Most nonprofits have a blog and even though they're common, they're not always as simple to navigate as they seem. A lot of nonprofits reach out to me asking how they can improve their blogs, they ask about best practices, and they ask about constituent engagement. So, you think you can blog?
Before we get into best practices, let me ask you a few questions about your nonprofit's blog.
- What are you goals for you blog? Why did you create it?
- Who's your target audience? (Your answer cannot be everyone...) Think about your current audience and also think about the audience that you really want to reach.
- How often do you update your blog?
Okay, jot a couple of those answers down, or keep them in the forefront of your mind. Let's dive into 3 tips, just for starters, that'll help you rock your blog (or rock it harder):
- Update your content regularly and often. By regularly, I mean 2-3 times per week (if not more frequently). Create a content calendar, if it helps (and we think it does!). Here's a great guide to content calendars.
Make sure you're not just gearing your content to what you want to hear, but that you're writing for your target audiences that are actually reading the blog. And please don't only use your blog to only post advocacy actions and donation asks. That is not the purpose of a blog. When we are designing and develpoing websites at Rad Campaign sometimes we will run into organizations who have not updated their blog in months. If you can't commit to a regular blogging schedule, get rid of the blog.
- Back up your positions with facts. If you're nonprofit is working on advocacy issues, it's even more important that you back up your positions with facts and hard data. Even though blog posts are often more personal or editorial like in the style of writing, that does not mean you should just make blanket statements. Use your organization's awesome data to back up your positions.
- Invite guest bloggers. If your organization has a blog written by 1-2 staff people then you need to recognize that you cannot be an expert on everything, nor does anyone expect you to be. The two staff blog writers won't always be the best people to deliver your content. Sometimes a blog post is all about the packaging, and you have to have dynamic packaging. An array of voices will be exciting and fresh. Not sure how to incorporate guest blogging? Here are 7 tips to getting started with guest blogging.
Stay tuned for more best blogging practices. In the meantime, what are your favorite blogging tips?
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