Blogging for Non-profit Agencies

Hello everyone. My name is Dottie and I work for the Better Business Bureau in Atlanta, Georgia. We are thinking about putting a blog on our web site and would like input to the pros and cons of this project, especially from other non-profits. Any information would be most appreciated. Thanks for your help.

Hi Dottie,

There are a lot of pluses to blogs: coming up higher in search engine queries, building a community online, and easily updating your web site without changing the original structure.

However, much of this doesn't happen if the blog isn't updated on a somewhat regular basis [at least several times a month], if the writer[s] do not use keyword phrases and postings that are relevant [are you writing on "blue widgets" when they're really searching for "red widgets"?] and also, if the writing is not monitored to be sure it is PC.

These are some of the bigger issues, but I'd be glad to discuss them moreso with you. I also wrote an article on this, at http://gizmo-design.com/blogsrss.html

Hope that helps!
_____________________________________________

Thanks!

Lisa Ghisolf, Gizmo Design, Inc.
ideas that inspire business.SM
web: http://www.gizmo-design.com
blog: http://www.gizmo-design.com/blog.html
mail: 421 W. Huron St., Suite 1202
Chicago, IL 60610-6175
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I recommend that you check out the Emerging technologies forum as Blogging is a Hot Topic there!

Thanks for stopping by,

Susan

Hi,

I have a list of do blog if and don't blog if, sort of tongue in cheek.

You should blog if ...

* You want to express the human voice of your organization
* You want to enable easy ways for people to share knowledge and information
* You want to enable many voices


o You shouldn't blog if ....
* You are obsessively controllling
* If your organization is not ready for some changes in how you work - blogs tend to stimulate some change
* Your audience is not online
* Everything must be vetted by central authority
* Your writers don't have access to computer, internet, electricity, sufficient amounts of fueling chocolate
* You aren't prepared to assist people in learning a new skill and the time to make it an organizational habit

If you want to explore blogging, you should as a first step gather interested staff and discuss:
# How might a blog help support your nonprofit's work?
# Determine what you're going to write about and how often and who you are trying to reach
# Who on staff is going to write - can be group of people, but the task of blogging should be part of someone's job and not an extra add-on

Here's a tip sheet I wrote that links some excellent advice available in the nonprofit sector as related to getting started with blogging.

https://bethkanter.wordpress.com/web-20-guide/blogging/

Some other good articles to read:
Blogging for Beginners
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2006/06/blogging_for_be.html

Marnie Webb's Ready to Start Blogging
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/page2084.cfm

When you ready to look for tools, I highly recommend
idealware's
Getting Started with Blogging Software
http://www.idealware.org/blogging_software/