Your nonprofit has a driving mission that moves you forward. What if a lot more people learn about your purpose and decide to get involved? The impact could have positive ripple effects across your organization.
If blogging is not a part of your marketing strategy, it’s time to reconsider.
Hubspot analysis found companies that publish more than 16 blog posts each month receive almost 3.5x more organic traffic than those that publish 0-4 posts monthly.
60% of consumers feel more positive about a brand after reading custom content on their blog.
We could run through the impressive effects of blogging all day. But it’s probably a better use of your time to learn how blogging for nonprofits works and what it could mean for your organization.
Get reading! Nonprofit blog benefits, creative topic ideas, and best practices are all waiting below.
Why is blogging important for nonprofits?
To support your organization’s mission, you raise funds with the help of donors. The more resources you have, the more good you can accomplish for your cause.
When it comes to getting your message out there, your website works in a similar way. The more relevant, high-quality content your website has, the more likely search engines are to pull it onto the top results pages. You can reach more and more people as your web pages rank higher on the SERPs (search engine results pages).
This process of implementing practices to boost rankings and increase visibility is known as search engine optimization (SEO). By consistently writing content for a blog, you increase your website’s ability to pull in more organic search traffic. So improved SEO is a key benefit of blogging for nonprofits.
Another positive aspect of blogging for nonprofits is the free publicity your blog creates. You have complete control of the stories you share on your nonprofit blog. In this digitally connected world, one inspiring blog post could launch a sea of social media buzz, bringing more eyes to your website and more people to your cause.
A study by OkDork analyzed the top 10,000 most shared articles to understand what emotions are the most likely to generate shares.
Awe and laughter seem to strike a chord with individuals online. But you can experiment with different types of posts to determine what is most effective for your nonprofit.
Blogging is a great lead generation source. On average, companies with blogs produce 67% more leads per month than those without. The leads you require may look different from those that a for-profit company is targeting, but blogging helps you reach them nonetheless.
One way nonprofit blogs act as lead generators is by forging a connection with readers. As they learn more about the mission, they’re more likely to take some form of action whether it be signing up to volunteer, donating, or even joining your newsletter.
You now have a glimpse into three concrete ways a blog bolsters your nonprofit. Ready to take action?
5 blog topics for nonprofits
All the advantages of blogging don’t mean much if you’re suffering from writer’s block. Whether you have a blog that you need to update or you’re starting fresh, here are 5 powerful topics for nonprofit blogs.
Share stories of your impact
What’s more heartwarming than stories of real lives being changed for the better? To strike a chord with readers and spark donations, write blog posts about the accomplishments of your organization. You can do this through personal stories showcasing the way your organization makes a difference in the life of an individual. Neverthirst takes this approach and tells stories from the perspective of the people it serves.
Create Listicles
Listicles or articles that appear in a list format are a great addition to nonprofit blogs. In fact, surveys find that 36% of readers prefer list-based headlines. Rather than writing a post titled “How to support inner-city children” tweak the post title to “ 7 meaningful ways you can support inner-city children”.
This difference may seem inconsequential but it can result in a boost of clicks to your website. The Natural Resources Defense Council took this approach when advising readers on how to live more sustainably.
Incorporate fun elements that your audience enjoys
Want to connect with more people in your target demographic?
If you know what’s popular among this crowd, you can use your content to draw them in. Keep a Breast (KAB) is a nonprofit that aims to bring breast health awareness to young people across the globe. The organization uses its blog to craft culturally relevant content. Millennials are somewhat obsessed with astrology. So, KAB incorporates a monthly horoscope into its blog as a fun way to engage readers.
Targeting a specific audience is easier when you understand their likes and dislikes. Do some research and don’t shy away from out-of-the-box posts.
Not sure who you should target? Find out how to uncover your audience with this step-by-step guide.
Spotlight your team
There is so much behind-the-scenes work that goes on thanks to the unsung heroes at your organization. Use your blog to bring some of your most hardworking volunteers and team members to the forefront. Personal stories that go beneath the surface resonate with readers.
You can share the backstory of an employee and how they came to work at the organization. Alternatively, you can do a Q&A style blog interview with them and source questions from your social media followers. Each month, Atlanta-based nonprofit Points of Light features an employee making a difference in his or her community.
Discuss your why
Most nonprofit organizations have a “who we are” page detailing the mission and vision of the organization. It’s equally important to discuss why your organization is serving the specific cause. In addition to having a page about why your nonprofit does what it does, create blog posts addressing this issue.
Talk about the reason this problem is urgent. Create articles that discuss the factors that contribute to the problem and how they can be solved. Share why your organization focuses on this specific issue and what your long and short term goals are.
People interested in this cause will likely search for information about it. If you write content about these common questions, you’ll have a chance to appear in search results. Then, you can connect with people who already have a passion for the causes your organization addresses.
Finding nonprofit blog topics using Google Trends
The topics above offer a great starting point. But there is an easy way to uncover more nonprofit blog ideas.
It’s simple to use. It’s free. It provides up-to-date search information. Google Trends is a tool that every nonprofit blogger should have in their toolbox.
Here’s how to uncover nonprofit blog topic ideas using Google Trends.
Enter a broad search term related to your organization
Let’s imagine we’re Texas Adoption Center, a nonprofit organization that connects families looking to adopt with birth mothers. We want to write articles that attract new birth families to the site. We type in the broad term “adoption process”.
The search traffic for the term in the past twelve months is relatively high. It stays above the 50 thousand mark most of the time and seems to be on an upswing so this is a good topic to dig deeper into and write about.
Find specific topics in the ‘Related Queries’ box
On the same page, we scroll down to the bottom and see a box titled “Related Queries”. This offers more specific search terms that fall under the broad “adoption process” topic we searched.
The box displays the most popular searches around this term and provides questions that you can turn into posts for your nonprofit blog.
Finding nonprofit blog topics using Google Suggest and People Also Ask
Need a lot of ideas but only have a little time? You can find useful blog topics in a snap using Google Suggest and People Also Ask.
1. Let autofill work its magic
Head on over to the tried and true search bar to type in a blog topic idea. We’ll type “ adoption for couples” without pressing enter. Google Suggest will come up with potential searches. Blog ideas abound! From here, we can narrow down the option based on what aligns best with our target audience.
2. Boost your brainstorming session with People Also Ask
A little gem on the SERP is People also Ask.
When we search “what is the adoption process”, the People Also Ask box appears near the top of the results page. This is another great source of potential nonprofit blog ideas. You can use these questions as titles for different posts or incorporate them as headings within the same post.
However, the People Also Ask box does not show up in every search. But you can take advantage of it when it does appear to find some great topics for your up-and-coming blog.
Best practices for using nonprofit blogs as a marketing tool
We covered some great nonprofit blog ideas and ways to unearth more whenever you are in need of new topics. Now it’s time for some practical blogging advice.
Learn four best blogging practices below.
1. Align organizational goals with blogging goals
Blogging for nonprofits takes time and resources, so it’s important that you make it worthwhile. Design your blogging efforts to be in support of the larger goals of the organization. For example, if attracting more donors is a key point of interest, the blog’s core content can target the ideal donor profile.
2. Optimize for enjoyable user experience
What’s the purpose of spending time on the organization’s blog if no one knows it exists? If you want to rank on the first page of Google, design your page to be user friendly. This means making sure your load times are fast (you can check site speed using Google Search Console). It means ensuring your website is easy to navigate. It also means making sure your headlines and blog posts include a target keyword. There are many ways to optimize your website. Search engines look for websites that are user friendly, so spend time improving your website regularly.
3. Set up a content calendar
Plan blog topics and publishing dates ahead of time with the help of a content calendar. Dedicate a few hours at the start of each month to plan the entire content schedule. This way, you can designate each post to a writer and have clear expectations about when posts should go live. If you have an annual gala that takes place in June, you can start planting promotional content, highlights from previous years, and ticket information months in advance on your blog.
Attention nonprofit blogging newbies! Here are 21 free content writing tools to help the process run seamlessly.
4. Build Backlinks
When another website includes a link to your site, you earn a backlink. No big deal right?
Wrong. Search engines take backlinks into account when determining what pages to display on the SERP. More quality backlinks means more chances to show up in front of people. You can increase web traffic to your blog with the help of backlinks. You don’t have to be a digital PR expert to reap the rewards of backlinks. There are backlinking strategies for beginners, such as guest blogging.
There’s strength in numbers. Have a team of blogging experts by your side.
There are a lot of moving parts that go into building a successful blog. Beginner mistakes can hold you back from reaching the first page of Google and connecting more people with your cause. Skip the hassle and partner with a professional SEO agency.
At Markitors, we craft unique content strategies for nonprofits so they can reach their marketing goals. Don’t have time to write top tier content? Our skilled nonprofit SEO writers can create winning articles for you. Need help building links to your site to increase your page rankings? The digital PR experts at Markitors can earn link placements for your organization. Learn more about our services and how we can aid you by contacting us today.
