A blog (or weblog) is a great communication tool and can be used to engage donors and prospects in online conversations. You can tell compelling stories from your organization and ask for a gift.

Here are the steps to take to fundraise with your blog.

1. Know your donor audience. Do they hang out online or will you have to help them find you? Put your blog url everywhere so people can find you.

2. Know your edge and your key messages. An edge is the platform you will use to speak from. To find your edge, figure out what is the controversy in your mission. For example, a food bank can use "People right here in our community are going hungry" as its edge. Key messages might be "That's not okay with us" and "we're going to do something about it."

3. Drive traffic to your blog. Post the link to your blog everywhere. Gather email addresses from your donors and send them email invitations to join in the blog conversation.

4. Tell your stories. Share your statistics and facts. Help your donors see firsthand the work you are doing and the results of your efforts. Fundraising is emotionally based. What better way to convey the emotion of your cause than to show photos and videos, and have audio testimonials of your clients?

5. Invite your donors to share their opinions and views in your blog. Engage them in conversation. Give them opportunities to give you feedback and advice.

6. Ask your donors to support your work with a gift. Offer a "Donate Now" button that they can use to make a gift right away.

It will take time to sustain a great blog and ideas for publicizing it once you have it up and running. Here are a few tips for writing content.

• Keep it conversational. Write like you talking to a specific donor.
• Tell stories. They're much more interesting to read.
• Find a specific time of day to write and make it a habit to post as often as you can (at least 3 times a week).

Ask a volunteer to help you write. (Great way to engage a volunteer!)

Follow these tips and you'll be on your way to raising money with your blog!