Everyone doing business with the public today should have a website, and that goes double for non-profits. Like commercial businesses, non-profit organizations rely on public interest and their ability to meet the public’s needs in order to survive.

If you’re creating a web presence for your organization, or revamping an existing one, consider using a blogging platform as the foundation for your site. A blog platform is essentially a user-friendly content management system that allows you to create anything a regular static site has, but is far simpler, easier and cheaper than just about any other system.

Here are a few more reasons you should be thinking “blog” when considering your web options:

Blogs Are Sticky

One of the primary metrics of effectiveness of a website is what is referred to as “stickiness” - a sticky site is one that attracts constant traffic and holds onto that traffic once it arrives. Good design and intuitive navigation are helpful, but real stickiness requires compelling, targeted content.

Marketing studies show that it often takes 5-7 exposures to any marketing message before someone says yes and buys your product or service - and fundraising, event announcements and requests for volunteers are just as much marketing messages as commercial sales copy is. But if all you have to offer is a static site with infrequently updated information, what incentive does your wandering visitor have to come back to be exposed to your message enough times to get them to act?

None, that’s what.

However, by its very nature, a well-maintained blog continually updated with valuable content invites people to return regularly to keep up to date. It engenders a sense of community between the host and the extended readership while creating the sort of emotional buy-in that increases responses to any calls-to-action that may arise. And features like RSS subscription and email notification let your readers know when new information is available without leaving their desktops, motivating them return to read more.

Search Engines Love Content - Especially When It Changes

Since blogs contain far more, and more frequently updated, content than static sites, and are therefore more frequently scanned by search engines, having a content-rich and frequently updated blog translates into far better search engine ratings and greater site visibility than a static site. And a blog’s ease of editing allows for keyword changes to be implemented at a moment’s notice across the entire site, further boosting the chance of your site coming up in a relevant search.

Another advantage blogs have over static sites is that not only can you link to other related sites of interest, but other sites are much more likely to link to you, assuming you provide valuable and interesting content for them to link to. Link-backs from well-placed, relevant sites are search engine gold. Simply put, the more interesting your blog is, the more it will be linked to and the more it is linked to, the better your chances of making it to the top of a search results page.

It’s So Simple, Your Child Could Do It (And Probably Already Is)

In the realm of non-profit organizations, few except the most successful can afford a full-time IT specialist with the sort of training it takes to design, build and maintain a regular static site. With its familiar input interface and ease of use, a blog is the ideal web platform when creation and ongoing maintenance of the site will likely be attended to by a string of motivated, but untrained, volunteers or staff members.

With a blog-based site, much of the work is done for you by the platform itself. If need be, the initial set-up and design can be done by a professional, but many platforms are so easy to set up that even the terminally clueless can do it. And even if you do opt for a professional set-up, once that infrastructure is in place, updating the site couldn’t be easier and is well within the abilities of a basic computer user. More advanced tasks may require more specialized skills. But even these are easier to do on a blog than on a standard static site, and help is often available on the web.

As you can see, a blog platform is a great way to attract visitors to your site, engage them at an emotional level and keep them coming back for more. And to top it all off, blog platforms are easy to use and very cheap, sometimes even free - and that’s always good news to who’d rather be spending their time and money doing good than running the shop.

Soni Pitts is a professional freelance writer and copyeditor. In addition to her freelance work, she collaborates with other writers on such projects as Wordbrains and the upcoming Web Content Awareness Day event. Need copy? Email Soni at writer [at] sonipitts.com for more information.

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Weblogs, more commonly known as blogs, are spreading feverishly across the Internet. According to Robyn Aber of Cisco Systems Inc., about four million blogs populate the Web. Though most private individuals maintain blogs, many companies are beginning to launch company blogs to communicate and interact with their clients, customers, and the public.

How can you create a company blog that outshines and outlasts every other blog? And how do you hypnotize readers to keep coming back? This article provides tips to write effective, attention-arresting blog copy and shows how you can develop reader and customer loyalty.

1. WRITE CONVERSATIONALLY.

The most engaging blogs speak to their audience in a casual and conversational tone. A big benefit of a blog is its ability to speak to readers in a way that is personal, candid and straightforward. Write your blog the same way you’d speak to your audience, face to face. The personal element is almost always what attracts people and keeps them coming back to your blog.

Amy Joyce of the Washington Post says, “Web logsor blogsstarted as a way to talk about new technologies, vent about life and interact in a no-holds-barred forum. Since blogs became the next big thing, an increasing number of companies have come to see them as the next great public relations vehiclea way for executives to show their casual, interactive side. But, of course, the executives do nothing of the sort. Their attempts at hip, guerrilla-style blogging are often painedand painful.”

To avoid this pitfall, simply be yourself. The best blogs reveal the interests, opinions, and personality of the writer. Your perspective, personal and professional, is unique in all the world. Let it shine through, and your blog will automatically be one-of-a-kind. An interesting blog will bring back customers again and again and will generate priceless interest in your company.

2. TELL STORIES.

Readers want to know things they already don’t know about your company. They want to know what the products, services, people, challenges, and innovations in your organization are really like. If you give them a glimpse of the inner workings, express your opinions boldly, and tell engaging stories, you will foster reader interest and loyalty. In a biography, both interviews and quotations usually are the most intriguing parts. Think of your company blog as a business biography. Personalize it with your unique thoughts and perspective.

3. MAKE IT PERSONAL.

Write about what you know. Draw from your expertise to inform the public about the finer points of your business. Detailing development ideas, setbacks, successes, and reactions reveals the human element and engages the reader. It’s fine to talk about new products and innovations, but blogs devoted mostly to marketing and promotion are the most boring and least popular of company blogs. Make these topics more appealing to readers by framing such announcements with personal impressions and insights. Customers want to feel a kinship with the brand. Letting them in on the details of your business will make them feel part of your company culture and increase the chances of their lifetime loyalty.

4. UPDATE FREQUENTLY.

Once you have established a good reader base, offer new insights regularly to reward surfers for coming back. Not only does this provide more information and exposure, but it also reflects that your company is active and on top of things. Link to current articles from other sources to keep readers abreast of developments in your sector. A rarely-updated blog feels stale and tired. This is not the reputation you want your company to have!

5. ADHERE TO COMPANY RULES.

You are personally responsible for whatever material you publish on your company blog. Respect the confidentiality of your organization and employees. Though you may express disagreements or concerns, do not make personal attacks or use the blog to air petty complaints. Do not reveal proprietary information; and avoid discussing revenue, share price, or other financial statistics. Observe copyright law, and quote sources as you would in any other document. Make sure what you write in the company blog reflects the company’s goals. Keep in mind the ultimate goal of most company blogs is to increase visibility and promote the exchange of information. While most companies allow and encourage blogging on company time, you should avoid letting your writing time interfere with your regular workload.

6. WRITE GRAMMATICALLY.

Finally, make sure that what you write is grammatical. Your blog entries reflect your company, and you want to give the best possible impression of the organization and its personnel. The Internet is rife with bad English. Though blogs tend to be relaxed in tone, it is no more appropriate to ignore standard English than it is to wear flip-flops and swimming trunks on casual Friday. Use a program like StyleWriter ( http://www.stylewriter-usa.com/ ) or White Smoke ( http://www.whitesmokesoftware.com/ ) to find and fix embarrassing grammar mistakes and help you write like a pro.

A company blog is an excellent tool for promotion, communication, and information. The tips outlined here will help elevate your blog and generate traffic and interest. Good luck, and welcome to the wonderful world of blogging!

For more articles on business writing and writing for blogs, visit ElectronicWritingCourse.com or ReadabilityFormulas.com and click on “Free Articles.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BRIAN KONRADT is a freelance writer and founder of FreelanceWriting.com (http://www.freelancewriting.com), a free web site to help writers master the business and creative sides of freelance writing; he also is founder of BookCatcher.com (http://www.bookcatcher.com), a website that offers free book publicity to book writers and book publishers.

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If there is a downside to blogging, I have yet to find it. The
more you learn about blogging, the more there is to like.

In fact, here are 6 mouth-watering reasons why every marketer
should be blogging:

1- Fast Search Engine Spidering and Indexing of Your Site:

Did you know that Google owns the most popular blogging platform
on the planet? Blogger at http://www.blogger.com is used to
produce thousands of blogs. Even a complete internet newbie can
set up a blog in about 5 minutes at Blogger. And guess who can be
counted on to come by and quickly spider all those new blog posts
as they are written?

Yahoo is also embracing blogs and feeds in a big way. Savvy
marketers know that adding their blogs and feeds to their MyYahoo
page can bring the Yahoo spider to their site almost immediately.

One of the reasons that blogs get spidered so quickly is that
most of them produce a feed. Many blogs automatically “ping” (or
notify) some of the large sites that carry these feeds and make
them available for syndication. Search engines spider these sites
many times a day. Blogger, for instance, pings Weblogs every time
you make a post. You can also “ping” a free site called
Pingomatic (http://www.pingomatic.com) every time you add a new
blog post. Your ping will notify Yahoo and 11 other large feed
sites that you’ve added a post. If it only were so easy to get
Google to notice new pages on regular sites!

If you have a new site that you are having trouble getting
indexed, adding a blog or RSS feed is one of the quickest ways to
get the spiders to come calling.

2-Blogs can Build Your Backlinks Quickly:

If you’ve spent time trying to get reciprocal links to your site,
you know how frustrating, boring, and time-consuming it can be.
I’ve long considered reciprocal link building to be one of the
worst ways to develop link popularity. Many SEO experts consider
one-way links to be far more effective.

A blog can build one-way links to your site fast. If you’ve just
started a blog, you should submit it to the large blog and feed
directories. Here is a list of the Top 55:

http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/

Once you’ve submitted your blog to these directories, you’ll find
your backlinks growing quickly. This past year, more webmasters
are using RSS feeds on their sites to keep their sites fresh and
spidered frequently. Software applications such as RSS Equalizer,
Express RSS, and CARP make this easy.

After starting my first blog, I was amazed at how many different
sites carried my feed with a link back to my site! These links
can multiply exponentially over time.

Now tell me something. Wouldn’t you rather be spending your time
adding content to your site than trying to get questionable
reciprocal links? Especially when it doesn’t take any extra time?

3-A Frequently Updated Blog will Keep the Spiders Visiting Your
Site Often:

Most of us are aware that the search engines like sites that are
updated frequently. If you have your blog set up correctly, every
post will update several pages of your site. Then pinging Yahoo
and the blog and feed directories at Pingomatic can bring out the
spiders in just a few hours. This is a great way to get new pages
of your site indexed quickly and frequently.

4-Your Site is Stickier and More Appealing to Visitors:

A blog on your site is an easy way to keep your site updated on a
regular basis. The upside is that visitors will come by more
often. If they find your blog interesting and informative, they
may bookmark your site. That means you have a much greater chance
of making sales. And you have a ready-made audience for any new
products you launch.

A blog can also add a human face to your website that potential
customers will trust and respond to. Most marketers know that
people buy from people they like and respect. A well-written blog
is a great way to build a relationship with your visitors.

5-A Blog Is The Fastest And Easiest Way To Build A Brand-New
Website Without Training:

Even a 10 year old could set up a blog at Blogger.com and be
blogging almost immediately. No HTML knowledge is necessary. You
don’t need to know how to FTP. You don’t need to know how to link
the pages in your site together. All you have to do is type in
your post and click on the “publish” button. And yet you can
still set up an attractive, spiderable site in record time.

Blogs can be used for any type of site, not just for online ezine
delivery or a place to announce new products. Using a blog you
could quickly build a niche site. Just research the best keywords
for your niche. Then write articles around those keywords and
post them to your blog. Include your keywords in your title. You
now have an instant niche site that will be spidered quickly and
be easy to maintain.

6-Keyword competition in RSS feed sites is much less than in the
SE’s:

Google, Yahoo, and MSN each have many millions of webpages in
their indexes. It can be almost impossible to get top rankings
for competitive keywords if you don’t have a high PR site with
lots of backlinks.

It’s a completely different story at the RSS feed sites. The
competition for many high-competition keywords is almost
nonexistent. Setting up a blog in some of these high-competition
niches is a good way to successfully compete.

Marketers spend a lot of time and money getting traffic to their
sites, creating backlinks, getting good SE rankings, and building
relationships with their customers. A blog can improve your
results in all those areas. There aren’t very many free marketing
techniques that can make that claim!

For more tips and ideas on how to make money blogging, be sure to visit my “Why Marketers Should Blog” weblog at (what else) http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.com

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