How Blogging Can Get You More Social Fundraisers

Hubspot, an inbound marketing company, has been researching for a couple of years how blogging helps increase website traffic, email subscribers and the ability to be found in search engines.

Their most recent study found that blogging frequency influences the rate of customer acquisition (see graph below). This also applies if the “customers” you seek are social fundraisers.

Hubspot also found that blogs posting daily get four times as many leads as blogs posting weekly (see graph below).

Blogging is not just for companies and brands

You might be thinking blogs are for brands and corporations, but not so much for nonprofits.

But interestingly enough, out of all of the industries they analyzed, the best performer was a nonprofit one (Higher Education).

Why don’t more nonprofits blog?

You’d think that with all the evidence supporting the value of blogging, more nonprofits would be doing it!

The reasons why most nonprofits still aren’t blogging is probably due to several factors:

  1. Late adoption. Even with all the research, blogging is not widely accepted as a proven method to increase visibility, subscribers and donors.
  2. Education. Many orgs aren’t aware of how easy blogging it, and how to do it effectively.
  3. Resource allocation. Many small orgs are barely able to manage a Facebook page, much less create content for a blog. In some ways, this is really an educational issue because blogging can be as easy as sending an email.
  4. Messaging. Blogs are the strongest “content statements” on the Internet, which makes orgs hesitate—particularly if they don’t have a strong message to begin with.

Next week, I’ll begin a step-by-step series on how your organization can start blogging. For now, though, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section about why you are (or aren’t) blogging for your nonprofit.

Does your nonprofit have a blog?

16 thoughts on “How Blogging Can Get You More Social Fundraisers”

  1. I work for a nonprofit, and my colleague and I were talking about the frequency of blogging just yesterday. We blog 3x per week. This is actually the link: http://www.buildingtomorrow.org/blog/ Do you think the content/frequency is engaging enough?

      1. Our audience consists of students who support us through fundraising/awareness, other like-minded orgs/networks/bloggers we’ve connected with through Twitter who support us, people who follow us on Twitter/Facebook where we promote the blog, and anyone else who might be interested in what we do and the ideas behind our actions…to be concise. 

  2. I work for a nonprofit, and my colleague and I were talking about the frequency of blogging just yesterday. We blog 3x per week. This is actually the link:u00a0http://www.buildingtomorrow.org/blog/ Do you think the content/frequency is engaging enough?

      1. Our audience consists of students who support us through fundraising/awareness, other like-minded orgs/networks/bloggers we’ve connected with through Twitter who support us, people who follow us on Twitter/Facebook where we promote the blog, and anyone else who might be interested in what we do and the ideas behind our actions…to be concise.u00a0

  3. I work for a non-profit in higher education and we have a blog:
    http://talknerdy2me.org. Our blog has just been another way for us to
    engage our members, offer them a creative outlet, keep them informed and
    create even more of a presence online. We partner with many other
    college blogs and through those partnerships have really found a way to
    get even more promotion from other businesses that AREN’T non-profits.
    In the past we haven’t done any fundraising, but we are now looking to
    do this. I am curious how we can use the blog to assist with fundraising
    efforts.

  4. I work for a non-profit in higher education and we have a blog: nhttp://talknerdy2me.org. Our blog has just been another way for us to nengage our members, offer them a creative outlet, keep them informed andn create even more of a presence online. We partner with many other ncollege blogs and through those partnerships have really found a way to nget even more promotion from other businesses that AREN’T non-profits. nIn the past we haven’t done any fundraising, but we are now looking to ndo this. I am curious how we can use the blog to assist with fundraisingn efforts.

  5. We are a small, understaffed, poor financed public library, but we’ve had a blog for a couple of years now. The biggest problem was finding time to write it – so we share the responsibility. We determined there were 6 staff members with valuable content. We also decided once a week was all we could handle. So each staff member is responsible for writing a blog once every six weeks – that was manageable. It’s on the staff calendar, and as the coordinator, I always remind them when it’s their turn. It has worked out well – and we have a variety of information and styles to offer the public. We also have two facebook pages (one just for teens) which get postings at least once a day. We use Twitter more for announcements or timely messages.

  6. We are a small, understaffed, poor financed public library, but we’ve had a blog for a couple of years now. The biggest problem was finding time to write it – so we share the responsibility. We determined there were 6 staff members with valuable content. We also decided once a week was all we could handle. So each staff member is responsible for writing a blog once every six weeks – that was manageable. It’s on the staff calendar, and as the coordinator, I always remind them when it’s their turn. It has worked out well – and we have a variety of information and styles to offer the public. We also have two facebook pages (one just for teens) which get postings at least once a day. We use Twitter more for announcements or timely messages.

  7. Pingback: The new new agency, sweet QR code designs, and how hotels are using social media rewards — Creativing

  8. I have blogged everyday ever since April this year. The reason I’m doing this is because I want to make my blog my personal diary and refer to it when I’m old.
    The fact of the matter is that I will be confident that the data I put in on blogger will always stay  with blogger. I haven’t made my blogs public because of the fact that I’m just another ordinary human out there. When I become great, my blog becomes open to public.

  9. I have blogged everyday ever since April this year. The reason I’m doing this is because I want to make my blog my personal diary and refer to it when I’m old. nThe fact of the matter is that I will be confident that the data I put in on blogger will always stayu00a0 with blogger. I haven’t made my blogs public because of the fact that I’m just another ordinary human out there. When I become great, my blog becomes open to public.

  10. Absolutely wonderful article. I wonder what will ever become of mankind. Seems like that quick and resourceful will outlive all of our smart people :)nthanks anyway! Blogging is really fun! I am enjoyed and getting more revenues from blogging!nKeep posted friend!

  11. Running a blog for your Network Marketing business is comparable to running a diary online, but instead you talk about your products and services, and the benefits of your income opportunity.

  12. I especially like your insight about the three uses of social media tools–listening, connecting and publishing. What a great way to think about these! I’m sure we’ll be more effective if we remember this point as we use the different tools.

Leave a Reply to Casey Hughes Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *