Cohousing-L Mailing List: Marketing Your Cohousing Project with a Blog

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

I love blogs and blogging. Blogs are supposed to be personal and unique. A blog 
post can be anything from a meeting announcement to a thought piece on "why is 
it raining again and what to do about it." Being a writer helps but every group 
must have some writers. If you don’t, find some. I’m serious.

Blogs started as “web logs.” Serious, personal, and frequent posts about many 
topics. Like a diary. Mommy blogs are huge now. Cooking blogs. But so are blogs 
about typewriters and antique musical instruments.

1. Wordpress is my favorite software because it will do everything. Wordpress 
comes in two versions. One that Wordpress hosts as Wordpress.com, and the .org 
version that is that you host on your own account with an internet service 
provider. Both are free. The version you host on your own account has the most 
options but the .com version works fine and is a good starting place. It 
requires nothing more than learning time.

Wordpress can also become your community's “content management system” — a 
place to store everything from minutes to pictures where it is accessible to 
everyone and never runs out of space. Sign up forms and calendars.

There are other programs to do blogs but this is the one I know and believe is 
the best. Everyone uses it from the New  York Times to the ten year old down 
the street.

2. With Wordpress, members can email entries. They don’t have to learn the 
software. You do need one and preferably two or three people who know the back 
end. There are forums that will answer any questions any question. "Wordpress 
Beginner" is an excellent, huge site for beginners — a library that covers 
every detail.

http://www.wpbeginner.com

3. One of the features that prospective members have liked forever is a page of 
pictures and bios of current members. It allows them to see if they fit in. A 
blog goes even further. It allows people to see what their interests and 
concerns are. Canning tomatoes. Donating time to sweep the streets. Life at the 
street festival handing out flyers and asking questions. Funny meeting stories. 

All these are great topics to show members' personalities and interests. The 
key is personal. Even though the blog is also useful for information updates, 
the entries that show personality and uniqueness are best. 

4. Unless you have a real weird person in your group who wants to blog about 
cohousing as the perfect window peeping opportunity, don’t set rules. Let the 
blog develop. Entries can be emailed to a unique blog address and will be 
automatically posted. A blog post is no harder to write than an email. And you 
don’t have to go to a meeting to interest people.

5. The worst thing you can do, however, is leave long periods with no entries. 
A blog is like NPR, not a natural history museum. It has to be alive and fresh 
and active. If the blog is dead for 3 months, readers may assume the group is 
defunct or not doing well.

6. Blogs are perfect ways to get attention with little expense. Understanding 
“Search Engine Optimization” (SEO) puts you in Google, Bing, Duck Duck Go, etc. 
You use keywords to attract people interested in many topics, not just 
cohousing. An active blog can rise in the searches and attract people who were 
searching for 
“bocce ball” and find Happy Valley. People may have ideas about “I want to live 
in cohousing” as an abstract good thing to do, but reading personal accounts of 
activities and getting to know people can attract them in a different way. 

Yes, there are a million blogs out there, but you would be surprised how easy 
it is to get noticed. Particularly if you have a variety of subjects and don’t 
push the marketing lingo or sound too “professional.” A few entries in 
realtor-speak is helpful in conveying useful details but the key to a blog is 
personality.

7. I’ve mentioned Prairie Spruce Commons blog several times. (Truth in 
advertising, I re-designed their site from a failed version. But they already 
had a blog.) I love it. I feel I know members of the group and I’ve never even 
talked to anyone on the phone. I email with one person about website details. 
And not all that frequently. Maybe once in the last year. 

Examples of entries:

Marc is doing a photo essay on the construction. The 5 June 2017 entry includes 
pictures of the land before excavation begins. 

Members are searching their yards for spruce tree seedlings one of their 
members will place by the public cross country ski trails to provide wind 
protection and to help with holding snow on the trails. 

An anonymous post on how the person is adjusting to the group — who they have 
come to know and their personal experience with the process. There are 3 parts 
which are as much autobiographical as involving the process of choosing colors 
and cabinets. 

An invitation to readers to come to a coffee party at a local coffee bar. No 
selling, just coffee at the Naked Bean.

One on the process of picking apples and canning apple sauce.

——

All these things show what living in cohousing is like—and they haven’t even 
broken ground yet. I have not a clue who the people are but I feel like I know 
them and I stop by to read their posts. It’s not likely that I will be moving 
to Regina Saskatchewan anytime soon or even visiting, but I feel like I have a 
community there. If they stop blogging after they move in, I will miss them.

If you can make people feel like that, how can they not move in?

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org