Post on 10-May-2015
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Sponsored by:
Nonprofit Blogging Best Practices: Why Your Nonprofit Needs a Blog and How to Create a
Great One
Julia Campbell
November 5, 2013
Use Twitter Hashtag #4Glearn
Part
Of:
Sponsored by:
Protecting and Preserving the
Institutional Memories of
Nonprofits Since 1993
www.cjwconsulting.com
(866) 598-0430
info@cjwconsulting.com
Part
Of:
Sponsored by: Part
Of:
Coming Soon
Sponsored by:
Today’s Speakers
Hosting:
Cheri J Weissman, CJW Consulting & Services, Inc. Jamie Maloney Community Developer, 4Good
Part
Of:
Julia Campbell Principal
J Campbell Social Marketing
Julia Campbell J Campbell Social Marketing
http://www.jcsocialmarketing.com 4Good/Nonprofit Webinars
November 5, 2013
#npblog @JuliaCSocial @4GoodOrg
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
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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.
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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
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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.
#npblog @JuliaCSocial @4GoodOrg
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.
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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?
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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.
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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
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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?
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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.
#npblog @JuliaCSocial @4GoodOrg
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.
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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
#npblog @JuliaCSocial @4GoodOrg
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
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Free resource: 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
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Blogging Process 4 elements of blogging
1) Research
2) Writing
3) Formatting/Editing
4) Promotion
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#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.
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#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.
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#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.
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#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!
#npblog @JuliaCSocial @4GoodOrg
#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/
#npblog @JuliaCSocial @4GoodOrg
#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.
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#3: Formatting Get photos.
Canva.com
Photopin.com
Morguefile.com
Flickr Creative Commons
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#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/
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#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.
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#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
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#3: Promotion If you write it, they will
come!
Not necessarily…
You need to promote each blog post.
Great WordPress plugin:
Publicize
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#3: Promotion Post the blog to all social media
channels:
Google+
Syndicate to your local Patch and Wicked Local.
Create a checklist.
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Julia’s Blog Promotion Checklist Automatically goes to:
FB personal
LinkedIn personal
Tumblr
StumbleUpon
Digg
Delicious
Social Buzz Club
SocialMarker.com
ShareBloc.com
SocialADR.com
LinkedIn groups
Facebook page – add hashtags
Google+ Community – add hashtags
LinkedIn Company Page
Scoop.it
Business 2 Community
Sulia.com
Patch
WickedLocal
Triberr
NetSquared
MosaicHub
Quora
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#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.
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#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!!!
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Questions?
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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/
#npblog @JuliaCSocial @4GoodOrg
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.
#npblog @JuliaCSocial @4GoodOrg
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.
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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/
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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.
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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!
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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
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Questions?
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Tweet me: @JuliaCSocial Facebook me: www.facebook.com/jcsocialmarketing.com Email me: julia@jcsocialmarketing.com THANK YOU!