Let’s start by acknowledging that this is a blog article about blogs. (Inception music plays).
But it’ll be worth it. I promise!
Because dollar-for-dollar, blogging is one of the most potent marketing tools nonprofits have at their disposal.
What makes blogging like pure nonprofit gold? It’s all about the usefulness of blogs on so many levels (and no, we’re not talking about multilevel marketing).
For example:
- Blog content gets indexed by internet search engines, so it’s terrific for driving visitors to your nonprofit website—especially if you put in the effort to juice it up for SEO.
- Quality blog content shows readers you’re an expert in your field—which is one of the best ways to appeal to today’s discerning, tech-savvy donors.
- Your posts are the ultimate storytelling canvas, allowing your nonprofit to inspire support for its cause while highlighting positive impacts. They’re also great for appealing to donors; research shows people tend to support nonprofits that will empower them to make a difference, like through donating or volunteering.
- Blogging can be a uniquely cost-effective marketing tool. Once you get the swing of things and start producing content (tip: spread the work among teammates with different areas of expertise to avoid burnout and create ultra-fresh content), blogging starts to give back more than you put in.
Bonus tip:
One of our favorite things about blogging? Nonprofits can easily repurpose any content into other marketing media like social posts, newsletters, emails, podcasts and more. So you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck!
Tangible benefits.
You don’t have to take our word for it (LeVar Burton/Reading Rainbow anyone? Anyone?). Globs (see what we did there) of studies have explored the benefits of blogging, with findings that are worthy of the attention of any nonprofit marketing department.
How about:
- Generating up to 126% more inbound leads.
- Increasing website traffic by more than half.
- Raising brand awareness and securing more donations.
- Boosting your SEO.
Getting started and a few best practices.
Getting your first nonprofit blog off the ground is easier than you think. No web design or coding experience necessary! If you can operate a Google Doc, you’re halfway to publishing your first blog. And if you can’t, then there’s no stopping you once you get started.
Let’s go over some tips and FAQs.
How do we get our nonprofit blog set up?
Step 1: Talk to whoever manages your website and say, “We’d like to add a blog section to our site.” If your nonprofit website comes from Firespring, you already have this capability—and we can show you how to use it.
Step 2: Ask your website manager for a quick tutorial on creating your first post. Or watch videos on YouTube. We promise—you got this.
Step 3: Plan, write and release your first post.
Step 4: Congratulations, you’re a blogger. Sit back and watch the clicks roll in.
Step 5: Start planning your next post while monitoring your performance with an easy tool like Google Analytics (seriously, YouTube can show you how to use this in less than 10 minutes; you’d be shocked).
What should we blog about?
Deciding what to blog about can be difficult, partly due to the sheer openness of where you could go. So here’s some food for thought:
Start by considering your audience, their needs and what you can add to the conversation.
Think of it this way: A blog is a marketing tool. But that doesn’t mean talking about your organization is the end-all goal. More important is to create content that helps your readers in some way. Maybe it teaches them a trick of the trade or inspires them to donate to a cause. Maybe it just makes them laugh or brightens their day!
The point is that adding value is a recipe for building a relationship with your readers—and turning first-time clicks into return visits and, ultimately, volunteers and donations.
How often should we blog?
This is a common question, and the answer you’re probably not looking for is … it honestly depends.
- While some suggest that blogging 1 or 2 times a week is ideal, many agencies blog a lot more or a lot less, with great results. At least to start, we recommend shooting for one quality post every one to two weeks. As you get with the flow, you can evaluate and experiment with a schedule that works best for your organization.
- Ultimately, the rule of thumb is quality over quantity. It would be much better to produce one engaging, well-written, audience-focused blog per month than 10 posts that feel rushed, irrelevant or full of errors.
I’m not very comfortable with writing. Any tips?
Trust us: even some of the best bloggers have days (or weeks or months) of doubt.
Times when putting words to a page feels as natural as eating lunch upside down, and your voice feels about as engaging as a bar of soap.
When that happens, we recommend three things:
- Remember that nobody is perfect. The odds are people will judge you by your content much more than your “catchiness” or sentence structure. Again, when you can add value to people’s lives, you have won. And that happens through strategically planned content.
2. Push through the block. Sometimes you have to bust through the wall of writer’s block like the Kool-Aid man (Oh yeah!) to get your voice flowing. Take a break, then sit back down and organize your thoughts. Focus on what you want to say 80% more than how you’ll say it.
3. Use Grammarly. Seriously. It can help you clean up any mistakes and tell you how clear and engaging your writing sounds. If you’re worried about writing, one of the best things you can do is clean up any basic grammar issues that interrupt flow.
Other tips.
It would be impossible to cover all the best advice about blogging in a single post. But we can give you this list of things we’ve found helpful:
- Break it up. You probably skimmed a lot of this blog—and our feelings aren’t hurt! Your readers will tend to do the same thing. Remember what we said about adding value? Make it easy for your readers to find what they’re looking for using headings, bullet points and other “skimmable” strategies. They’ll thank you for it.
- Gain a basic knowledge of SEO. On their own, blogs are a great way to drive traffic to your website. But by learning and incorporating a few easier-than-you-think SEO tricks—like strategically using keywords—you can boost the odds of your content appearing early in internet search results. Check out this handy SEO guide for newbies when you feel like learning.
- Plan ahead. Developing a content schedule is a great way to stay organized and ahead of the game. It can also help you take a strategic, birdseye view to support your content throughout the year (January coming up? How about an informative post on end-of-the-year appeals? Etc.).
- Avoid grammatical, spellling and punktuation errors?
- Don’t forget you can and should repurpose your content on other platforms, like your social pages or during email campaigns.
- Backlinks (linking to other pages on your site) can be pure dynamite, turning your blog into a “click-here” booster for your webpages. Blogging about Giving Day? Why not link to your donor or mission page? Similarly, showing other organizations some love by linking to their blogs or website (like when citing research stats) is a great way to build street cred and can enhance your SEO performance.
- Track your performance. There are plenty of analytics platforms out there to tell you how your blog is doing in the way of views, click-through rates and other metrics. They’re easy to learn (remember: YouTube) and can provide powerful insight into what’s working and areas for improvement.
- Finally, don’t expect your blog to perform overnight. Just like it takes time to build a brand, it can take a while to build up a blog following. You can help it along using your other tools—like posting your articles on social media. If you consistently release valuable content, your readership is sure to climb.
Conclusion
Madonna may have been living in a material world, but we live in one ruled by the internet. If you’re a nonprofit, a big part of your focus should be growing your online presence. Blogging is a surefire way to do so because it boosts web traffic, enhances SEO, establishes your expertise, helps you build a follower base and much, much more. With a low bar to entry and so many benefits, today’s nonprofits are missing the boat if they don’t jump on the blog train.
Need more help? Ask the blog experts at Firespring
