Two ways to make blogs work for you

Have Fun • Do Good has a good post on nonprofit blogging: 10 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs and Bloggers to Support Their Cause. Here are the ten ways (you need to go read the post, because there's a ton of how-to with each one):

1. Include Bloggers on Your Press List
   
2. Use Your Nonprofit Blog to Create Your Own Media Coverage
   
3. Provide bloggers, and your supporters, with an RSS feed of news related to your organization so that they can spread the word for you.
   
4. Include outreach to bloggers as part of your online fundraising campaigns.
   
5. Use Your Nonprofit Blog to Raise Money
   
6. Use Your Nonprofit Blog to Involve Volunteers and Supporters
   
7. Use Your Nonprofit Blog to Report Back From an Event, Trip or Disaster
   
8. Use Your Nonprofit Blog to Work Smarter
   
9. Use Your Nonprofit Blog to Build Trust with Supporters
   
10. Use Your Nonprofit Blog to Build a Broad-Based Movement
    

A key point here is that there are two distinct ways a nonprofit can use blogs to accomplish good things: You can launch a blog or your own, or you can work with the blogosphere -- and, of course, you can do both.

Items 1, 3, and 4 above are ways to effectively work with the blogs that exist. That's a lot less expensive than doing your own. In fact, if you plan to launch a blog some day, here are some things you should start doing now:

• Find the blogs that cover your topic.
  
• Follow them closely.
  
• Comment on them (not anonymously, but under the flag of your organization).
  
• Get to know the bloggers: Who's reasonable? Who's always throwing bombs? Who's likely to admire your organization most?
  
• When you know them, think about contacting the right ones about issues of mutual interest. (But don't, don't, don't send press releases! You can hardly imagine how annoying that is!)
  

It's a big conversation, and you can be part of it, even without a blog of your own.

Technorati Tags: nptech, blogs, fundraising

Comments

[Beth Kanter]

Right on Jeff! Commenting can be very valuable and less time consuming than starting a blog. It's a great first step into the blogosphere - to leave some bread crumbs.

I have a presentation, based on Marnie Webb's work about easy steps into web2.0 for nonprofits.

http://ncna.wikispaces.com/

[Mark Kordic]

Thanks for the succinct summary. These are very practical ways that non-profits can connect with their current donor base and market their brand effectively. I have passed this along to a number of non-profit radio stations...this is helpful!

[ciana]

how can i get a blog, and what is it?