Recently, I hosted a "blogathon" on my weblog to celebrate its second anniversary and to raise funds for a local environmental organization. I agreed to spend 24 hours online blogging, and readers could make a "per-post" pledge to the organization, which they multiplied by the number of posts I made to determine their donation. While my readers and I raised a sizeable sum, I quickly realized that combining an online event with a charitable fundraiser created a powerful means of promoting my blog and increasing its readership. Hosting the event created a "win-win" situation that allowed me to both contribute to a cause I believe in and gain wide exposure in 24 hours that I couldn't have obtained otherwise without spending large sums of money.
In this age of ridiculous get-rich-quick schemes and too-good-to-be-true promotional opportunities, the internet marketer can make his/her site stand out from the crowd and attract new customers/readers/clients by doing something many consider unthinkable: raising money for someone else. I've seen the rewards of such an effort, and will share them with you. First, though, I'll show you how I created, managed and promoted my event, and how I received help from much more established blogs and websites in making it happen.
Creating and Organizing the Event
I choose to celebrate my blog's second anniversary because I saw it as a milestone: blogs and web sites come and go quickly, so having succeeded for two years deserved a celebration. Keep in mind that many occasions might hold potential for an event: an anniversary or another milestone (say, a blog's thousandth post), a holiday, a release of a product, a famous person's birthday� the possibilities are endless.
I choose a local environmental organization because my blog focuses on issues of environmental sustainability. A quick scan of a local non-profit directory should provide plenty of ideas if you don't already have one in mind. I suggest staying local because you'll likely have more luck making and keeping contact with individuals at the organization. I also suggest picking an organization with a mission similar to your own � you'll enjoy the process more, and the organization will be happier to help you promote the event if you're already involved in their cause. No matter what your subject matter, you should have no trouble finding numerous organizations worthy of your efforts.
Contact the organization ahead of time. This will head off any embarrassment in case they're contacted about your event, and they will have resources such as press contacts that will be very helpful once you begin promoting.
Contact other bloggers and/or webmasters and ask them to pitch in. I got in touch with many people with similar sites and asked them to contribute a post to my effort. Most were happy to help, as they receive greater exposure and also get to contribute to a cause they also believe in. Nearly all of them announced the event on their blog as the time drew near.
Ask your readers and others for donations. I took pledges prior to the event, and kept a record of the pledgers' names, email addresses and amounts pledged. I was fortunate that the organization already had a web-based donation system in place, so I only had to send my readers to that page to make their donation. I think that not having to handle the money added to the credibility of my effort, as it was clear I wasn't running a scam
Start promoting. I began promoting my effort about a month before the event itself. I devoted posts to explaining the event, and describing different efforts that the organization was taking to promote environmental awareness and action. I sent out press releases to local and online media, and appeared on a local community radio station's environmental program.
The Event
When the day came, I had prepared ahead of time by locating information on which I could post, and collecting guest posts from other bloggers. I set myself a schedule of 2-3 posts per hour, and spread the guest posts throughout the event. I must admit that I didn't quite make the 24 hours (after about 22 �, I was beat), but did reach my goal (which I'd publicized) of fifty posts (including guest posts) during the event.
The Results
Both regular and new readers "showed up" during the event with comments, emails, and updates to their own blogs and sites, and several tried to stay up the whole twenty-four hours with me.
My visitor numbers quadrupled during the event, and have remained much higher than they were prior to it.
My TTLB Ecosystem ranking jumped about a thousand places, and I went from "Adorable Little Rodent" to "Marauding Marsupial."
I've attracted about 25 new subscribers on Bloglines alone.
My Feedburner feed circulation increased by 50%.
Almost a week later, I'm still trying to respond to commenters. I don't have exact numbers, but I've never had the amount of conversation on the blog that I had during the event.
I'm still watching the long-term results, but, without a doubt, holding this event allowed me to take my blog to at least the next level in terms of readership and exposure. While an event itself would have gotten some notice, choosing to celebrate while also raising funds for a non-profit gave the community around my blog several reasons to spread the word, join in the effort and even discuss it afterwards. It was a rewarding experience in a number of ways, and I can't wait until this time next year to build on these initial successes.
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