, events, or anything that does not violate Indiegogo’s Terms of Use.

How Do You Qualify for Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaigns?

To qualify as an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, you must be 18 years of age or older, a legal resident or have a business entity registered in one of the listed eligible countries. Campaign owners can create campaigns in their own name, or on behalf of a registered legal entity with which they are affiliated; have an address and bank account from the country in which you are creating a campaign, and their linked bank account must belong to the person who verified their identity for the campaign.

When it comes to the type of campaigns you can campaigns for business use, for nonprofit organizations, campaigns for products, anything within Indiegogo’s community projects, and educational campaigns in the tech and innovation category.

What Percentage Does Indiegogo Take?

Indiegogo charges a 5% platform fee across all crowdfunding campaigns. If they opted into Indiegogo’s InDemand program and ran their campaign on Indiegogo, their platform fee remains 5%. The InDemand fee for campaigns that did not originally run on Indiegogo is an 8% platform fee, with a 15% (total) fee on any funds driven by Indiegogo’s platform channels. In addition, third-party payment processing fees also apply

What Is the Minimum Amount You Can Raise from Indiegogo?

Indiegogo gives you the option to keep all your funds even when your campaign does not reach your funding goal through its flexible campaign feature. However, the minimum goal amount for a campaign on Indiegogo is $500.

How to Start an Indiegogo Campaign

You can use Indiegogo to raise money to launch projects below is a step-by-step guide to launching your very own crowdfunding through IndieGoGo:

1. Register for an account: you will first need to sign up for an account on IndieGoGo then enter your name and email you can also create an account with Facebook as well.

2. Choose your campaign: Select ‘My Campaigns’ from the drop-down menu. Here you can locate the campaign you’d like to launch and click “Edit Campaign,” from the ‘Actions’ Drop-Down menu. You’ll be taken to your Campaign Editor to tweak the offerings of your campaign. Once you have signed up click to start a campaign. When you’re starting a campaign on IndieGoGo you can raise money for a for-profit enterprise (business or project) or for a nonprofit. Make sure your campaign abides by Indiegogo’s camping rules.

3. Spruce up your campaign: You can make your fundraising more enticing by adding graphic and video components to grab attention and also using relevant keywords so your page will come up in online searches.

4. Choose the funding type that fits your goals: Indiegogo offers two types of funding options: flexible and fixed. With fixed funding, you only receive the money you raised if you meet your set goal. While flexible funding allows you to keep any money you receive, even if you don’t reach your goal.

5. Fill in financial details: select the country where the bank account and the business/nonprofit are located.

6. Set a timeline for your campaign: You will need to choose a start and an end date for your campaign.

7. Launch and offer appealing rewards: Before you launch your campaign, you can offer rewards to backers as a way of thanking your supporters.

8.     Use social media to promote your campaign: You can link your social media account to your campaign to add more buzz and interest to your campaign.

Which Is Better, Kickstarter Vs. Indiegogo?

Though both are popular crowdfunding platforms Kickstarter sways more toward sharing creative or serviceable products and media while Indiegogo offers backers a broader collection of projects, including tech and design, health and fitness, education, and accessories.

How Can You Boost Your Indiegogo Campaign on Social Media?

Always remember the goal of a crowdfunding campaign is to get as many supporters for your idea, product or creative endeavors. You will need to build the number of your backers to reach your campaign goals. You can achieve this by promoting them through your social media handles as well as by placing ads on Facebook, Google, Twitter, and YouTube.

Image: Envato

This article, “What is Indiegogo?” was first published on Small Business Trends