SubscribeBlogging is a great way for your non-profit to get your message out quickly, easily and most importantly - it’s fun! Effective blogging will not only reach your constituents, but will help with your search engine rankings. Here are some quick tips to get your blog at the top of the charts.
- Use keywords. Determine what keywords best fit your industry or cause and use them when you blog. By adding keywords to your blog, your search engine rankings should increase on those words in a relatively short time frame.
- Use photos. Readers love photos. Be sure to tag your photos appropriately or better yet, use a gallery like Flickr. Flickr is free and easy to use.
- Use good categories. Write down the purpose of your blog. Even if you’ve done it before. Write down why you’re writing it, and for whom. Stumped? Start a statement like this: “My blog will help people who need to…”. The end of that statement could be ‘laugh more’ or ‘write a good business plan’. Write down the four things that keep folks from accomplishing that last bit of your statement. Make them into categories.
- Utilize your blogroll. Add links to blogs that complement your topic. Be sure to notify the blog owner that you have added them to your blogroll. Ask for a reciprocal link. This will help you build traffic.
- Guest blog. Use those same blogs that you added to your blogroll; visit them often and comment when applicable. Ask the blog author if you can guest blog from time-to-time. It will help support your own blog traffic and will gain you credibility as a blogger
Beth consults with businesses and non-profits on social media tool selection and strategy and helps her clients find effective ways to leverage these new mediums to meet business goals.
by Nathan Ketsdever, on March 30 2008 @ 10:21 pm
Great suggestions. In terms of flickr, folks should stick to Creative Commons pictures on flickr as a general rule. Otherwise they may be using copyrighted material.
If you do an advanced search on Flickr, you can easily do a targeted search for Creative Commons photos.
by Dana Sherman, on April 13 2008 @ 8:21 pm
HI there,
Thanks for the tips and for letting me know there are other passionate non-profit dreamers out here. I am a brand new blogger trying to get my non-profit dream out there but it is a little overwhelming. I can’t even figure out how to put my posts on one page.
Anyway, it’s good to know your here.
Thanks.
Dana Sherman
by gooddogzbeth, on April 13 2008 @ 9:28 pm
Hey Dana -
The more you figure out blogging, the more you’ll love it. Feel free to ping me with any questions. I used to have a Blogspot blog, so hopefully I can be of help.
Here is a great aggregation of non-profit blogs that might fuel your creativity - http://nonprofitblogexchange.blogspot.com/.
Good Luck!
Best
Beth