1 of 3

Write now Article Tools

It is no secret that non-profit organizations require exposure in order to raise enough funds to achieve their mission. In recent years, one of the best ways to promote anything online has been through blogs. Non-profits can benefit from blogs in many ways:

Online exposure through means other than search engines. Unless a non-profit organization has a search engine optimization savvy webmaster, getting picked up by major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN will be very tough and can take time. A blog can be started by a new or under-exposed non-profit and entered in various blog directories such as Technorati.com, Blogmad.net, and Mybloglog.com and receive almost instant exposure. These and other blog directories are vibrantly attended by many blog surfers who are hungry for online content. Additionally, it doesn't take a techie to setup and maintain a blog. Blogs can be started with little or no web programming.

Can receive feedback from donors, potential donors, partners, local and at-large community. It is always good to know how your supporters feel. A typical website does not have the mechanism that could readily accommodate comments from your audience. Blogs are universally setup to accept comments from readers. More importantly, the publishing of the comments can be controlled you, if desired.

Can explain items not appropriate in the main website. In today's age of reality-TV, consumers, which ultimately make-up the support base for non-profits, hunger for transparency. If, for example, a controversial decision was made to favor one partner over a potential partner, instead of losing support, a non-profit can explain the situation without making it part of their official website. Again, since feedback is available, all discussions can be handled in the blog. Nowadays, concerns of public matters are best discussed and diffused in your own site rather than in a forum conducted by someone else.

Extra funds can be raised using affiliate ads keeping the main site ad-free. There are many affiliate marketing programs that can benefit non-profits, such as Amazon.com. An affiliate program is the practice of referring a consumer to a vendor's website through specially-coded advertisements. When a consumer coming from a non-profit's blog buys from the vendor, the non-profit receives a donation from the vendor. Affiliate ads can be changed or removed in a blog a lot quicker than from the main website.

Learn more about this author, Renato Aguirre.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about How to use a blog to promote your nonprofit organization?
We want to hear your view. Write now!