4 Tips for How to Become a Better Writer

As a copywriter with almost two decades of experience, one of the questions I get asked a lot is how to become a better writer. From grant proposals to product descriptions to blog posts to websites and more, you have a lot to say, and it needs to be said well in order to gain more support for your nonprofit or social enterprise.

Learning how to convince and compel with the written word is not just an essential skill, but one that stands the test of time.

No matter the format or latest trend, you’ll always be glad that you took the time to improve your writing. It’s a journey that never ends, but one you’ll gain confidence in as you go.

Plus, if you’re at a small cause-focused organization, it’s unlikely that you can outsource all of your writing needs anyway, which also makes it unavoidable. Might as well do the best with what you’ve got, right?

So, if you’re ready to get better at writing, sharpen your pencils because I have four tips that you can implement starting today.

A Disclaimer: Copywriting vs. content writing

Before we jump into how you can become a better writer, I first wanted to take a minute to explain copywriting versus content writing. Many nonprofit and social enterprise leaders are not well-versed in marketing terms because they are busy running their organizations—and that’s totally okay! That’s why you need people like me to not just do the work, but help you understand it as well. And I’m happy to!

Here’s the gist:

Copywriting is marketing copy that’s used to persuade. The words are intended to drive sales, increase leads and interest, and make people want to take action. The language is often strong, emotional, and engaging. (Here’s an example.)

Content writing is informative. The words are used to educate or tell stories. If you’ve heard of content marketing, then you know content writing is often utilized to build a know/like/trust factor so that people can get to know you over time. (This blog post you’re reading is one example.)

I point this out not just to make you a little smarter, though that’s always a good thing. I say this so that you understand that there are two different ways of writing for your organization, and they serve different purposes.

Good writers may be good at content writing, but may not be good at copywriting. You or another staffer may be terrific at creating blog content, but it doesn’t mean that you should be writing your fundraising or sales campaigns, or even the main pages of your website.

Definitely take the time to get better at writing, but know that you may still need to call in professional when it comes to marketing copy that’s intended to bring in dollars.

4 Tips That Will Vastly Improve Your Writing

1. Write (A Lot) to Improve Your Writing

“Practice makes perfect” is a cliche for a reason! Even (and perhaps especially) if you do not regularly write for your nonprofit or social enterprise, I encourage you to find an outlet to do so.

I actually started my personal blog while working as an Event Marketing Director because I had less writing to do for our nonprofit than in previous jobs. I needed that space to continue practicing at night and on the weekends since I wasn’t getting it during the day.

Writing is a bit of a use it or lose it skill, in my opinion. Not like you’ll completely forget how to write if you stop, of course, but it’ll be harder. You could experience more writer’s block or fall behind on best practices. Writing will become more of a mental game, and something you’ll likely keep putting off until “later.”

By writing more, you’ll also start to develop your own voice. Obviously, you’ll need to stick to the tone and voice of your organization for professional purposes, but as a more experienced writer, you can also help shape that for your team. Additionally, many leaders want to write a book, so developing your own voice will come in handy later, too.

The more you can write, the better—and more confident—you’ll get.

2. Read (A Lot) to Get Better at Writing

Sometimes it helps to learn from the pros, and one of the best way to do that is by reading as much as you can. That might mean blogs and newsletters, but I find that books are the best source.

Did you know that fiction books also increase empathy? Guess there’s more than one reason to read them now! But, seriously, following the same narrative over many chapters not only captures your imagination, but helps you learn how to tell a great story. (Just be sure to keep your marketing materials brief, ha!)

And nonfiction books have their own benefits, such as helping you learn new things, which is also an essential for any leader. Nonfiction is also, of course, more closely aligned to what you’ll be writing for your organization, so you’ll be able to see great content modeled for you.

Be sure to make time for both fiction and nonfiction books!

If you don’t consider yourself a very analytical person, don’t worry! I’m not asking you to methodically pick apart everything you read. It will likely just start soaking in subconsciously. You’ll begin to develop a preference for certain styles, and will see it play out as you begin to write as well.

3. Read What You Wrote Out Loud

It’s amazing how different something may sound in your head as opposed to when you read it out loud.

This trick can help you avoid any number of writing mistakes. The tone or pace of your words might sound “off,” or the meaning may even get lost. You may also find a run-on sentence or hear how a comma changes the entire structure. And you could discover that what you’ve written is actually a mouthful to say, and therefore shouldn’t be in your final version.

Reading your writing aloud is also a great way to detect new thoughts and paragraphs. Digital writing these days is done in smaller paragraphs, often of one to four sentences, so hearing places where you pause can help you figure out when to press “enter.”

Oh, and I don’t mean muttering the words to yourself under your breath, which I sometimes do. I mean actual, out-loud reading. Say it loud and proud, my friend! You might be surprised by what you hear.

4. Get Feedback on Your Writing

This tip may be the most difficult, because it means that you have to be vulnerable and ask for feedback. I don’t know about you, but that can be rough for me. However, having another person’s perspective can be invaluable, so give it a try.

And, who knows, if you’re feeling self-conscious because you don’t have much professional writing experience or have been struggling with writer’s block, your friend or peer may actually give you a boost of confidence by letting you know what a great job you did!

Here are a few ways to make the feedback process better:

• Ask someone who understands the purpose of what’s being said. Everyone has their own opinion on what makes for good writing, but if your best friend doesn’t have a good handle on your organization’s tone, voice, and message, they probably won’t give you the insight you need.

• Ask someone you trust. It’s not easy to ask for constructive criticism, so be sure to get feedback from someone who you care about, and who cares about you.

• Ask about something minor. Before you pour your heart and soul into your next campaign, get feedback on something minor and less important. See what kinds of feedback you receive on something of less consequence before the stakes are higher.

• Ask for specific feedback. If there’s a particular area you’d like someone to focus on, make it clear. Otherwise, you may not get the feedback you want.

• Ask from a good headspace. If you’ve just had a really bad day, receiving any sort of criticism is probably not going to be well-received. Ask on a day that you know you can take it.

What do you think? Which tip will you try first?

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I’m Kristi Porter, and I help cause-focused organizations understand and execute effective marketing campaigns so they can move from stressed to strategic. Your resources may be limited, but your potential isn’t. Whether you’re a nonprofit, social enterprise, or small business who wants to give back, I’ll show you how to have a bigger impact.

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Should You Invest in a Copywriter For Your Nonprofit Website?

Do you actually need a copywriter for your nonprofit website? If you’re creating your first site, or relaunching a new one, this question may have already popped into your head. And just because I’m a copywriter that specializes in nonprofits, social enterprises, and social impact companies, my answer is not going to be an automatic, “Yes.”

I’m here to serve my clients, and that means doing what is best for them. So, I’m going to lay out the benefits as I see them, and you can decide for yourself. And if the answer is, “No,” or “Not right now,” I’m also going to give you some options for writing your website on a budget without a copywriter. Sound good?

7 Reasons Why Hiring a Copywriter for Your Website Is a Good Idea

If you’re on the fence about hiring a website copywriter for your nonprofit, here are a few reasons it might be the right move.

1) You have lost perspective.

When you’re in the weeds of your mission each day, it’s easy to lose perspective. This could mean that you forget to include much-needed website content, use jargon that others don’t understand, or can’t see your work as a perspective donor or partner would.

Additionally, many nonprofit websites I read are written for “insiders,” or the people who already understand what you’re up to and have supported you for years. You want people to find your website and become engaged, but your site isn’t written for those who aren’t familiar with you and your work.

Sometimes it takes an “outsider” to spot this issue, and then write it in such a way that will draw in website visitors.

2) You aren’t a good writer.

Let’s face it: Not everyone is a good writer. And not everyone enjoys writing.

If this is you, that’s okay. (I probably can’t do what you do either!) However, when people are in this position, I find that they’re continually trying to force a square peg in a round hole—and it’s exhausting.

You’ll also likely keep putting off writing your website because it’s not something you enjoy. At that point, you find yourself frantic and desperate, trying to cobble together a site that you don’t love and aren’t happy with. And that’s probably not the outcome you’re looking for.

These are also issues that website visitors could pick up on, which doesn’t serve your mission at all.

3) It takes you a long time to write.

One of my amazing clients, Anne Kerr, once told me that she hired me to write for her because it’s a task that simply takes a long time. She’s actually a really good writer, and can communicate her mission very well, but it might take her days to write something that I can knock out in a fraction of the time.

With what feels like a hundred other items on your To Do List, you have to assess where you should spend your time.

4) You don’t know how to write a website.

Just because you write well, doesn’t mean you can (or should) write your website. Your website is a powerful marketing, sales, and fundraising tool, which means the copy (<— the words) should not just be informative, but persuasive.

It might take a different skill set to tell your story and talk about your work in way that pulls the reader in, and makes them want to take action.

5) Your team is maxed out.

Even if you have a team of people that you work alongside, it’s likely that they’re all at capacity. It’s hard to find anyone anywhere that doesn’t have a full plate of tasks to complete each day. So, you have to ask yourself if one or more people really need to juggle this one as well.

By hiring someone to write your nonprofit website, you are freeing up your team to do what they do best.

At many small nonprofits, employees are already wearing multiple hats, so adding something large and substantial like writing a website could easily overwhelm them. Do your team a favor, and bring in a professional who can guide them through the process, and get it done quickly and efficiently.

6) YouR time is better spent elsewhere.

I spoke a little about this in #3, but it’s quite possible that you may have other items on your agenda that need your attention more. As a founder or key leader, you probably have responsibilities that need your personal attention, and if that’s the case, you should leave the copywriting to someone else.

For example, let’s say it’s a busy season for your nonprofit (I know, when isn’t it!), and you really need to be getting in front of large donors. Well, you can’t show up to meetings, schedule coffees, or attend high-profile events if you also need to sit down and write a website.

There are some things only you can do. Is writing your website one of them?

7) Words Matter.

You may also be wondering about the role of design when it comes to your nonprofit’s website. The truth is that it’s important. How your website looks is the first thing people will see, so I definitely believe your website should look good.

However, you have to back up your visual brand identity with compelling words. The copy informs and enhances the photos, heightens the way colors make you feel, and encourages people to take action. They complement each other—and when they work together, you have a fantastic online experience for donors and partners.

Can’t Afford to Hire a Copywriter For Your Nonprofit Website?

I get it. You can’t squeeze blood from a stone, as they say. If this is your first website, or you’re still in startup mode, you may not yet be able to invest in a copywriter. I don’t fault you for that, since I know the DIY feeling.

However, I do have some suggestions if you need to bootstrap the words on your website.

• Get an audit.

  Before you dive head-long into creating your new site, hire someone to audit your current one. For example, my friends at New American Pathways are about to redesign and rewrite their current site, which they’ve had for five years. But before they begin, they hired me to assess what works and doesn’t work from a marketing perspective.

  I went through the website as a visitor would, and took note of everything that could be improved, from photos and colors to the writing and brand messaging. This allowed them to have a more informed direction as they approached a website designer, and for the team member who will handle most of the writing in-house.

• Hire an editor.

  Even if you’re a good writer, I suggest hiring someone to edit your website. That person can not only look at grammar and punctuation errors, but sentence structure and continuity. He or she might even be able to help you cut any clutter and make suggestions for improvement.

• Barter.

  Bartering isn’t talked about much, but I’m a big fan. If you’ve got something someone else needs or wants, it’s possible you can swap. For example, one of my friends does some copywriting for her accountant, and gets her taxes done for free in exchange. Get creative!

• Get more opinions.

  Remember when we talked about perspective above? Well, you only have one. Whether you’re the only employee at your nonprofit, or you have a whole team, it’s good to get the opinions of others. Putting your heads together can lead to significant improvements all-around, especially if you need to rewrite your website quickly.

• Invest in a copywriting Course or coach.

  Want to improve your skills? Maybe a copywriting course or writing coach is the best move for you. However, the investment may not be all that different than hiring a copywriter, and it will also require more of your time. So, take a hard look and see if this is something you should pursue. If so, it can also serve you well in the long-run.

• Find a mentor.

  I’m a big fan of finding a mentor, and it’s advice I give out often. Of course, having a mentor can be a huge benefit in many ways, and this is certainly one of them.

  The downside of simply getting outside opinions, as I talked about earlier, is that they still may not know any more about writing for websites than you do. However, a mentor may have an expert opinion, if you’ve sought one out that has that skill set.

• HIRE AN Intern.

  Though they don’t have years of experience under their belt yet, students and interns who are majoring in marketing or journalism do have a lot of value. And, obviously, you can be a terrific resource for them, too. The first project I give any new intern is to audit my website, and tell me what doesn’t make sense, what links are broken, and what could be made better. I get complements on my site all the time, and I know that is in part due to my interns’ contributions.

One Thing You ABSOLUTELY Must Consider

Have you thought about the ROI of hiring a copywriter for your nonprofit website? If not, the return on investment may help you make a decision.

It’s not just the cost of investing in a copywriter, it’s what could happen as a result:

• Copy that makes you look and sound more professional to your potential partners and donors

• Copy that’s more engaging than what you could write yourself, which results in more donations and sponsorships

• An experience that teaches you how to think about your overall marketing strategy

Additionally, they cost less than you might think because it’s a short-term cost with long-term benefits.

• You likely won’t rewrite your website but every few years.

• You don’t have to pay for their taxes or other benefits like insurance.

• You don’t even have to buy them pizza at the next office party.
  
  

YOUR NEXT NONPROFIT WEBSITE

You may not be able to hire a nonprofit copywriter for your current project, but I suggest adding them into your budget for the next one (or your Phase 2 upgrades). You’ve seen the benefits above, and they aren’t to be overlooked.

You’ve no doubt spent years getting better at your job, and copywriters like me have as well. So, when it comes to something as important as your website, make sure it’s in the best possible hands.

Having someone else handle the writing can bring new perspective, streamline your process, and free you up for what you do best. Plus, having their expertise can help you create a website that is more compelling, more engaging, and brings in more dollars.

Isn’t that worth the investment?

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I’m Kristi Porter, and I help cause-focused organizations understand and execute effective marketing campaigns so they can move from stressed to strategic. Your resources may be limited, but your potential isn’t. Whether you’re a nonprofit, social enterprise, or small business who wants to give back, I’ll show you how to have a bigger impact.

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From Paralysis to Print: Write and Publish Your Book

I’ve heard different stats over the years, but it’s staggering that as many as 90% of Americans want to write a book! Now, I’m not entirely sure that I believe the number is that big, but I do think it’s pretty darn high. And with the rise of self-publishing to level the playing field, it’s now easier than ever.

The problem? It’s still really hard to do. Most of us, myself included, may feel like we have a book or two in us, but a much smaller percentage actually gets it done. And then, an even smaller number reaches the publishing process.

It also seems like a complicated industry, doesn’t it? From actually sitting down to write, to the editing process, to finding a publisher (if you want one), to seeing your little labor of love on a shelf—there’s a LOT to do. In fact, you probably have a lot of questions.

So, what’s a girl or guy to do? You can ask my friend, Sara Shelton, who has a few books under her belt as a ghostwriter, editor, and coach. If the process seems intriguing but daunting, Sara will take you from paralysis to print by answering five of your most asked questions about writing and publishing a book.

So, you want to write a book? That’s amazing!

As an avid reader myself, let me just go ahead and thank you in advance for sharing another story that I can read and recommend to my friends.

And as a fellow writer, let me stop here and encourage that you no matter how difficult, frustrating, and completely unglamorous the writing process actually is, you can do it. You do, in fact, have a story to share!

The truth is a lot of people do! But standing at the beginning of the writing process, so many writers feel paralyzed by the thought of actually trying to get their stories out on paper and into print.

That’s usually where I come in!

I’ve been working as a freelance writer and editor for five years now, and in that time, I’ve been fortunate enough to come alongside and work with several authors during the writing, editing, and eventual publishing of their books. No matter which hat I’m wearing in the writing process, I love helping my clients cross the finish line to see their words of wisdom, stories, and advice finally on the page in print.

But like I said, the process of moving beyond fear-induced paralysis at the thought of writing a book to actually holding your final printed copy in your hand isn’t an easy one. So to help you move from paralysis to print, here are answers to five of my most frequently asked questions about writing a book.

1)   Where do I start?

There’s no “right” answer to this question. My best advice? Just start! If you have an idea, a vision, a story you think is worth sharing in print, then decide right now that you’re going to share it.

Then, get organized. I can’t stress this enough! Spending time on the front end of the writing process thinking through and organizing your thoughts will save you a lot of time (and maybe even money!) on the back end.

Once you’ve got a clear idea for your book, sit down and create an outline. Think through each main point you hope to hit—the takeaways you want readers to leave with—and organize them into chapters.

Next, write down the details under each chapter that you’re going to use to support those main points or takeaways—the stories, research, anecdotes, history, and more that will reinforce your point. (Pro tip: Index cards spread out on the floor are a great way to see your outline come to life!)

You can dive as deep into the outline as you’d like, but at the very least, start with getting your thoughts into some kind of organized format. Trust me, you’ll be so thankful you did this when you finally sit down to write!

2)   What DOES the writing process like?

Everyone’s writing process is going to look different, but I can almost assure you it won’t be seamless and smooth. Sometimes your writing is done in the back of a crowded coffee shop. Sometimes it’s done in the early morning hours in your bedroom before the sun rises. Sometimes it’s done in the car pickup line, or the benches of basketball practice, or the middle of the night hours when you just can’t sleep.

My best advice for diving into the writing process is to do your best to give it a good mix of structure and grace. Wake up early or stay up late for some uninterrupted hours of writing. You know how much time you have to offer, so offer that to your process.

Don’t look at your phone, don’t answer your email, don’t scroll through social media. Just write.

Maybe even give yourself a word count goal to hit each day. And then, aim for it. Some days you’ll go above and beyond. Other days, you’ll barely get there (which is where the grace comes in). Whatever the writing process looks like for you, go into it with as much structure and dedication to it as you can and give yourself a break on the days it just doesn’t work.

3)   What do I do to get published?

For the most part, publishing still falls into one of two major groups: traditional publishing or self-publishing.

Traditional publishing means your book goes to a professional publishing house and it is printed and distributed under their umbrella. The pros? You’ve got an entire group of people whose time, energy, and resources are devoted to your book. They take care of editing, design, promotion, and more. And depending on your deal, you typically get paid up front for your manuscript as well as in royalties from sales.

The cons? It’s very difficult to get in the door of a traditional publishing house. It requires a lot of work—the research to find the right potential publishing houses or agents for your book, the writing of a query letter to get the editor’s interest, the compiling of a book proposal to pitch your book, and more. Agents and publishers will want to know things like how big your social media following or potential audience is. They want to see how they might be able to sell your book to that audience. And they often get the final say in how your book takes shape and is edited. In a lot of ways, you lose control.

But in self-publishing, the control stays in your hands. You get to decide how you want to edit, promote, and even sell your book. You get the freedom to write the book you want to write! And with programs like Create Space, IngramSpark, and Kindle Direct Publishing, the process is easy for even the most beginner of writers.

The bad news? The expense is all your own. You have to front the money for things like edits, design, promotion, and more. If you want your book to sell, it’s typically up to you. While it is most definitely a great option, writers who choose to self-publish need to know the hustle is real!

KP note: Even with most traditional publishers now, you will still be expected to do a little or a lot of the marketing and promotion. It depends on your existing audience, the publisher, and more. So, don’t just expect to get out of it with a traditional publisher! If you have a particular publishing house in mind, see if one of their existing authors will answer a few questions for you.

4)   Where is it important to invest my money in the process?

A lot of this depends on the publishing route you end up taking with your book. If you’re in a traditional space, those publishing houses and agents will likely have agents, designers, marketing teams, and more already lined up to help you. But if you’re not (or if you just want to turn in the most well-rounded and polished copy of your manuscript), your first expense needs to be a good editor.

By the time you’ve finished your book, it’s become a real labor of love. And that makes seeing it through fresh and unattached eyes a difficult thing to do.

If you’re working with a rough draft and unsure of the direction of your book, a developmental editor is a great investment to help craft a better structure and clearer overall picture for your book. They may do everything from telling you to reorganize your chapters to suggesting you cut some of your content altogether—and that’s okay! They’re reading the book with eyes to make it better!

A copy editor is key for any writer because they’ll read your book with a fine-tooth comb, checking and correcting every single grammatical and mechanical error. Though both types of editors are going to be an investment to your project, it’s one you most definitely want to make so that you walk away with the best possible product ready to print.

Beyond editorial costs, many authors need to look specifically into designers to help them layout their book and even create a professional, eye-catching cover. Others choose to set aside funds to hire a team to help them market the book.

My advice to writers who will have to make any kind of financial investment to get their book published is to choose where you spend your money wisely. What matters most to you in the process? Start there and then see what funds you have left to go elsewhere.

5)   How will people know I wrote a book?

How do people know anything about what’s going on in your life? Because you talk about it!

If you’re going to do the incredibly hard and amazing work of writing a book (something most people only ever dream about doing), then you have officially earned the right to shout this accomplishment from the rooftops! Or at the very least, from your social media, email, blog, website, and any other form of connection you have to your people. You, your family, your friends, the people in your office or on your team—those are the best ways to promote your book from the get go.

If you have the funds, you can of course hire a marketing team or booking agent to help get the word out. But don’t be discouraged if you don’t. Instead, be proud of the work you’ve done and find ways to share that work with the people in your networks through promotion on channels like social media, email, podcasts, and more.

Interested in writing a book? Have a few more questions about how to make the publishing process happen for yourself? Find me online at www.saralshelton.com and let’s get connected!

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Sara Shelton is a full-time writer and editor working with clients to bring their stories and words to life. When she’s not working on manuscripts, curriculum, website content, magazine articles, and more, you can find Sara sharing a bit of her own work at www.sara-laurence.com.

Connect with on Instagram and Twitter at @saralaurence.  

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I’m Kristi Porter, and I help cause-focused organizations understand and execute effective marketing campaigns so they can move from stressed to strategic. Your resources may be limited, but your potential isn’t. Whether you’re a nonprofit, social enterprise, or small business who wants to give back, I’ll show you how to have a bigger impact.

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5+ Reasons Why No One is Reading Your Blog

If you're like many nonprofit or social enterprise leaders I meet, you have a beautifully designed blog, but it's a little barren. In fact, you really struggle to get your blog updated. And when you finally do, you check the box, pat yourself on the back, and call it a day. But it's not enough to just write the post—it needs to get read. 

Before we even address any potential issues with your marketing and promotion of the blog post, let's first address the readability. (And, yes, that's a thing.)

Does this sound familiar: Someone lands on your little labor of love, maybe skims a little, and then promptly leaves. All without taking action, or worse, even taking in your content.

Here you find yourself with a post that took precious time and energy, but didn't actually get the job done. It's finished, sure, but it's not effective. It's not working hard enough for you. Houston, we have a problem.

You can sit around all day long, cross your arms, and shout, "It's not me, it's you!" ... but is it? Here are a few blog writing tips that will help ensure your post gets read, and better yet, acted on. 

Formatting Your Blog Post

Not sure if you've noticed, but the the look of blog posts has changed quite a bit over the last, few years. They are no longer just little (or big) essays waiting to be consumed. Everyone's vying for your attention, and here's how the winners are getting noticed.

Sub-heads or headers: Like it or not, people often skim content, so after your introduction, use sub-heads in the body text to preview what's coming up. This also helps with SEO, so it’s good to use keywords (the main topic of your post) in sub-heads as well, or at least use a few words to describe what you’ll be talking about next.

Short paragraphs: Because it’s common for people to view websites on smaller screens, like cell phones and tablets, use smaller paragraphs of just a few sentences. If you write a long paragraph, how you can break it up so that it’s more readable on any sized screen? People don't want to look at a wall of text on a small screen.

Images: We may be living in a material world, but we're also living in a visual one. You need at least one image/video/graph/etc. to accompany your post. Not only does this illustrate your topic and help grab someone's attention, but for anyone who wants to save your post to a site like Pinterest, it makes things easier.

Keywords: You also want to make sure and mention your topic several times in the body copy for SEO. And you can use it in different phrasing, too. For example, if your post is about “content creation,” you can use that phrase, as well as “creating content” and “content marketing” and similar things. Once again, we're trying to appease and appeal to the almighty Google in hopes that it will recognize us and call us worthy. Agree or disagree, it's the world we live in if we want people to find our little corner of the internet.

CTA or Call to Action: At the end of every post should be a CTA. (You can also sprinkle them throughout.) What do you want people to do as a result of reading your blog post? You can lead them to additional content, make a donation or purchase, give you their email, sign up for your newsletter, download something, etc. There are a lot of options, so be sure to include one. Get them to interact with your content to make it, your cause, and your organization more memorable. This helps you build a relationship with someone.

Don't Forget Consistency

If you've read even a couple of posts on this blog, you've likely seen some form of the word "consistency." It is a huge soap box for us—because it's that important! So, along with formatting your blog post to make it more read-worthy, let's take a look at a few things that should always remain the same, even when the topic changes.

Remember your audience: For this blog, we consider our audience to be leaders or key employees of nonprofits and for-profits with a social mission. They're typically at a small organization where people wear multiple hats. And they have a desire to improve their marketing and communications. Everything we write keeps these folks in mind in order to serve them better.

Tone and voice: If you haven't done this yet, determine how your organization "sounds" so that tone and voice remains the same. This is called your brand voice. Here at Signify, we want to sound friendly and professional, with a side of humor. (Because humor just makes the world better.)

Refrain from jargon: Unless you have a very narrow niche that understands your jargon, like rocket scientists or brain surgeons, stop using words and phrases specific to that group. Don't make your audience strain to understand what you're saying or you'll lose them. For example, here on this blog, we try to make marketing and communications easy for anyone in our target audience to understand and act on.

Grammar, punctuation, and similar do-dads: We touched on this last week, but for repeat readers, you need to make sure your style is always the same from post to post. Go read that post with advice from editors. It’s chock full o’ wisdom!

Pro Tips for Your Blog Posts

We know, we know. You already have a long list to work on where your blog posts are concerned. But for those of you who may be a little further ahead, or think overachieving is a way of life, here are a few other things to make your words stretch further.

Work on your headlines: You already know this, but your blog headline is super important. We use this headline analyzer to help determine if our headlines will entice readers. Aim for a score of above 70, just like in school!

Add internal links: Link to other posts or pages within your site. Like when you talk about promoting a launch, you can link to another place where you talk about that same subject. ( <-- See what we did there?) This keeps people on your site longer because they're looking around at all the pretty content you've created. This is obviously great for your website, but when people stick around, it also tells Google that your site is a good one, and they should recommend you more.

Add external links: On a similar note, link to other websites when you can as well. It helps build the credibility of your own site in Google's eyes. So, when you mention that you're attending the Plywood Presents conference in a few months, make it easy for people to get there. ( <-- Did it again!)

Briefly consider length: There are MANY opinions about what the "right" length of a blog post should be, but here we ascribe to a single philosophy: cover the topic well. We write a minimum of 500 words, because again, you want to have enough content for Google to search, but past that, there aren't a lot of length requirements. Just deliver on the promise of your headline to keep your readers happy.

Maybe add a bio: Unfortunately, the sales cycle isn't like IKEA. Potential customers and donors don't all show up on the same page of your website, walk through it in one direction, and then end up on your sales or donations page. (Sigh.) For that reason, every blog post contains a short bio and photo of the writer. So, if I (Kristi) only get someone to read one post on this blog, they can at least also catch a little bit about me and what my company does. 

SEO and Keywords: To be completely honest, we don't focus heavily on SEO around here right now. As the team grows and capacity expands, we'll work on it, but for now, we've just dipped our toes in.

The gist, however, is to include keywords (the words you want the post to be known for) in a few different places:

• blog headline/title

• URL slug (the part that comes after your domain)

• First paragraph

• Alt tags (the “names” you can give to images behind-the-scenes)

• One or more subheads

• Sprinkled multiple times throughout the content

If you’re on WordPress, be sure to grab the Yoast SEO plug-in, which will make things much easier. If you’re on Squarespace, like us, here’s a link to their SEO checklist. You can also visit Megabolt Digital, where we get a lot of our SEO info from. Meg makes SEO very easy to understand!

Promoting Your Blog Post

We'll just cover this briefly here, but you can have the best-written, most beautiful post in the world, but if no one reads it, it won’t do you much good. Here are some of the ways we promote our posts, and you may think of others that work for you as well.

• Facebook (our own Page and FB groups we belong to)

• Twitter

• LinkedIn

• Instagram

• Pinterest

• Special Features (our monthly newsletter)

• Guests (If it’s a guest post or someone/company is prominently featured, we tag them on social media so that they can share as well.)

Read the other posts in this series:

• Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Company's Social Media

• 7 Tips You Need to Know to Write a Better Website

• Advice From The Editors: Avoid These Writing Mistakes

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing, consulting and strategy services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing, and business communications. I believe that cause-focused organizations like yours are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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