One of the best ways to add fresh content to your nonprofit website is with a blog. This will add vitality to your site as well as position you as a thought leader in your space. You might be thinking to yourself, “I don’t know how to blog. How can I make this successful?”
If you’re going to blog, do it right—don’t add content just for the sake of adding content. And, when you create a team blog, it’s not a major undertaking for any one person—the responsibility is shared.
Here are three of six elements I believe are necessary for a great, well-written and effective blog.
1. Blogs tell a great story.
There’s so much being said and discussed in the nonprofit space about the importance of telling your story, and for good reason. Here’s one of my favorite quotes from Philip Pullman: “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the things we need most in the world.” Stories are what will connect your audience with your cause and your organization. How you’re impacting an individual, a family or your community—these are the kind of stories people want to hear about.
2. Blogs encourage constituent participation.
A blog isn’t necessarily just for sharing information; sometimes a blog post may ask me to get involved with your nonprofit organization. What can I do as a result of reading this? How can I help? Where can I make a difference? An effective blog post will communicate something interesting or noteworthy, then inspire or ask me to take action. If a call to action at the end of a post makes sense, then by all means, include it and encourage readers to do something positive.
3. Blogs express gratitude and appreciation.
I read a research report that came out of Scandinavia a couple of years ago about the secret sauce to being happy in life. These researchers did a massive study, and they came back and said, “Well, it’s simple. The people who are the happiest in this world are those who regularly and genuinely express gratitude to others.” Try this experiment. Take a full day, maybe tomorrow, and require yourself to express gratitude ten different times throughout the day. I’d guess that, at the end of the day, you’d feel differently about your life.
The same attitude should be expressed in the way you talk about your organization. An expression of gratitude through your blog posts makes your organization connect in a really important way with the people in your communities. Don’t be afraid to say thank you.
Get three more elements of a great nonprofit blog. And, if you want to start ideating a few topics to write about, check out 20 Post Ideas for Your Nonprofit Blog.
