10 Reasons Why Every Non-profit Must Have a By Wallamboklang Rynjah Department of Management Studies, Pondicherry University. From the article: 10 reasons why every Non-profit Must have a blog by- Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson: Mar 7, 2008 http://www.fundraising123.org/article/10-reasons-why-every-nonprofit-must-have-blog

You think Non-profit Organization have no need for a blog? You May Want to Think again….

Statistics Till January 2007….. - More than 10,500 blogs were tagged Charity 4,000 blogs are Non-profit 2,300 blogs are Philanthropy

The 10 Reasons….

1. Search Engine Optimization A focused, well-written blog on a website will contain several keywords which improve the site's search ranking Keywords and Web Designs To keep search engines current with your blog, remember to ping them regularly using one of the many free tools such as pingomatic If the blog has useful content , other sites will want to link to it

2. Expert in the Field Availability of Wealth of information on their area of focus Regular Postings in blogs will gain a reputation for being an expert Bloggers want to read more postings by experts and will follow links to the organization's website According to the March 2007 Blog Readership Report , 67.3% of bloggers found information by following links from other blogs.

Make events and projects as visible as possible Having weekly updates, users will know exactly what difference their donations have made (or will make if they donate) Project developments can be posted onto the blog keeping the organization's efforts current 3.

4.Awareness Almost all blogs are linked to each other It creates useful network of information that bloggers have access to More than 30% of bloggers use blogs as a source for information More than 17 million of them are information-thirsty bloggers who desire the kind of content a Non-profit blog could provide Stats Source: Vizu's March 2007 Blog Readership Report

5. Negative Comments People Talk & Write about NPOs already Majority of which is positive A blog provides a median to field complaints or concerns and defend the decisions the organization has made

6. Events Special Promotions on the blog before events To incentivize new subscribers , or to increase the loyalty of existing subscribers A blog should serve to work in conjunction with the traditional channels of marketing already in place, not to replace them.

7. Annual Reports Supporters feel that blogs are more honest and accurate than formal annual reports, so the effort required to create the content will be more cost effective . Working smarter and creating a blog , most of the content for the annual report will be already completed before one even begin compiling it

8. Information Two major information-related benefits include… Allowing users to create Provide information to supporters

9. Fundraising Use charity badges on blog, get supporters with fundraising efforts It can be set up quickly and allows people to share the small graphic image created to make donations ChipIn and Network for Good both have charity badges available for a small fee

A blog gives the unique opportunity to show the organization in a totally new light…. 10. The “Heart” of

Article Source… 10 reasons why every Non-profit Must have a blog By- Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson: Mar 7, 2008 http://www.fundraising123.org/article/10-reasons-why-every-nonprofit-must-have-blog

Image Sources Google images & Flickr