Blog or Die: The Essential Guide to Blogging

Blog or Die: The Essential Guide to Blogging

Presented by Britt Bravo

LA New Media Boot Camp

September 17, 2010

Agenda

• Anatomy of a blog + blog examples• Why blog?• Goals, audience & content• Listening• Features & functions• Staff, time & money• Tips for building traffic• Measuring impact

Amnesty International

ACLU

Case Foundation

Blogroll

2nd Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties

Comments

Second Harvest site

Urban Sprouts

The Hunger Challenge

NetSquared Community Blog

MomsRising.org

Why Blog?

• Share stories

• Share your expertise

• Build trust with supporters

• Create your own media coverage

• Google likes links & updated content

• Be a niche news source

• Promote a campaign or project

What goal will a blog help you achieve?

Who are you trying to reach?

What will you write about?

Blog Post Topics

• Interviews experts, donors, constituents, volunteers, board

• Report back from events & the field

• Ask questions• Guest posts• Success stories• Opinions

• Comment on current events

• Round-up of news about your issue

• Photos, video & audio

• How-to’s & lists• Press coverage

Even if you don’t have a blog you can listen & comment

Listening Tools

• Google Reader www.google.com/reader

• Google Alerts www.google.com/alert

• Google Blog Search http://blogsearch.google.com/

• Twitter Search http://search.twitter.com/

• Social Mention www.socialmention.com

• Blogger (free)

• WordPress.com (free)

• WordPress.org (you pay for hosting)

• TypePad ($8.95-29.95/month)

• Movable Type (you pay for hosting)

• Drupal, Plone & Joomla (you pay for hosting)

Blogging platforms

Blogger

WordPress

TypePad

Drupal

Features & Functions

• Separate or integrated

• Custom or template• Rss & email

subscription• Search• Images, audio,

video• Categories & tags

• About us• Blog roll• AddThis, ShareThis,

TweetMeme• E-commerce or

donation• Twitter feed• Facebook badge

Staff & Budget

Staff

• Designer/developer• Ongoing tech

support• Blogger(s)• Managing Editor• Community Builder

Hardware/Software

• Blogging software• Analytics services• Digital/Flip camera

Time

• Listening• Commenting• Creating content• Outreach• Measuring impact

Tips for Increasing Traffic

• Post regularly• Link to other bloggers• Have a blogroll• Make it easy to

comment & share• Link to posts in your

e-newsletter• Email & rss

subscription (feedburner)

Tips for Increasing Traffic

• Always use images (Flickr)

• Share on Facebook• Share on Twitter• Write titles people are

searching for• Comment on current

events• Have a strong opinion• Ask a question

Tips for Increasing Traffic

• Post lists & how-to’s• Write short posts• Interview people• Have guest bloggers• Host contests• Put blog URL in email

signature• Notice what posts are

the most popular, write more of those!

Measuring Impact

• Google Analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/

• Site Meter: http://www.sitemeter.com/

• PostRank: http://www.postrank.com/

• Feedburner: http://feedburner.google.com

• Press

• Donations

• Actions

• Anecdotes

Resources

• Nonprofit Blog Carnival Roundup: How to Create a Juicy Nonprofit Blog http://havefundogood.blogspot.com/2010/07/nonprofit-blog-carnival-roundup-how-to.html

• We Are Media http://www.wearemedia.org

• Beth’s Blog: http://www.bethkanter.org

• Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey

• The Networked Nonprofit by Beth Kanter & Allison Fine

Questions?

Britt BravoBig Vision Consultinghttp://brittbravo.comBritt@brittbravo.com(510) 757-9684

This presentation is on SlideShare:http://www.slideshare.net/Bbravo