Blogging, Part Three: Promoting on the Blog, or Charity Begins at Homepage

In this final week of NaBloPoMo, I’m writing about blogging. Part One looked at the blogroll. Part Two looked more deeply at some of the bloggers—and specifically one blogger—on it. Part Three considers promoting on the blog through advertising or other endorsements...and includes a sort of unusual meme.

Lately, I’ve been noticing the advertising on certain blogs and thinking more and more about whether it would be right for me. I’ve even exchanged emails with a couple Dad bloggers about advertisements and promotions that might make some money from blogging. For the record, I think that advertising or promoting products on our blogs is fine. And nearly all of the Dad bloggers that I’ve seen do it don’t let the ads or promotions overtake their writing or the real purpose of their blog. But the subject is moot for me right now...I don’t have enough hits yet each day to make advertising or product promotions worth it.

I have been thinking about other promotions that I could do through this blog though. But without giving any product or business free advertising just for the heck of it.

A few posts back, I suggested that thousands of dollars spent on obscenely priced gifts could better be given to charity. I also wrote that “if I could give Clare anything, it would be the values of care and compassion so she’d feel the same way and never even want these ridiculously priced gifts, and so she’d understand that it really can feel better to give than receive.” I added that “it’s never too early to teach our kids what to really value for the holidays.”

So, in the holiday spirit of giving, I’m using today’s post to promote a local charity. And I’m asking that some of you do the same. I’ve never seen a meme or anything like this before, but it could be out there.

The charity I’ve chosen is the Susan B. Anthony Project. It’s a Northwest Connecticut organization that “works to promote the autonomy of women and the safety of all victims of domestic abuse/sexual assault in Northwest Connecticut as well as to promote community action toward ending domestic violence and sexual abuse.” Some of the programs it provides include counseling, crisis services, shelter, and community outreach and training. And it specifically also offers free and confidential counseling and support for children and teenage victims of abuse. Another of the agency’s programs is a thrift shop which raises money to support its programs. The Project accepts donations through its website and also has a wish list of items its clients need.

As for the meme part of this post, I’m asking the following five bloggers to pick a local, statewide or even national or international charity and give it one short promotion on their blog in the month of December. Then they can pass on the meme to five more bloggers. If you don't want to pick a specific charity to promote, just write about how you teach (or plan to teach) your children to be charitable. And, of course, any other blogger who reads this and wants to participate should certainly do it. The five bloggers I've picked are:

• A Family Runs Through It
• All that comes with it
• Childs Play x2
• MarillaAnne
• The OddMix

As with all memes, I know that not everyone will do this all along the line. But since we have somewhat of a “voice” on the web, I thought why not spread a little holiday goodwill and teach our children the importance of giving at the same time. November was NaBloPoMo--let's let December be charity month in the world of blogs.