nonprofit blogging best practices: why your nonprofit needs a blog and how to create a great one

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Nonprofit Blogging Best Practices: Why Your Nonprofit Needs a Blog and How to Create a

Great One

Julia Campbell

November 5, 2013

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J Campbell Social Marketing

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Takeaways From Today The benefits of blogging – why you need one

The best platforms to use

How to get more readers

How to find and create fresh content

How to promote your blog posts

Top 10 tips to creating fantastic blog posts


Before We Begin… Blogging is a marathon, not a

sprint. Don’t get discouraged.

Time, capacity and resources are needed to do it effectively.

Every organization, no matter how small and strapped for resources, has great stories to tell.

They key is passionate supporters – not number of Facebook fans.


Does the world need one more? It depends.

The key to effective blogging – quality over quantity!

“You can’t beat the Internet on volume, but you can beat it on quality, clarity and perspective.”

– Rich Brooks @therichbrooks


You aren’t writing for “the world”! You are writing for YOUR

audience. They are unique.

Your audience is not “everyone”.

You don’t need to have 500,000 subscribers to have a great blog.

You just need to tell your story and authentically connect with your audience.


Why have a blog? To improve SEO – search engine results.

To build trust and community.

To establish yourself as an authority on the issue.

If you are active on social media, you will always have new content to post!

To drive website traffic, email sign ups, social media followers and even donations.


Why have a blog? Have a blog will continually force you and your

organization to ask the tough questions:

What impact are we having on the world?

What would happen if we disappeared tomorrow?


Why not have a blog? According to Technorati 40% of people that have a blog spend

more than 3 hours per week blogging.

It’s a lot of work – researching and writing posts, editing posts, formatting them, promoting them.


http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2011-part1/

Establish Goals As with any marketing strategy, you need a measurable goal to

determine success. (Blogging is not a strategy – it’s a tool.)

You need to know where you are going/want to go.

What is the goal for the blog?

Establish authority

More website traffic

More email signups

More Facebook fans

Advocacy


Measurement Write down 3-4 goals for your blog (should tie with

overall marketing goals).

Think measurement and benchmarks.

How will you measure?

How will you be held accountable?

Monthly reporting? Weekly?


Getting Started Get buy-in from Executive

Staff and Board.

Hold a staff meeting and a Board meeting to announce that you are going to start a blog and that ideas for posts are welcome.

Educate everyone on the importance of the blog – it’s not just “one more thing” to add on the pile.


Getting Started Tell staff, board, volunteers and Online Social Media

Ambassadors about it first. Be excited and enthusiastic!

Let them know that you are going to call on them to help you find content and to promote the blog.


Getting Started Determine who is going to write the posts and how often.

(Once per week to start is great.)

Create an Editorial Calendar – either in Google Calendar or in a document in Dropbox that can be accessed in multiple places.

Do not keep the Editorial Calendar and blog ideas on the server! Get Dropbox or Google Drive.

Get Dropbox: https://db.tt/xJFmfwG


https://db.tt/xJFmfwG



Editorial Calendar Some things to include in your

calendar:

Post Date

Author (if you’re not the sole author)

Working Title (or at least a descriptive idea to the content)

Publication location (is this a post for your blog, a guest blog, etc.)

Status

Category

Tags

Keywords

Call to Action (Is there a specific and measurable action you want to see from this topic?)

Notes

Free resources:

http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2012/02/free-printable-blogplanner.html

http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/an-editorial-calendar-for-your-blog-tips-and-templates-0465693


Free resource: http://unbounce.com/content-marketing/blog-editorial-calendar/





























http://unbounce.com/content-marketing/blog-editorial-calendar/







Choose a Platform Talk to your webmaster – what will integrate with your blog?

My recommendation is WordPress.

Easy to use (you don’t need to know HTML or code)

Can manage it from anywhere

SEO

Control

Plugins

100% customizable

It can grow

Multiple users


Blogging Process 4 elements of blogging

1) Research

2) Writing

3) Formatting/Editing

4) Promotion


#1: Research What to blog about? Ideas for content:

FAQ about your organization. What do you always get emails about?

What do people ask on the phone?

TIP: Add a short video to go with it.

Myths vs. Facts. Top 5 myths you encounter regularly.

TIP: Add links to other blog posts and articles that support factual evidence – outgoing links create community and help make your blog more interactive.


#1: Research Video testimonials.

Stories!

What is happening in the world? What is everyone talking about? The government shut down? The Red Sox? How can you tie this in to a blog post?

How To A step-by-step list for collecting food for a food drive, organizing a

fundraising walk, preventing elder abuse or calling a legislator.

TIP: Use a testimonial or a story of a person who took this action, how they did it and what impact it had.


#1: Research Top 10 Tips

Any number will work.

Examples: Top 10 Dog Training Tips, Top 10 Tips To Keep Kids Active in the Summer, Top 10 Tips for Helping the Environment.

TIP: Make an infographic of the Top 10 Tips using infogr.am and post it everywhere.


http://infogr.am/

#1: Research Sign up for free Google Alerts:

http://www.google.com/alerts

Technorati: www.technorati.com

Alltop: www.alltop.com

Keep a list of topics always accessible so you can add to it when you think of a potential topic (put in Dropbox).

Are you locally based, regional or national? Focus on local events and news rather than national depending.

Ask your community!


http://www.google.com/alerts

http://www.technorati.com/

http://www.alltop.com/

#2: Writing A blog post can be 300-500 words and a photo (it does not

need to be a novel).

Picking a great headline is the most important part.

Make it catchy and tweetable!!

Look at other blog headlines that grab your attention.

Free resource: John Haydon – Time-Saving Hacks to Write More Blog Posts (Video demo): http://www.johnhaydon.com/2013/10/time-saving-hacks-write-more-blog-posts/


http://www.johnhaydon.com/2013/10/time-saving-hacks-write-more-blog-posts/













#2: Writing I find it helpful to do a “brain

dump” and put everything on the page.

The create an outline – a beginning, middle and end.

Opening paragraph should grab people’s attention.

One-two sentence paragraphs.

Bolded headlines.

Bulleted lists.


#3: Formatting Get photos.

Canva.com

Photopin.com

Morguefile.com

Flickr Creative Commons


#3: Formatting Categories

Always think of your reader.

Will describe what the blog is about.

Tags

More specific

Free resource – How to use WordPress categories and tags: http://www.johnhaydon.com/2013/04/howto-wordpress-tags/


http://www.johnhaydon.com/2013/04/howto-wordpress-tags/






#3: Formatting Make sure:

There is a way for people to subscribe to the blog.

There are social share buttons so people can share it.

Experiment with email sign up/pop ups.


#3: Formatting Enable comments.

Encourage communication.

Can be monitored/approved.

Great WordPress plugins:

Disqus Comment System

Akismet (for spam)

WordPress SEO by Yoast

JetPack

CommentLuv – places a link to the commenter’s blog

WordPress Popular Posts


#3: Promotion If you write it, they will

come!

Not necessarily…

You need to promote each blog post.

Great WordPress plugin:

Publicize


#3: Promotion Post the blog to all social media

channels:

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Google+

Syndicate to your local Patch and Wicked Local.

Create a checklist.


Julia’s Blog Promotion Checklist Automatically goes to:

FB personal

Twitter

LinkedIn personal

Tumblr

StumbleUpon

Reddit

Digg

Delicious

Social Buzz Club

SocialMarker.com

ShareBloc.com

SocialADR.com

LinkedIn groups

Facebook page – add hashtags

Google+ Community – add hashtags

LinkedIn Company Page

Pinterest

Scoop.it

Business 2 Community

Sulia.com

Patch

WickedLocal

Triberr

NetSquared

MosaicHub

Quora


#3: Promotion Include in email blasts.

Guest blogging – look at Technorati for the lists of top bloggers in your industry and contact them to write guests posts.

Ensure that readers can subscribe to your blog to see a new post when it’s published –either via email or RSS feed.


#3: Promotion Don’t be passive!

Ask Board, staff and volunteers to share the blog posts.

Read them at staff meetings and encourage comments.

Make it a team affair.

Remember – you cannot do it alone!!!


Questions?


A Word On Content The Customer Insight Group (CIG) at the New York

Times published a study exploring why people share content online. People share to:

Bring valuable and entertaining content to others

Define themselves to others

Grow and nourish relationships

Give self-fulfillment

Market causes or brands

How can you help your community do these things through your blog?

http://nytmarketing.whsites.net/mediakit/pos/


A Word On Content Spend some time and dedicate some resources to creating

content that is well-written, original, compelling, timely, relevant and interesting.

This may seem like a tall order, but that’s what it takes to stand-out in the noise of social media.


Keeping Momentum Be open-minded and don’t

get discouraged.

Not everyone will a superstar blogger.

Just because someone is influential does not mean that your cause will resonate with them.

Actively look everywhere for people who are passionate about your cause.


Get Inspired Third Sector Today – Nonprofit Blog Post Best of the

Day: http://thirdsectortoday.com/2013/10/28/nonprofit-blog-post-best-of-the-day/


http://thirdsectortoday.com/2013/10/28/nonprofit-blog-post-best-of-the-day/













http://giving2.com/

Top 11 Takeaways 1) Figure out the “why” of your blog and be consistent.

2) Write good stuff.

3) Post at a regular time.

4) Mix up content – How To posts, FAQ, Video Testimonials, etc.

5) Don’t be long-winded.

6) Make sure you keep readers with an RSS feed, email sign up, etc.

7) Promote all posts.

8) Use an SEO plugin.

9) Measure, improve, measure, improve.

10) Incorporate visuals.

11) Be social yourself – comment on other blogs, be active.


In Conclusion Always think back to your audience.

What are they reading about, writing about, sharing and commenting on?

What are they interested in?

It’s not about YOU – it’s about them!


Nonprofit Resources John Haydon – www.johnhaydon.com

Nonprofit Tech for Good – www.nptechforgood.com

Beth Kanter – www.bethkanter.org

Amy Sample Ward – www.amysampleward.org

Problogger – www.problogger.net

My blog – www.jcsocialmarketing.com


Questions?


Tweet me: @JuliaCSocial Facebook me: www.facebook.com/jcsocialmarketing.com Email me: [email protected] THANK YOU!

http://www.facebook.com/jcsocialmarketing.com

http://www.facebook.com/jcsocialmarketing.com

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nonprofit blogging best practices: why your nonprofit needs a blog and how to create a great one

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