BlogWritingCourse

I get so weary of bad news.  I keep threatening to invent a B-Chip for televisions that would filter out all bad news and only let me see the good.  A while back, I even plunked down money for a subscription to the Good News Network, which brings a string of constant good news directly to my Feed Reader. 

The “good news” is that if you know where to look, good news is everywhere.  Blogging has become one of the best mediums for spreading news about random acts of kindness, anecdotes of good deeds, and opportunities for you to get involved and make a difference in the world. 

For example, the blog Round II Cameroon recently posted about her Books for Cameroon project.  This cause highlights the lack of educational reading materials in the schools of Cameroon, where most facilities are not even equipped with a functioning library.  The Peace Corp has gotten involved and is helping to establish a library in at least 25 schools, serving 20,000 students.  All books donated to this project will be incorporated into the teaching curriculum and be available for check-out by students.

If you would like to donate to this project, the Peace Corp has created a terrific informational page about the Books for Cameroon project, including a simple donation link.

What good news do you have to share today?

One of the coolest aspects of blogging is the creativity it inspires. 

The shift toward Web 2.0 has made each person with computer access an active participant in this changing world.  We have things to say.  We have opinions and ideas on how things are, and how they ought to be.  And we have the ability to network with other people who share our same worldview.

This immediacy can be the perfect birthplace for incredible inspiration! 

For instance, a blogger who is passionate about local food may start a blog about his favorite farmer’s markets and tailgate markets.  Another local foodie may be blogging about the best restaurants in the region.  And yet another blogger is busy posting all the great family-owned businesses in the area.  These bloggers, who will probably quickly happen upon each others blogs, and begin networking, may soon come upon the idea of helping local farmers link up with local restaurants and markets in order to distribute the freshest foods at the most reasonable prices.  It is a win/win situation for everyone - - thanks to some forward-thinking bloggers!

Other examples of this type of positive blogging include the SochiReporter project.  Sochi, Russia is slated to host the Winter Olympics in 2014.  In preparation for this event,  a seminar was created for some of the top journalism and IT students from local universities.  The focus of the seminar was helping these young men and women, many of whom had never blogged before, to cover all different aspects of the preparation that goes into readying a city for the Olympic stage.  The students will be reporting on the changes in their city from their own unique perspectives.  It is likely to be a one-of-a-kind project with fascinating results!

Then you may have also heard the story of a missing teenager from Denver, who was reconnected with her family this past April thanks largely to the efforts of bloggers and twitterers.  Notifications of the Amber Alert connected with the teen went out far and wide across the World Wide Web to help locate the missing girl. 

These are all just examples of how blogging can draw people together for a common cause.  If you have been thinking of blogging as a solitary activity taking place in one room from one computer, and going out to the faceless abyss, it is time to reconsider!  Every person sitting behind that keyboard and screen is interwoven in a complicated and beguiling mesh of thoughts, ideas, and potential for positive change.

Wouldn’t you like to become part of something like that??

Until Next Time,

Blogging takes so many forms, shapes, and sizes.  You have mom-bloggers, college-bloggers, non-profit bloggers, teen bloggers, entertainment bloggers, news bloggers, and business bloggers.  Some write for fun, some to provide information, and some to promote a subject they are passionate about.

Today, we are going to meet a blogger who would fall in the latter category by writing a  blog about the importance of geography in our daily lives. Let me introduce you to: Sarah Jane Caban.  Sarah writes the My Wonderful World blog for National Geographic.

Sarah, other than the MWW blog, have you had/do you have any other blogs? What got you started blogging?

I started blogging in the summer of 2007 as part of my internship with National Geographic Education’s My Wonderful World campaign. To date, MWW is the only blog I’ve written for consistently.

Bloggers can definitely be victims of writer’s block, at times. Where do you get inspiration for your posts?

The purpose of the My Wonderful World blog is to demonstrate the relevance of geography every day and engage our audience in discussion about geographic topics. While that may seem like a challenging, “niche” subject, it’s actually remarkably easy to find material—which I guess speaks to its relevance! The news serves as my primary source of inspiration; I listen to NPR every morning before work. I regularly read other geographically-oriented blogs for additional ideas, and I have Google alerts set up for several geographic terms. With Google alerts, I’m notified every time there’s new content on the web related to the key words I choose. I highly recommend this tool; it’s also a great way to track who’s talking about your blog!

I’ve developed recurring features such as “Five for Friday” that help structure my editorial planning by topical categories; it also creates a positive sense of expectation among the readers. I’m lucky to have the help of National Geographic Education staffers who regularly send me interesting links and articles they come across, and I keep a repository of any ideas that I can’t get to in a given week for future use. Another strategy I use is to read old posts for inspiration and opportunities for elaboration. Finally, I enlist interns and guest bloggers to share their own unique perspectives on the blog.

Did you start to get a loyal following of readers right away, or did it take awhile?

In order to establish a loyal following of readers you have to write often (2+ times per week), write interestingly, and write to your audience–more on that later! I was lucky enough to start writing for a blog that already had an established audience, but I also do a significant amount of outreach to grow my readership, with the help of my interns. We regularly comment on other blogs, ask bloggers to add us to their blogrolls and offer to reciprocate, engage in collaborative blogging projects such as “blog-a-thons” and blog “carnivals,” and promote our content on social networking sites. We try to include lots of links to other sources and blogs, and we notify those parties directly when we reference them.

As mentioned, I also enlist guest bloggers and offer to guest write for other blogs. This is valuable networking, and it helps to establish me as an expert on my topic.  To share an example of the fruits of this sort of outreach: Last year, I invited several geography bloggers to guest post on the My Wonderful World blog during Geography Awareness Week. Now, a fellow geography blogger has decided to edit a book about popular geography, and he has enlisted several people in his network–including me–to contribute. This coming November, I’ll organize an even more ambitious GAWeek Blog-a-thon.

What do you like most about blogging? Dislike most?

My favorite thing about blogging is my role in starting a conversation. I love my topic—geography—and I like to think that I have some unique perspectives to share. I try to get my audience to use the lens of geography to think about the world around them in new ways, and I hope that by doing so I can spark a dialogue about geographic issues. I’ve always liked writing, and blogging is a great creative outlet. I also enjoy networking with other bloggers, and doing research for the blog helps me stay on top of the news. The only thing I dislike about blogging is the time it takes, which can be a real challenge with other job responsibilities demanding my attention. Oh, and the occasional spam. Luckily, I have interns to help out!

How much time do you invest in your blog each week? What makes it worth the investment?

Between writing and editing, I probably spend about 4-6 hours a week blogging. From a pure consideration of return on investment, it’s hard to say whether that time might be better spent on a diverse range of other projects. However, I believe that I am providing a valuable, relatively unique contribution to the millions of conversations online and advancing the cause for geography, which is the mission of my organization. To the extent that blogs, which are maximized for search engine optimization (SEO) due to their constantly refreshed content, have the potential to disseminate your message to wide audiences, I think that it’s well worth the investment—provided you have something interesting to say, that is!

What types of blogs do you enjoy reading yourself? What makes you keep coming back to particular blogs?

Personally, I like blogs that are like my favorite friends: honest, witty, and a bit quirky.  It can be a challenge to achieve this with my own writing for an organizational blog–I am somewhat limited in the boldness of opinions I am free to express and the extent to which I can get personal or quirky. Whatever the context of your writing, though, keep in mind that there are millions of bloggers and sources of news out there; a good blog offers a unique perspective, whether through a particular area of expertise or an interesting approach—or both! My best advice is to write about what you know and think about what you can add to the conversation. Try putting a new spin on an old topic, or aggregating existing information in a novel way. “Gimmicky” tactics like “top 10 lists” are always a hit. Analyzing quotes, excerpts, and statistics from other sources is another proven tactic. Here are some other pieces of advice I’ve learned along the way:

Keep it short

Almost every source I come across is unanimous in stressing brevity. While blog writing should be relatively informal and conversational, plan what you’ll write in advance so that you can communicate clearly and concisely. Try to avoid rambling, pure stream-of-consciousness writing—save the random thoughts for Twitter. In general, stick to one topic per post. Not only will this keep your posts shorter, but it will also help achieve SEO: the more focused each post is on a particular topic, the more it will be valued as a resource for that topic and optimized for associated search terms. Keep paragraphs short and try to keep sentences generally short, too. Break up longer posts with headings and separate sections; if a post starts to get really long, consider dividing it into multiple posts.

Finally, if you’re working with a blogging platform that allows it, create a “jump” to continue posts on a second, embedded page—include no more than the first couple paragraphs (and an image) on your blog home page. This will keep your home page fresh with a diverse range of content and will help guide readers to the posts they’re most interested in.

Know your audience

Consider posting a survey on your blog to learn more about your audience (there are plenty of tools like SurveyMonkey.com that can help you do this). Which posts have been their favorites? What issues do they care about? What would they like to see on the blog in the future? You can learn valuable information through surveys that will help guide future content and enable you to better cater to readers’ interests. Surveys are also fun and engaging, and they help your readers feel like valued members of your community.

Of course, another way to learn about your audience is by using readily available statistical tools, like Google Analytics, to see who’s coming to your site from where and how they’re interacting with the content.

Engage your audience

Pose provocative questions in your posts whenever possible to encourage readers to comment—even if you don’t get many responses, questions are a good rhetorical tool to get people thinking and guide your own writing. When you do get comments, respond to them as often as possible, and find ways to highlight especially articulate or thought-provoking comments. NY Times blogger Andy Revkin uses “Editor’s Selections”—I love this idea. For my own part, I occasionally turn my responses to comments into new blog posts. Hosting contests and soliciting user-generated-content are additional tactics that are useful for engaging readers.

In general: experiment and have fun!

If you’re having fun, your readers will likely be entertained–just like a smile, passion is contagious! Of course, yawning is also contagious–if you’re bored, your readers will be, too. So, experiment with different writing techniques and blogging tactics, watch the impacts on your traffic, and ask readers what they think. Blogging can be an undertaking, but with careful planning it is well worth the time and energy. At the very least, you’ll improve your written communication skills, connect with some new folks, and learn more about yourself and your chosen topic than you ever imagined!

Sarah Jane Caban is a public engagement specialist for National Geographic Education. She has been a contributing writer/editor for the My Wonderful World Blog since June 2007. Sarah Jane holds bachelor’s degrees in Geography and Psychology from Colgate University.

Nonprofits, especially ones with smaller budgets, often don’t put a lot of time and effort into their online communications.  Their website, if they have one, usually consists of just a few pages dedicated to the mission of the organization, the services they perform, and instructions for volunteering, or sending in donations.  While this no-frills type of website is certainly better than having no online presence at all, it is far from ideal in providing adequate communication between you and your supporters.

Technology can be a valuable tool to keep donors, supporters, and volunteers engaged with the daily operations of a nonprofit organization.  Unfortunately, many worthy causes have settled for one-sided communication with their donors in the form of monthly newsletters and occasional fundraising appeals.  This method may have sufficed years ago, but in today’s world-wide-web culture, people expect more.  They want to know they have a voice, and that the causes they support are willing to listen to their ideas and suggestions.   An active internet presence can provide this two-way communication.  Your nonprofit could use any or all of the following methods to encourage interactivity with your supporters:

• Email Updates - You can easily create a section on your website where supporters can sign up with their email addresses to receive current status reports or news items.  Occasional email “bulletins” sent out to these addresses might include a particular victory your agency has experienced, an urgent call for help with a specific task, or a reminder about an important upcoming event.  Because a sign up for this type of mailing is voluntary, you can count on these updates to be read and attended to. 
• Electronic Newsletter For Volunteers - volunteers give selflessly of their time and effort, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to be told how much they are appreciated.  A special email “newsletter” for volunteers could be sent out monthly or quarterly, and could include special “inside” information about the agency, highlights of a particular volunteers contributions, notices about upcoming volunteer needs, and of course, generous appreciation for  their efforts. 
• Dedicated Information Email Address - this would be located in a prominent place on your website,usually in the “Contact Us” section, and would be checked daily by someone in your organization who is talented at answering inquiries and taking feedback.  By providing an information email address, you are saying to your supporters and potential supporters that you have nothing to hide and are eager to answer any questions, concerns, or suggestions they may have
• Interactive Calendar - this would be a website feature that would allow the nonprofit to update as often as needed with current data on activities and events, and would allow the user to click on items on the calendar to receive more details and information
• Blog - Blogging is becoming one of the fastest growing methods of communication.  A blog, or web log, is an ongoing journal of information related to your cause.  It is almost limitless in its type of content, but could include news about your nonprofit, pictures of recent events and activities, editorials on the issues surrounding your cause, or spotlights on people who have made important humanitarian or financial contributions.  Blogging can be an uniquely effective tool, in that it allows readers to comment and interact with the content. This creates a sense of active participation for supporters, and gives them a way to express their ideas and to vent their feelings.  If your organization is interested in adding a blog to your website, but aren’t sure how to begin, you might want to sign up for a blog writing course, that will guide you through all the steps of designing, writing, and promoting your new blog.  Qualified nonprofits can receive a discounted subscription for the Blogging 101 course.

There are many other ways to use your nonprofit website to encourage participation and involvement from your supporters, but hopefully these ideas will get you started on creating a two-way communication that will benefit your cause for years to come.

Change is difficult. Change is usually incremental. Change is sometimes necessary. But if you are a non-profit organization operating in the 21^st century, change is CRUCIAL. The way today’s non-profits communicate with their potential donors, their consistent supporters, and their volunteers is radically different than the way they communicated even ten years ago. Newsletters and mail-outs, while still in use, are not usually the preferred means of receiving information for most supporters under the age of forty…and that demographic must be reached in order to continue to grow a foundation of ongoing support and continued fundraising.

Today’s grass roots boosters aren’t satisfied to sit back and be spoon fed information about the causes and organizations they support - - they want to interact with their chosen movements. They want to feel like they are not only aware of the problems of the world, but are a part of the solution.

This is where blogging comes in. Almost 30% of internet subscribers read blogs on a daily basis. For many of these, blogs are their top source for news and information. This is partly because the blogging format, like no other medium, provides a dialogue beween the author and the reader. A blog is almost never one-sided. Non-profit agencies who incorporate a well-written blog into their communication strategy, are likely to achieve several worthy goals:

• Drawing interest from people formerly unfamiliar with the organization and its goals
• Keeping their supporters and potential supporters up-to-date on issues and news stories relevant to the mission of the organization
• Keeping constituents aware of upcoming events, immediate needs, or current fundraising drives
• Highlighting the selfless efforts of volunteers who give of themselves daily
• Providing a platform for supporters to interact with the organization and other supporters via blog comments and feedback
• Increasing a sense of overall connection and immediacy between the non-profit and its base of supporters through timely informational posts
• Putting a personal face on an impersonal fundraising entity, and makes supporters feel personally invested in the ups and downs of its daily operation

If you are interested in finding out how to quickly and easily integrate a blog into your communication efforts, click here to find out more about taking our Blogging 101 course.

Until next time,

Immediacy.  Technically, it is defined as “the quickness of an action or occurrence.”  But on an emotional level, immediacy can be incredibly important.  If someone we loves is injured or in need of help, we want to know immediately.  When we have good news to share, we can hardly wait to find a listening ear.  Births, marriages, deaths - - they all appear as soon as possible in the local newspaper.  Finding out news when it happens makes us feel connected in a real way to those it is happening to.

For nonprofit agencies, this can be an important truth to digest.  Donors almost always feel emotionally connected to the causes they support.  For any myriad of reasons, they believe that their chosen cause deserves attention and funding, and they are willing to put their own hard earned time and money into it.  But just like any investment, donors deserve a return.  And, rightfully, this return ought to somehow involve timely news on how the agency or organization is managing its resources.

One way that nonprofits are successfully handling this in recent years is by creating their own blog.  The whole premise behind blogging is bringing up-to-date information to the public, and that is exactly what savvy nonprofit agencies are doing.  They are nurturing the emotional connection of their donor public by bringing them up-to-date news on the ups and downs of the issues involving their organization.  When supporters get current information about the cause they support, they feel emotionally linked with its successes and failures.

Large nonprofits such as the One Campaign, are utilizing this tactic successfully.  The One blog is not only featured prominently on the agency’s website, but is updated several times daily.  To donors, this says that the organization has its eye on the ball, and is keenly involved in its own agenda, and in keeping others informed with its progress.  These are key ingredients to getting and keeping support. 

The Greenpeace organization goes even one step further, and encourages its supporters to blog about subjects relating to environmental concerns.  They then link the contributing blogs to their own blog site, Making Waves, thereby increasing attention to their cause and creating a community of like-minded bloggers who feel passionately connected to the nonprofit and its issues. 

If you are involved in a nonprofit organization, and would like to learn more about blogging, and how it could benefit your cause and your supporters, why not sign up for our free Introductory Blogging Course and discover the basics and the vocabulary of the world of blogging.  And if you decide that your nonprofit might truly benefit from an ongoing blog, then you will definitely want to take the Blogging 101 course where our experienced instructor will guide every step of the way through designing and setting up your blog, writing quality content, and building your audience.  Then you will be well on your way to delivering the timely information and creating the immediacy that your organization’s supporters want and deserve.

Until next time,