Blogging for Nonprofits - With Time Saving Resources

You are scrolling through your feed when you  see it that one blog post that's begging to be clicked the title, the photo, and the topic  they grab you, and you're interested because you've been searching for it now at some point  every non-profit has probably thought about starting a blog I mean blogs are a great way  to communicate with your audience build trust build credibility position yourself and even  increase donations but for many Charities the idea of starting a blog can be daunting I

mean  where do you begin what do you write about how much time is this going to take and how do  you actually make sure people will see it so in today's video we're covering blog writing  basics for non-profits along with some resources to help you make it super simple and efficient  and finally we're going to discuss just a little bit of SEO to ensure that our brilliant blog  posts are found so let's get to it [Music] [Applause] step one is doing some keyword  research now there's only 10 spot

s just 10 on the Google search page and our goal is to  ensure that our blog post lands in one of those 10 and we do this through keyword research so  before we write a word it's important to do a little bit of research now it's going to help us  understand what people are searching for related topics that we can also use as a keyword and  how to best answer questions it'll also give us an idea of the competition that's out there now  there's a few ways we can do this one is a free tool like Goo

gle Keyword Planner there's also  more robust tools like semrush which I'll link the description and these tools are going to  show us how often particular keywords are being searched for and give us those ideas related  keywords that we can also use now another way to do some keyword research is to go to Google  and type in the topic see what comes up see how many search results there click on some of the  links and get an idea of what people are looking for when they search for that term by do

ing some  keyword research before we start writing we can be sure that our blog post is targeted to the  Right audience providing them with information that they are looking for step two is writing  your copy now writing your copy can be a little bit daunting but there's a few simple things  that can help us get started first understanding our audience what are they looking for in a  blog what tone would resonate with them and once we've identified our audience we can start  writing use your key

words content is where SEO really comes to fruition so suppose we're writing  a blog post about ways to engage Millennials in our cause we could use possible keywords like  Millennial engagement how to engage Millennials tips for Millennial engagement by utilizing these  keywords throat or blog post and in the title and in the headings and in the subheadings and in  the body we're going to Signal Google that our article is relevant to those Search terms now  have a catchy headline in imagery the

headline and subheader perhaps the most important part  of your blog post to get people to click on your article you need a headline that pops in an image  that grabs attention something that stops them in their tracks and makes them want to learn more  this is where we can be creative and don't be afraid to experiment and here's a time saving  tip we always recommend canva which is a free Graphics tool for stock photos and creating  custom images now you did all that work to identify your targ

et audience so write for that  audience your blog post should be about something that is interesting and relevant to them keep your  audience in mind when you're brainstorming ideas and thinking about different topics that you can  write about just remember the best kind content always inspires educates or entertains and here's  another time saving tip have you tried Jasper it's an AI writing tool that can cut your content time  in half just keep it concise people have a short attention span the

se days so make sure you get  to the point quickly you also should find high quality websites to link to from your blog post  one way that Google determines whether a website is high quality is by looking at the website  that link back to it now including links to other high quality websites outside of your blog  post will also signal Google that yours is high quality just be sure that the websites you link  to are relevant and add value for your reader and include a call to action add a CTA at

the end  of your blog post so people know what action they should take next do you want them to sign up for  your newsletter donate to your cause share your blog on social media let them know and finally  proofread and proofread again checking for grammar and spelling errors will help ensure your readers  take you seriously now another time saving tip we use grammarly to proofread everything step three  is laying it out now designing an influential blog takes more than just throwing up a few pic

tures  and articles most website development platforms like GoDaddy or Wix offer blog templates and basic  SEO to really engage readers you need to consider your layout very carefully so here's a few tips  to keep in mind and that's make sure your header is eye-catching and easy to read your header  is the first thing visitors see so make sure to make a good impression and use clean simple  fonts throughout your blog post too much variety can be confusing and difficult difficult to read  and you

can organize your content into sections with subheads subheads help readers find the  information that they're looking for quickly and easily and use images sparingly and only  when they add value to your content too many pictures can clutter up your blog and make it  difficult to read they can also slow down your load speed time which is bad for the algorithm  just remember less is more when it comes to design a simple elegant layout is more effective  than one that is overly busy or elaborate

remember your keywords ensure that they are in the  title as an H1 heading in the subheads in the body you should also make sure they are in the URL slug  meta title and meta description step four promote it there are many places to promote your blog post  you want to ensure though that you're promoting to the Right audience you also want to make sure that  you're promoting your blog post in a way that you are comfortable with so there's a few places you  can start obviously your social media a

ccount and if you feel comfortable you can also share it on  your personal social media accounts and this can help you get your blog post in front of a larger  audience just be sure not to spam your followers with too many links Facebook groups now there  are many Facebook groups dedicated to specific topics and if you find a group that aligns with  your subject of your blog you can share your link there again just be sure not to spam group members  if you're comfortable with it you can also use

the comment section of other blogs take time to read  these other blogs in your Niche and when you find one that's relevant to your own you can leave a  comment with a link to your blog post and this is a great way to get in front of an already engaged  audience who might be interested in reading your content you can ask staff friends volunteers ask  everybody to share it like it and comment your blog is going to thrive on views and engagements  you can also submit it to social bookmarking site

s like quora and Reddit that can send a lot of  traffic if your post is popular on the site but again just make sure to follow the submission  guidelines so your post doesn't get removed there are many other great places to promote your blog  post the most important thing is to find a method that's working for you and stick to it writing a  great blog post takes practice there's no getting around it but by following these steps you're  going to be well on your way to becoming a pro so I hope you

found value and I hope to see you next  week [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]