7 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Blog

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7 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Blog

Many non-profit staffers and small business owners start blogging because they “know” they “need” to do it or because someone suggested it would help their cause. These are innocent nudges in the right direction, often doled out by a board member with marketing experience or a CEO who wants to write or by a consultant who is ready to set you up with a blog, whether it’s right or wrong for your needs.

I’ve personally cautioned more people out of blogging than into blogging because a blog wouldn’t best serve their goals or because they just wouldn’t be able to devote the appropriate time to it. Blogging can be a huge undertaking and first one needs to ask if a blog is right for your cause or your business.

Here are some questions to ask before starting a blog:

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Managing social media in 10 minutes a day (non-profit and small business edition)

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Managing social media in 10 minutes a day (non-profit and small business edition)

There’s no denying that social media can be a huge responsibility to take on within your work. For those who use it personally, it becomes real obvious real quick how much of a timesuck Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and other channels can be. So it corresponds that managing social media professionally can be intimidating.

But how much time does it really take to have a professional presence on any given channel on behalf of your organization?

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Case Study: A Website for Coastal Maine Getaways

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Case Study: A Website for Coastal Maine Getaways

Coastal Maine Getaways was a great opportunity to start a website from scratch. Lindsey, the owner, had been managing vacation rental properties for some time, but hadn’t yet named her company and had only advertised her listings on VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner). It was working fairly well for her, but she wanted more control over her web presence, including the name of the company, SEO (search engine optimization), and the ability to add and highlight more options than VRBO allowed.

Lindsey engaged me to do some market research and to eventually design and populate the site.

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Recommendation from Chris Meehan, Chief Community Impact Officer at Vermont Foodbank

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Recommendation from Chris Meehan, Chief Community Impact Officer at Vermont Foodbank

“Over the past three years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Michelle in her role as digital media specialist for the Vermont Foodbank. From the beginning, Michelle took a keen interest in going above and beyond her official job duties to offer her experience and expertise to the Foodbank’s network of 225 food shelves and meal sites. The majority of food shelves and meal sites are run by volunteers and do not have the capacity to enter into the social media realm. Michelle helped to build their capacity by creating a series of classes that were offered in person and online. This made all the difference for many of these small mission driven organizations. She was always interested in improving the classes offered; each year, she sought feedback and made adjustments to ensure that she was providing the best service possible. I would highly recommend Michelle.”

Chris Meehan

Chief Community Impact Officer

Vermont Foodbank

Learn more about the marketing I do for nonprofits and universities.

Recommendation from Chris Meehan

Recommendation from Jessica Cox, Director of Harpoon Helps at Harpoon Brewery

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“I got the opportunity to work with Michelle for a couple of years specifically promoting the Harpoon Point to Point, presented by National Life group, which is the Vermont Foodbank’s largest fundraiser. Michelle took ahold of our digital promotion, specifically with Google Adwords and really drove exposure for us. Her attention to detail, creativity in making sure we were maximizing every dollar we spent, on top of trying to get conversions (registered riders) was top-notch. She was thoughtful to give the team reports on how things were going on the back-end, which I admittedly didn’t always understand due to my lack of knowledge on digital analytics, but had full trust that every decision Michelle made was a good one. We were a bit behind on some of the social media opportunities available to us, and she has a kind, patient demeanor and was careful to suggest changes and push where needed to take on new opportunities. She’s analytical, thorough, competitive and forward thinking in her approach and was a real asset to our team and our event.”

Jessica Cox

Director of Harpoon Helps & Sponsorships (2005-Present)

Harpoon Brewery

Learn more about the marketing I do for nonprofits and universities.

Recommendation from Jessica Cox

Recommendation from Keri Brown, Owner of Keri’s Kures

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Recommendation from Keri Brown, Owner of Keri’s Kures

“Michelle has been an invaluable asset to Keri’s Kures as we’ve grown over the last three years. She is always on the cutting edge of marketing research and technology, and is able to provide the information in plain language and actionable steps. Most importantly for my business, Michelle is able to push me to make moves that may feel risky or out of my comfort zone, but that always pay off when I follow through. I am always recommending Michelle’s expertise to other small business owners I meet.”

Keri Brown

Owner and Custom Tea Curator

Keri’s Kures

Learn more about the freelance marketing services I offer.

Recommendation from Keri Brown

Hootsuite: Social Media Management Lifesaver

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Hootsuite: Social Media Management Lifesaver

For non-profit and small business staff juggling multiple social networks, Hootsuite is a lifesaver.

If you’re not familiar with the social media management tool, here’s the run-down: Hootsuite allows you to manage most of your social networks in one place.

Like a web browser, you can set up one tab per network, so you can toggle between, say, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Within each tab/network, you can monitor a home screen (feed, wall, etc.), your own sent and scheduled messages, and searches and mentions of your brand or specific keywords.

Furthermore, you can create and schedule messages, on one or many networks, with features like shortened links, images, location tagging, and more.

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