Happy Birthday to the Duck Call!
We’re excited to celebrate the Duck Call blog’s second birthday. That’s right, nonprofiteers! The Duck Call has entered its terrible twos! But we promise that it won’t all be tantrums and potty-training.
Instead, we’re going to look at a few highlights from the past year (you can find highlights from our first year here). That way, we get to toot our own horn while also passing along to you some of the lessons we’ve learned. See? Our twos aren’t so terrible.
Here are a few good things we did this past year:
- Tripling the number of pageviews
- Increasing the annual number of blog posts by 50%
- Redesigning our website to fully integrate the blog
If you’re wondering how we’ve been able to do this, below are a few of strategies we use to keep our blog updated, fresh, and relevant.
- We clearly define goals–Each year, Liz and I sit down to discuss our online and social media strategies and recommendations for the year. We consider our audiences, best practices in the field, and the time we can require of our fellow Ducks to create content. Then we establish a clear and realistic set of goals for the upcoming year and present it in a staff meeting for feedback and buy-in.
- We keep a blogging calendar–A calendar helps to organize the Ducks who want to write for the blog. We assign a different writer every week, and we keep a shared Google doc that the entire team can use with blog topics and resources. The calendar gives everyone plenty of advance notice before his or her article is due and allows for flexibility and a variety of subjects and voices on the blog.
- We establish a gatekeeper–I am the gatekeeper. Collecting posts and updating the blog is part of my job and integrated into my weekly routine. It takes away the confusion of roles and responsibilities, and eliminates the stress of chasing someone down for a post or scrambling last minute. Establishing a centralized system (with supportive backup and buy-in from everyone else) keeps the blog from getting ignored.
With these strategies–along with smart, fun, and creative content–we are organized as a team to expand and grow the blog each year.
Do you have any tips of strategies on what you do to make your blog successful? Share them in the comments section below.
In case you missed them, here are a few of our favorite posts from the past year:
- Three Lessons for Nonprofits form the Royal Wedding
- 10 Tips to Manage Your Personal and Professional Brand in Social Media
- For Rebrands Sake
- The Unsung Hero of a Stellar Website
- Words to Avoid–2011 Edition
- Using Technology to Grow Nonprofit Peaches
- Ducks Go Nuts
Cheers to another year of Duck Call Madness!