Nonprofit blogging is like any other blogging it needs some thought and a plan to engage the reader. If there is no plan or thought put into it the blog it will flounder and go nowhere. Engaging the reader with a plan or strategy gives the blog a direction to maintain consistent content.
Successful Blogging is Regular Blogging
Readers want to see an active blog. They want to share thoughts and ideas with other readers who have a common interest. This is very important for nonprofit blogging. The owner of the blog should post new content three to four times a week. This keeps readers coming back and if the content is valuable to their needs and interest they will continue to visit the blog.
The search engines regularly visit the blogs for listing and will find new content. Search engines like regular blogging, that is why it’s referred to as successful blogging.
Posting to Engage the Reader
Focused content that has short sentences and small paragraphs are the easiest for readers to comprehend and retain. This is very important in that Internet readers skim content for information. They like headers because it speeds up harvesting information and they can move on to another nonprofit blog or to the comment section.
A short post is defined as those around 300-400 words. If a 1200 word post is written think about how it could be broken up into a three-part post. That would provide content for a whole week. It is important to provide good content to engage the reader.
Some bloggers post one long post then three-four mini posts the rest of the week. They feel they can engage the reader better in a longer post and that gives them some room to link to other sites to enhance their position and strengthen the readership.
Successful Nonprofit Blogging
Successful blogging starts with valuable content that talks directly to the reader. Successful nonprofit blogs do not use “me”, “I” or “my”. They use “you” a lot because they need to make the reader feel it’s a conversation, which persuades them to join in the comment section with other readers. These relationship tips help to form a feeling of inclusion even for those with opposing viewpoints.
- Speak short and to the point like a conversation. This makes the blog snappy and real.
- Don’t use long drawn out sentences or difficult to understand words, as this will send readers scurrying to another site within about fifteen seconds.
- Reel in the sales pitch. It is fine to write about items or service for sale but not in every post. Try asking the readers to comment, or ask a specific question as a way to engage the reader even leading into a sales pitch by giving some valuable inside information first.
- Remember to be honest and open so that the reader can see the nonprofit in a transparent and trustworthy light. Above all do not copy content from other sites, as this is copyright infringement.
For more information see the following articles Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits or Are Nonprofits Using Twitter.
Cite: About.com:Weblogs, by Susan Gunelius, Top Ten Tips for Beginning Bloggers
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