1. A Guide Women Thrive Worldwide Advocacy Tools & Resources Blogging for Advocacy

2. What is a blog?  A blog is a personal website where you can share information about your organization and updates about your work.  Some common free blogging platforms include Wordpress, Blogger, and, Tumblr. You can also use notes on your facebook page as a blog. 2 Women Thrive Worldwide Advocacy Tools & Resources

3. Blogging for Advocacy  A blog is a way for you to share information with a variety of people: policy-makers, other experts, donors, and the public.  Communicate and interact with these people through your blog.  Blogging frequently with useful, timely, compelling stories will help others see you as a credible expert in your field.  Tie in your online advocacy with your offline advocacy and projects. Make sure that your blog is always furthering your advocacy goals. 3 Women Thrive Worldwide Advocacy Tools & Resources

4. Effective Blogging: 1) Have a Perspective  Blogging is about giving readers a fresh take on an issue. It’s your role as the author to have a point of view and share it in a way that is compelling and supported by facts and data.  Blogging can cover many topics. Here are just a few examples:  A topical news story  A new piece of research or data  A recent event, training, or project  Commemorative days  Personal stories from the community you serve  Make sure that you provide your unique perspective on the topic and show how it is relevant to your work. 4 Women Thrive Worldwide Advocacy Tools & Resources

5. Effective Blogging: 2) Keep it Short  More is not better! Keep your blog post short and interesting.  You want to keep your reader’s attention, and that means including your main point at the beginning of the blog post. It also means being concise.  Blogs can range from 150-1,000 words, but are usually 300-500 words.  A well-written blog post uses clear, simple language. Remember, blog readers may not be experts. Avoid jargon and acronyms.  Provide links to further resources if readers want to learn more.  Pro-Tip: Good writing eliminates the need for transitional phrases like “moreover” and “thus.” One paragraph should flow logically to the next. 5 Women Thrive Worldwide Advocacy Tools & Resources

6. Effective Blogging: 3) Keep it Timely  Did what you’re writing about happen more than a week ago? Have several folks in the field already weighed in on it? Then don’t write about it.  Because of how quickly people get news online these days, they expect the same kind of speed and timeliness from blogs.  The point of a blog is to demonstrate your expertise and how in-the-know you are. That means getting to a topic quickly. I.e., when something happens, you know about it. And you provide your thoughts about it while it’s still fresh. 6 Women Thrive Worldwide Advocacy Tools & Resources

7. Effective Blogging: 4) Be Consistent  Don’t blog just once a year.  Blogging helps you get your name out there.  If a journalist, donor, or other activist sees that you only write infrequently, they won’t feel good about your commitment to the issue.  Experts who are the go-to-resource on issues are that resource because they regularly put out good content that shows (and doesn’t just tell) readers “I am the expert on this.” 7 Women Thrive Worldwide Advocacy Tools & Resources

8. Effective Blogging: 5) Be Smart and Relatable  Back your statements up with research, or explain what about your experience tells you something is the case.  Experience counts. Don’t be afraid to talk about the good, bad, and the ugly. You’re human, and so is the reader. They want to trust you, so go ahead and show them why your issues matter and give them the information they need to believe it. 8 Women Thrive Worldwide Advocacy Tools & Resources

9. Questions Before you Blog  These questions are meant to help you strategically focus your writing so it can have a big impact. 1.What do you want to accomplish with this blog? Is it to provide an update on a topic? Is it to provide an analysis for other experts? Is it to educate the public on an issue? 2.Who is your target audience? What style writing is most beneficial in reaching them? 3.How much information are you trying to convey? What are some ways to break up the text and make it simple to read? Or should the piece be divided into a series? 4.What is the emotion you want to convey? 5.Who has the facts? How can you use those facts effectively? 6.How can the reader get engaged or take action? 9 Women Thrive Worldwide Advocacy Tools & Resources