Your nonprofit has a blog, wants a blog, needs a blog or is currently neglecting a blog. You know that blogging has benefits, but it also has drawbacks. So, is blogging worth it for your nonprofit?

Just last week, Good Works and Envision Online Media released their first State of the Canadian Web Nation benchmark report about Canadian nonprofit websites. Their analysis includes insights such as:

  • Organizations need to tell better stories.
  • Organizations need to update their websites more frequently.
  • Blogs offer the opportunity for charities to build and maintain interest in the organization’s work.

And in any case, Marc Koenig at Nonprofit Hub already told us long ago that 2014 has been the year of the blog – nonprofits can’t afford to wait any longer.

 

Realistically, is blogging worth it for your nonprofit?

Prompted by Margaux O’Malley to feature blogging as an #NPMC chat topic, I took it to the community. And we have questions!

What should be considered in a blog strategy?

What organizational or communications objectives does your nonprofit blog support?

  • Generating website traffic?
  • Generating dialogue on your core issues?
  • Building goodwill?
  • Building and fostering a community?

How do you make blogging a priority within your organization and among your authors?

How frequently do you need to post to make blogging worthwhile?

How do you set aside or find the time that maintaining a blog requires?

How do you establish core content types and areas – that are unique and relevant to your organization?

  • What do people want to read?
  • What content will people share?
  • What content will stimulate commenting?

These questions are important and very strategic; thank you Erin Brown-John, RoiAnn Phillips, Kelly Rembold, Neil Wiernik and Joyce Hsu! It seems that if we’re going to invest in establishing a blog – or in breathing new life into an existing blog – we need clarity, focus, strategy and we need to be practical.

 

Let’s talk about nonprofit blogging during the November #NPMC Chat

Would you benefit from a conversation about how to be strategic, efficient and effective through nonprofit blogging? Do you have blogging successes to share or questions to ask?

Join the #NPMC Twitter chat for an exchange of questions, tips and successful strategies. Just follow #NPMC on Twitter on Wednesday, November 26, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. E.T.

 **Note: thought it’s usually held on the last Thursday of each month, #NPMC chat has moved to the last Wednesday for November 2014 to work around American Thanksgiving.**

 

Marlene Oliveira

Marlene Oliveira

Communications advisor and copywriter at moflow
Marlene Oliveira is communications consultant and copywriter at moflow and founder of the Nonprofit MarCommunity blog. Having worked in the nonprofit sector since 1999, Marlene specializes in working with capacity building and grant-making organizations, advising on communications strategy, and writing stories and other content.
Marlene Oliveira

@mo_flow

Marlene Oliveira