8 Steps to a Better Nonprofit Blog
Blogging for your nonprofit organization can feel like being on a hamster wheel. It never ends, and you’re not sure you're getting anywhere.
But have no fear! In this post, you’ll get eight tried and true strategies for greater traffic, a larger email list, and increased revenue.
Why are we blogging?
What are we supposed to write?
Is anyone reading this thing?
Does our blog help our org in any measurable way?
Any of those questions sound familiar?
You might have a vague notion that your org should have a blog, but maybe you’re not exactly sure WHY you should have a blog (isn’t social media enough, after all?) or HOW to do it well.
INTRODUCING: 8 STEPS TO A BETTER NONPROFIT BLOG
Below, I take you through 8 simple nonprofit blogging strategies for creating a better blog, one that builds trust, authority, traffic, and revenue for your organization.
Let’s start by answering the question, "Why does my organization need a blog?"
WHY DOES MY NONPROFIT NEED A BLOG?
Social media can only take you so far.
It’s true that a social media presence is indispensable. But, it cannot be your only strategy.
Remember, you don’t own those accounts: the platform does. It controls who sees your posts and is constantly changing the algorithm. If you’re not beefing up your website (and email) presence, you’re missing out on an opportunity to find and keep new followers on a site and channel that you own.
Also, not everyone is on social media - and those who are often have a love/hate relationship with it. They may log off for weeks at a time or deactivate accounts or delete apps frequently (only to return eventually because it IS addicting!). Remember, too, that new, smaller alternatives to Facebook are popping up everyday because of distrust in Big Tech. All that to say, it would be wise to invest more in a platform and channel you control: your website and email list.
6 months of posting new evergreen content regularly will:
a) boost your SEO and web traffic, and
b) give you a WEALTH of material to draw on for your social media posts and emails. What’s evergreen content? No fear, I’ll cover that in step #1.
Posting consistent blog content boosts your authority.
It shows new visitors - and Google - that your org is a relevant and trusted resource on info about your cause. If someone shows up on your website for the first time, and the most recent info they can find is a newsletter from last season, well, …. let’s just say I’d probably move on.
Let’s get to those 8 steps that show you exactly HOW to create a better nonprofit blog.
STEP 1: Choose an evergreen topic.
One of the most common blogging mistakes nonprofits make is to fill their blog with posts that have a very short shelf-life.
Examples are posts with titles like:
Meet our volunteer/donor/employee/client of the month!
Current news
May 2021 update
These types of posts create no longterm traffic or interest in your site. No one goes to Google and searches “[nonprofit name] volunteer of the month.” They don’t do that now, and they aren’t going to do it a year from now.
That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t make posts like this, but they should be balanced with what’s known as evergreen content.
Like a tree that stays green in all 4 seasons, evergreen content will still be bearing fruit for your organization a year - or 5 - from now.
These are posts about topics that people go to Google and actually search for.
If you consistently post content that aligns with what people are searching for, Google responds by moving you up in the search engine results.
As a nonprofit, you’re going to have to get a little creative when brainstorming these topics.
Ask yourself:
What are we experts at?
What are people searching for that’s related to what we’re experts at?
The answers to those questions are your topics for evergreen content.
You draw people to your site with what they’re looking for - and then you have a chance to introduce them to your work and mission.
A few examples:
Nonprofit mission: provide food for hungry families in the community
Evergreen content: low-cost, simple dinner ideas
Note: recipe content works for any nonprofit whose cause is related to food
Nonprofit mission: juvenile justice reform
Evergreen content: free lesson plans for middle and high school teachers (and homeschooling parents) on the law and criminal justice system
Note: free lesson plans are, again, a GREAT idea for nonprofits of all kinds
Nonprofit mission: access to mental health resources
Evergreen content: literally anything related to mental health - journaling prompts, how to find a great therapist, etc
Nonprofit mission: access to the arts
Evergreen content: easy craft ideas, famous artist profiles
You can find more on evergreen content, including examples, in this blog post.
STEP 2: Research SEO keywords.
Let’s start with the basics.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s everything you do on both the front and back end of your content to make sure it gets noticed.
Google is by far the most influential search engine, so I tend to use “Google” and “Search Engine” interchangeably.
Google’s mission (besides making money!) is to help searchers find what they’re looking for. To do this, they’ve developed an extremely detailed (and, to some extent, secret) set of criteria for deciding how to rank the millions of pieces of content they could show you any time you search for something.
And while there are SEO experts who spend all day every day trying to break the SEO code, so to speak, you don’t have to be an expert to put a little bit of SEO knowledge to work for your nonprofit.
One of the first things you can do is incorporate some basic keyword research into your blog posts.
Keywords (which may also be phrases or questions) are what help Google’s bots figure out how to classify new content on the internet, so they know when and where to include that content in search results.
So, for instance, if you are a food pantry, you most likely have the words “food pantry” somewhere on your website. But to maximize the likelihood that someone can find you online, you might also add words and phrases like “food bank,” “donate food,” “free food,” and “end hunger” to your copy. All of these are keywords someone searching to use or donate to a food pantry might search for online.
Once you have an idea for a blog post topic, do some keyword research and brainstorming to create a list of words and phrases people might search for to find similar content. This guarantees your content matches up with what internet users are looking for - and that Google will know who to show your content to.
There are loads of both free and paid tools for this, but for the vast majority of smallish nonprofits who’ve decided to up their blogging game, a basic strategy is a great place to start:
1. Brainstorm: make a list of every possible word, phrase, or question someone might put into the Google search bar to find your blog post topic.
2. Open a new incognito window in your internet browser and search for a few of the words, phrases, and questions on your list.
3. Check out the content Google returned: do you see any new words, phrases, or questions to add to your list?
4. You might see a section headed "People also ask." Do you see any words, phrases or questions you want to put on your list?
5. Scroll down to the very bottom of the first page. You'll see "related searches." This gives you similar topics people are searching for. You can note them on your list and/or click on each one and repeat steps 3 and 4.
6. To weed out outdated results and see what people are looking for more recently, choose "tools" under the Search bar and select "past year" or "past month." How does this change your list?
7. Go back through your list and pick 5 or 6 to focus your writing around. Use these words and phrases to guide your content. Incorporate them into your writing naturally and organically. Use them in headings and put them in bold when that formatting helps the reader.
STEP 3: Write more meaningful posts.
More than 5 million new blog posts are published every day, and Google handles over 7 billion searches every day.
Google seeks to reward the best content by ranking it high in the search engine results.
But, first, Google has to sort through all of that content. They’ve become VERY, very good - and very, very fast - at it.
That’s why it’s pretty rare that you do a search on Google that turns up something out of left field. They (or, rather, their bots) can sift out the clickbait and the shallow, irrelevant content almost as fast as it’s being created.
So, if you want to get noticed by Google - and your target audience - , you need to do a few things to signal that your content is high-quality.
Post content between 1000-2000 words. Aim to write at the very least 1000 words in every blog post. Much evidence suggests that much higher than that gets more attention, but for an org starting to post consistently, aim for 1000.
Make those words count! Cover your topic in depth. Go beyond the surface with thoughtful, interesting analysis and opinions.
Write original material. Reposting content found elsewhere on the web - even if you're the author! - will generally hurt your search rankings.
Update older blog posts. If you have older blog posts that don’t use keywords and other SEO best practices, you can edit them to improve your SEO.
Edit the original post with the original publish date. Make any keyword, content, and formatting updates that might improve SEO.
Add a note at the top of the post that it’s been updated and include the date: “This post was updated on 5.28.21.” This is a great way to give your older content new life!
STEP 4: Use reader-friendly formatting.
Once you’ve written some amazing content using the insights you gained from your keyword research, it’s time to make sure the visitors Google sends your way stick around!
One of the factors Google uses in ranking website content is a site’s ability to keep visitors on the site. Do people bounce in a couple of seconds? Or do they scroll and click and take some time looking around?
This is why you need to format your copy and content in a way that’s reader-friendly.
Online readers are skimmers. So, online copy/content that’s reader-friendly incorporates the following formatting:
short paragraphs. Forget your English teacher's rules! (I’ve been an English teacher; it’s okay, I promise!) 1 or 2 sentence paragraphs are FINE online.
short sentences are good, too! Remember, this isn’t about “dumbing it down.” This is about serving someone who’s reading online.
sections separated by clear headings. These headings should be in a larger font and, if you can do it naturally, incorporate a keyword or phrase.
add images every 200-300 words (don’t forget the alt text!) Like a heading, this breaks up the content and keeps online readers engaged.
bullet-pointed lists.
white space. See how I’m adding lots of space between points in this post? That’s white space. It gives your eyes and your brain a break, especially when you’re looking at a screen ALL. DAY. LONG.
bold or italicized text to highlight main points. Help readers find the main points easily and quickly!
intro and conclusion sections that preview and review content in bold text. At the beginning, tell then what you’re going to tell them. At the end, tell them what you’ve told them. Repetition works.
an obvious CTA. Give the reader a concrete action to take next. “Read this next.” “Join our cause.” “Follow us on Facebook.”
STEP 5: Make your title count.
How to master writing titles that attract more eyes to your nonprofit blog:
Writing a great title is a mix of art and science. You want it to be catchy and clever, but it also needs to be clear. You want both Google and the searcher to have an idea of what your post is about based on the title, but you also want to create a sense of mystery and suspense. The goal is to get someone to click on your link, after all! And, of course, if you can include a keyword or two, even better!
Below are some ideas for getting the most mileage out of your title. Use these ideas to keep your titles varied and make them magnets for your content.
1. Brainstorm several possible titles. Write at least 10 different ideas before you publish one.
2. Be strategic about length. Google will display the first 50-60 characters of your title. But titles that are longer (12 words, up to 70 characters) generally have higher click-thru rates from the search results page.
3. Include the keywords you're trying to rank for. This helps both the search engine and the reader to know what your post is about! If you're going with a longer title, put your keywords at the beginning, so Google doesn't cut them off.
4. Use numbers.
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5. Answer a question. Start your title with one of the question words: who, what, where, when, why, how.
How to Write a Click-Worthy Title
When to Buy Your First Home
Where to Go on Your Next Vacation
6. Use interesting/emotional words. The thesaurus is your friend!
7. Coschedule's Headline Analyzer is an excellent free tool. It rates your titles and offers suggestions for improving it. After using this a few times, you’ll start to naturally come up with better titles!
The lifespan of your social media posts is hours. A great blog post can serve your cause for YEARS. But for that to happen, you need to add new content regularly over long period of time.
A frequently updated blog shows both search engines and visitors that your org is active, and your work is relevant. Like a snowball slowly getting larger and larger, your consistency increases your authority and trustworthiness over time. With each new optimized post, Google has more data supporting its decision to show your work to searchers.
So, what’s a good goal?
If you have the capacity, aim for posts of 1500-2000 words once a week for 6 months to see solid growth in SEO ranking (provided you’re using keyword research, posting evergreen content, cross-promoting, and attending to all of the backend SEO details).
If that’s a stretch (and if you’re a small team, it will be!):
set a quarterly goal that moves you in that direction. Your goal might be:
1 evergreen post of 1000+ words/month, SEO-optimized with keywords, images, etc. PLUS
1 high-interest non-evergreen post a month (aim to tell a story of a real person impacted by your work)
Share your posts widely across social media and email. You can promote and refer to the same post several times in the week after it’s published (use different copy and images). Even though these visits to your site will not come from the search engine, if the visitors seem engaged with your content, it helps your overall SEO.
Encourage your followers to do the same. Consider recruiting some of your most engaged followers to commit to sharing your content. Is there a social media “influencer” in your community that supports your cause? Can you partner with him/her?
Tips for following through on your content goals:
Create a content calendar at the beginning of each quarter. Create an outline of dates you’ll post with a rough sketch on topics.
Add dates to your calendar for research, drafting, editing, finding/formatting images, etc., publishing, posting.
Share the load: Is there a team of 3 or 4 staff members who can alternate months for researching, writing, and publishing content.
Consider hiring someone to help you meet your goal. The reality is that blogging - and blogging well - is very time-consuming. But, in terms of long-term payoff, blogging is an excellent investment.
STEP 7: Put back-end SEO to work for you.
I’m running out of pics of myself and my laptop, so that can only mean 1 thing: we’re almost done with 8 STEPS TO A BETTER NONPROFIT BLOG!
Let’s talk about a few other simple ways to optimize your content.
Incorporate your keywords into your post's URL slug, title tag, and meta-description.
The URL slug is the part of the link that comes after your domain name. For instance, the URL slug of this post is 8-steps-to-a-better-nonprofit-blog. Your website provider might automatically generate an intuitive, optimized URL slug, or it might generate one that’s a bunch of random letters and numbers. Either way, you should be able to edit it.
The title tag is what Google shows as the title in search results; the meta-description is the sentence or two Google shows under the title tag in search results.
Google will generate these if you don’t create them, but for best results, you should create them yourself when you upload your post. Your title tag should be 50-60 characters. Your meta-description should be around 160 characters.
For more detailed descriptions of URL slugs, title tags, and meta-descriptions, see my post all about SEO.
2. Add relevant alt-text to images.
This is important for accessibility first. But it also gives you another opportunity to use your keywords. You need to describe what’s in your images, though, so again, if you use keywords, do it naturally.
3. Link to other pages and posts on your site.
If you have other blog posts or content that the reader might be interested in, link to it! This keeps people on your website, which works in your favor.
4. Claim your Google My Business listing to increase local SEO.
A Google My Business listing is free, and it improves your local SEO. If someone who’s local does a search for your cause or service, having a GMB listing ensures your org shows up in search results!
STEP 8: Seek out backlinks.
Gaining backlinks is one of the most important things you can do for improved SEO.
A backlink is when another website links to your website and content.
These demonstrate to Google that your content is relevant and trustworthy (it’s like social proof for Google’s bots). Backlinks also increase the number of opportunities for people to find out about your org.
To get backlinks:
Consider your network. What other organizations, businesses, donors, volunteers, news outlets, etc might be able to help increase your visibility?
Is there an org you collaborate with in your programming? Can you guest blog on each other’s websites?
Is there a local business owner who’s also a donor or volunteer who’d be willing to feature your work on her website?
Is there a compelling story you can pitch to your local news org? (And are you cultivating those relationships regularly?)
Another option:
Join helpareporter.com as a source and respond to relevant queries.
Here’s how it works:
You register as a source. You’ll get an email a couple of times a day listing stories journalists are working on. If you can help with one, respond quickly. Free press for you - and backlinks!
Note: this is fairly time-consuming. You may or may not find that the time you spend culling the list of requests is worth it… but it’s something to consider trying for a few weeks or months.
Conclusion:
Alright, we did it! You’ve got 8 super practical steps to improving your nonprofit blog, growing your website’s traffic, and gaining new donors. Woohoo!
Bookmark this page to refer to as often as needed, and download the free cheat sheet so you never miss a step!
Let’s work together to get your blog in shipshape!