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Category Archives: Email

Twenty tactics for creating engaging online content

Do you ever find yourself asking “What’s the point of it all?” when creating content for the vast universe of the web? Don’t let your content fizzle out. Instead, consider using engagement asks to get your audience involved in the work you’re writing about. ‘Cause its not always about you. Organizing is about encouraging people […]

Making a ‘Tweet This’ Button with # and @

Are you trying to set up a “Tweet This” link in your email newsletter but it keeps looking funny or not including all the text? Last year, Matt wrote one of Social Source Common’s most popular blog posts that details Creating “Share This on Facebook/Twitter” Links. The post includes what code is needed to create […]

Matt’s Tools for Putting Together an HTML Email Newsletter

Continuing the email newsletter support that started with Why HTML Email Newsletter Editors Suck, I put together a toolbox on Social Source Commons of tools that I use at Aspiration to create our HTML email newsletters. The Custom Description Text of each tool tells you a little bit about why I use the tool and […]

Why HTML Email Newsletter Editors Suck

One of the biggest complaints we get from nonprofits as they mature in their online communications is that creating properly-functioning formatted (i.e. HTML) emails in their email blaster is a pain in the @$$. The trouble is that having regular email blasts as an organization is seen as a baseline measure of organizational online competancy […]

Tips to Manage Your Online Identity Through Your Gmail Account

As an Americorps VISTA, I am forbidden from taking a second job while serving my year here with Aspiration. In an effort to possibly win some money or other free things, I have found myself registering with a few online survey companies. Understanding that their legitimacy and security may not be utmost and weary of […]

Managing Multiple People Doing Online Communications

Social networks were not invented for ease of organizational use. Individual accounts… Attached to personal networks… New Year’s Photos seen by all… Cats and Dogs LIVING TOGETHER. Many a sticky situation has arisen from the organization using tools designed for individuals to try to get actual work done. Then trying to add a couple more […]

A Template for Calendaring Your Messaging

One of the best practices often overlooked by many “I’m spinning too many plates on long skinny poles” nonprofits is calendaring out the messaging your organization is going to send ahead of time. Akin to flossing, calendaring your messaging ahead of time is something that organizations think that they should do but don’t see the […]

Are Your Emails Skim? Or 2%?

The first rule of email messaging as an organization is that no one reads emails. People skim emails. Making your email blasts as skimmable as possible is the best way to get your point across to the people you are trying to reach. When it comes to email newsletters, skimmability becomes even more necessary as […]

Email Best Practice Questions on Answr

There have been some great questions around email communications submitted and answered on our sister (beta) site Answr and I wanted to throw up (?) a quick blog post to highlight a few of them. Answr is a site dedicated to questions and answers around nonprofit online communications (focusing mainly on email at the moment). […]

How to Manage an Email Discussion List to Invite Collaboration

Some Nonprofit Tech Discussion Lists NTEN Discuss NOSI Riders Tech Riders Talk Open Translation Tools Email discussion lists or listservs (name comes from a specific piece of software called LISTSERV), while increasingly overshadowed by social networks, can still be a great way for a like-minded community to carry conversations and discuss issues online. Originally, discussion […]

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