Ghost Blogger

You can now sample Discovery Channel’s science-fact series through a book.  Mythbusters authors Keith and Kent Zimmerman “blow up things”, both literally and in the form of debunking common myths. 

Myth-busting is a tactic blog content writers can use to grab online visitors’ attention.  In corporate blogging training sessions, I explain to newbie content writers in Indianapolis that citing statistics to disprove popular myths gives business owners the chance to showcase their own knowledge and expertise.

Most of us, for example, in answer to the question “If you get caught in the rain, 
will you stay drier if you walk or run?” would say running makes the most sense.  
The Zimmermans created controlled conditions, including a sprinkler system in a tall
building to measure the velocity of rain, to bust that “common sense” conclusion.

Even experts from the National Oceanographic Atmosphere Administrsation thought running would keep you drier than walking, but the actual results of the Mythbusters experiment demonstrated you’d stay drier by walking!

This experiment is an example of mythbusting at its most compelling.  There is real proof offered, not just an “I’m-the-expert-and-you’re-not” material offered.

Since one of the purposes of any SEO marketing blog is to attract potential customers to the business’ website, it would be a tactical mistake for freelance blog writers to imply they’re out to prove those online visitors wrong.  The Mythbusters authors acknowledge that their readers’ conclusions are intuitive and natural. Anyone might reasonably have come to the conclusion that running to get out of the rain will keep you drier; itt just happens to be that reality is counterintuitive.

In corporate blog writing, then, the trick is to engage interest, but not in “Gotcha!” style. Business owners and professional practitioners blogging for business can showcase their own expertise without “showing up” their readers’ lack of it!

According to Natural Health Magazine, “If there’s one thing the food industry is good at, it’s nutritional sleight of hand.  In “Health Food Shockers”, nutritional medical professional Beth Reardon does some debunking worth noting by anyone involved in mythbusting through corporate blog writing.

Reardon lists several “sneaky” food items we all think of as healthy. She debunks some of the myths surrounding each food, offering health hints. As a professional ghost blogger offering "healthy blogging tips” to business owners and freelance blog writers, I couldn’t help reflecting on some uncanny parallels:

Corporate blogging for business is supposed to be unqualifiedly healthy for business owners’ and professional practitioners’ bottom line, but there are some “sneaky” aspects to avoid in SEO marketing blogs just as there are in food choices.

Natural Health Sneaky stuff: Store-bought vegetable juice
Real deal: Many of these juices are heavy on starchy vegetables, with sugars and salt added for flavor.
Healthy hint: Make your own juice in a blender to keep as much fiber intact as possible. One serving shouldn’t exceed 15 grams of carbs.

Sneaky stuff for Indianapolis blog writers: Posting blogs telling about the company’s products and services.
Real deal:   Other people, specifically online searchers, are interested, first and foremost, in themselves and their own needs, wants, and interests.
Healthy hint: Never forget – now the online visitors have arrived at your blog, they want to find content that demonstrates you understand their needs, not content that boasts of what you know and what you have!



Natural Health sneaky stuff: Dried fruits
Real deal: The drying process removes a lot of water, and the product becomes a concentrated source of sugar. Many brands add sulfur as a preservative, which causes bloating in the body.
Healthy hint: Opt for organic (no sulfur) and “no sugar added” products.

Sneaky stuff for Indianapolis blog writers: Testimonials from customers.
Real deal:  Many clients ask the business owner to write a testimonial paragraph for them, or to give them a fill-in-the-blanks form..
Healthy hint: Give clients questions to answer in their own words. Executive coach Larry Laswell gives some examples: “What perceptions and misgivings did you have before you hired me?” “What did you really find?” “What was the result?”


Healthy hint for blog content writers:  Blogging for business is an ideal way to debunk myths and clear up common consumer misunderstandings. Be yourself in your blog and allow visitors get to know what makes you and your company tick.  Those readers will be able to tell - you’re the real deal!

Business blogs are wonderful tools around facts.  That’s why business owners can use corporate blog writing as a way to dispense information, but, even more important, to address misinformation.

Why is that important to do? False beliefs about products and services often stand in the way of customers taking action. You might say that the de-bunking function of business blog writing is owners’ way of taking up arms against a sea of customers’ unfounded fears and biases.  Blog content writing is a way of “cleaning the air”, replacing factoids with facts, so that buyers can see their way to making decisions.

Take this example from James and John Caher’s book Personal Bankruptcy Laws for Dummies. One myth the Cahers address is that “people who go bankrupt are sleazy deadbeats.”

The authors combat misapprehension with statistics and findings from scientific studies:

• A five-year study published in Health Affairs in February 2005 revealed that, “from 1981 – 2001, medically-related bankruptcies increased 2200%.  Most of the filers were middle class folks with health insurance.”
  
• The fastest-growing group of bankruptcy filers are older Americans and more than half are forced into bankruptcy by medical debt.

Granted, this example of using statistics to combat mistaken perceptions comes from a 350-page book, not a corporate blog.  Still, I think, it serves as a perfect example for corporate blogging training.  Once the myths are out of the way, readers can deal with the question “How could filing bankruptcy help me?”

Every industry, every profession has its myths, ideas that sound true but simply aren’t.  Presenting the actual facts and statistics in your corporate blog writing has the same effect as the windshield defogger on your car. Once the mist is cleared off the glass, you can see for yourself what’s out there – you won’t need to be either told or sold!

Speaking of selling, one concept I continually stress to Indianapolis blog writers is that blog posts are not advertisements.  Hard-selling is nothing but a “turn-off” for online visitors.  The goal, instead, is to win loyal fans and to build trust, talking with readers and showing who you are in addition to what you do and how you do it.

In corporate blogging for business, the products and services you offer, properly presented with the myths cleared away, will sell themselves!

“Formula-fed” SEO marketing blogs might make life easier for blog content writers and online visitors alike. 

As a longtime freelance blog writer, I was delighted to learn that writing coach Ali Luke thinks what she calls formulaic writing can be a very good thing.  In corporate blogging training sessions, I tell newbie Indianapolis blog writers the same thing – stick to a formula: 

• Choose one main idea as the focus for each blog post.  I call that the Power of One. (More to add? Save it for future posts.)
  
• Compose an opening sentence that’s a “grabber”, so that readers just have to find out what you meant.
  
• Explain, clarify, illustrate, discuss your one main point, using a few short paragraphs.
  
• Issue your parting “shot”, a snappy exit line that sums up the thought you want your readers to remember. This one tip, I’ve found, can be of enormous business blogging help.

Novels follow specific formulas, says Luke.  Readers expect a showdown between the hero and the villain at the end of an adventure story or thriller, and romantic comedies should have the expected happy endings.  Formulas are popular, Luke explains, because they work.

Formulas work in blog writing, too, Luke adds.  When a post is titled “10 Ways to be More Creative”, readers know just what to expect, she explains, and if they’re interested in the topic, they’ll read on,

In fact, readers finding just what they expect is the principle behind online search, and the “matching” of searchers’ needs with the right information that is a goal in corporate blogging for business.

Internet traffic solutions firm FullTraffic.com, summarizing Google’s guide to writing quality web content, says the acid test for content writing is this: Would internet users complain if this website turned up in their search results? After years of offering business blogging assistance to companies of all types, I’d have to agree.  Formulas provide framework.  They don’t stop writers from being creative and engaging.

Formula-fed corporate blogging for business can assure first-time blog visitors they’ve come to just the right place to get what they need!

I was flattered when friends Tracie and Greg Mrakich included me among the recipients of their email list of “Puns for Those With a Slightly Higher IQ”. A couple of the cutest, I thought were:

• Santa’s helpers are subordinate clauses.
  
• Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.
  
• A lot of money is tainted – T’ain’t yours and t’ain’t mine.

The one pun I’ve chosen to discuss with all blog content writers, though, is more than just funny – it contains some wisdom that can really improve corporate blogging for business:

“He had a photographic memory that was never developed.”

Most business owners can think of quite a number of things they want to convey about their products, their professional services, their industry, and their customer service standards. Still, I’ve found over the years of being a business blogging trainer, business owners’ biggest fear seems to be running out of blog content writing ideas.

That’s why Tracie and Greg’s pun jumped out at me. It’s not, I realized, that business owners (or thefreelance blog writers they employ) don’t have enough ideas – it’s that those ideas need to be developed! In other words, it’s possible to continue to write about the same few central themes, yet continually develop those themes into fresh, interesting, and engaging content.

If you’ve built a business, it’s likely no one has knowledge of its ins and outs as “photographic” as yours.  The basic purpose behind your business blog writing doesn’t change over time – it’s to tell your story.  One post at a time, corporate blogging for business informs readers what you have (your products), what you do (the services you provide), and what you know (your experience and expertise).

The most effective kind of blogging for business, though, goes further and develops and expands on those basic themes. What are some of the best ways to take your photographic knowledge of your field and present that information in fresh new ways?

• “Learn around.” Ideas are everywhere – conversations, magazines, radio, bulletin boards – ask yourself how you can use remarks and observations you hear and read to clarify to readers what you do and how you do it. Quoting experts in your field and linking to blogs written by others shows blog visitors you keep current.
  
• Become a teacher rather than a “teller”. Imagine you’re tutoring the slowest students in your class, helping them grasp some aspect of your business. What diagrams can you use to illustrate your points? What comparisons might you use?
  
• Use stories in the news. Find articles that can help you explain the way you do business or your particular processes of manufacture or of client service.
  
• Use metaphors.  Writers developing blog content in Indianapolis, for example, might choose comparisons with car racing. You might use the new traffic “roundabouts” to explain how your company takes the hassle out of ordering and shipping.  Metaphors help “develop” pictures in blog visitors’ minds of how they’ll feel using your company to solve their problems.

Freelance blog writers can start with the basic blog content, then add breadth and depth by developing the “photographically memorized” facts!

I really enjoyed the article “Kitchen Clean-up” in Tucker Talks Real Estate, (the little newsletter my realtor friend Katrina Basile sends me.  November and December, I was reminded, are good times for me to give a little love to my kitchen and prep my appliances for holiday entertaining.

Coming up on four and a half years as a professional ghost blogger, I couldn’t help thinking I ought to remind attendees in corporate blogging training sessions that blogs and blog sites may need periodic ”cleansing” as well.

1.  For example, “Kitchen Clean-Up” talks about going through your refrigerator shelves and removing every item that’s past its expiration date.

One function of any SEO marketing blog is updating and correction information.  Mistaken data may have been inadvertently published on your business blog. There may have been updates in a company policy, or in one or more of the products. Or, there might have been a recent development in your industry that makes one or more of your former blog posts “incorrect”. 

I explain to new blog content writers that they can go back to former blog posts and write an update, usually in bold type.  That way, when online searchers find that “old” post, they can see that the company is keeping its readers current.

2.   Leveling the refrigerator is a second suggestion in “Kitchen Cleanup”. That means adjusting the feet on the bottom of the fridge, I learned.

“Leveling” business blog writing, particularly in SEO marketing blogs, involves checking your keyword phrase list to see if you’re overusing some terms and forgetting to include others. Referring to analytics to see which search terms are actually helping online searchers find your blog, you can adjust the degree of emphasis you’re putting on different keyword phrases over time. Make sure your content is not straying from the central themes or “leitmotifs” around which you based your blog marketing plan.

3.   Checking your user manual for each appliance to see what recommendations for care the manufacturer suggests, is the third piece of advice in “Kitchen Cleanup”.

For business owners and freelance blog content writers, the ”manual” consists of the features available in the blogging platform (Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr,and Drupal are examples; this Say It For You blog uses Compendium Blogware).

Are you aware of all the key features and capabilities of whatever platform you’re using?  An important part of your “clean up” involves using all the tools that can make your writing for business yield the results you want.

“Now that your appliances are nice and spiffy, you can spend more time focusing on that perfect pumpkin pie,” explains “Kitchen Cleanup”.  And once, I’m hoping, Indianapolis blog writers have“cleaned up” the kitchen and “spiffiy-ed” up the platform, it will be a snap to focus on “cooking up” a perfect series of readable, engaging business blog posts!

“Congo is bigger than it looks,” Mental Floss Magazine informs readers.  “Although it looks pretty small on a Mercator map, Congo is the world’s 12th largest nation.”

As a professional ghost blogger, I must say I liked this article – a lot.  First of all, not only did it present all sorts of interesting information on the topic (the Democratic Republic of Congo), but information most readers wouldn’t be likely to know.  In similar vein, I tell blog content writers that including what I dub “startling statistics” makes the material more engaging.

“Most Americans don’t know it,” the article continues, “but they own precious slivers of Congo in their laptops, cell phones, and iPods.” (Tantulum stores electricity in digital cameras, and Blackberrys use tungsten to vibrate; Congo is the world’s leading source for each of these minerals.) A generous sprinkling of fascinating trivia keeps blog content writing fresh, I teach in corporate blogging training sessions.

“The country has only 300 miles of paved roads.” Using little-known background details in SEO marketing blogs is a great way to establish authority while capturing searchers’ interest.

But, I advise Indianapolis blog writers, be sure to include information that is actionable. For example, the Mental Floss article taught me something I plan to keep in mind when shopping for electronics:

In 2010, the U.S. government passed a law requiring American companies to disclose whether their products contain minerals from rebel-controlled mines (rife with violent crime and child labor).  Consumers, I learned, can choose not to buy products that don’t say “conflict mineral-free”.

What I liked best about the Congo feature story was one of its sub-titles: “Congo is bigger than it looks.” Corporate blogging might be described in precisely the same terms.
Business blog writing is short by definition, offering just enough to convey to the reader that he/she's come to the right place. On the other hand, what can be done is to offer different kinds of information in different blog posts. In a way, each time you post (or have your professional ghost blogger post), you're adding to the overall power of the blog.  Individual blog posts are little, but blogs – they’re a LOT bigger and more powerful than they look!

“We call them ‘utility items’,” explains Dennis Ryerson, editor of the Indianapolis Star, referring to that end of the information spectrum that is not traditional big breaking news, but stories “designed to help you navigate your community and your life.”

Come to think of it, blogging for business is designed around a similar concept – helping online searchers navigate their lives and find information they can utilize.

Ryerson’s examples of utility items in that issue of the Star (10/16/11) include:

• Telling you what to look for if you have gold jewelry to sell.
• Telling you how to capture a great fall photograph
• Learn ways to fight the flu.
• Tell you about fall festivals.
• Telling you ways to save money while shopping.
• Giving you advice about home remodeling.
• Telling you how to care for a product you’ve bought to preserve the benefits.

While corporate blog writing would, of necessity, have a narrower focus, concentrating on one business or industry, the “utility” in SEO marketing blogs comes from just the sort of practical tips Ryerson’s list includes.

Telling you what to look for. Readers who are looking for a product or a service need more than a photo and a price list; they need to know how to judge the value of what you have to offer. Does your corporate blog writing help readers ask the right questions?

Telling you how to… The people who are likely to find your blog are those who need your product, service, or expertise - they don't want to do it themselves. Using blogging for business to share advice and information serves to showcase your know-how and build the kind of trust it takes for searchers to become buyers.

Telling you about fall festivals….I’m always telling blog content writers in Indianapolis that the blog is an ideal bulletin board to preview -  and then review – special events and special sales the company is hosting.

“Big stories or small, you can learn a lot here,” promises Ryerson in the Star. Precisely the promise, I stress in corporate blogging training sessions, that freelance blog writers should strive to fulfill!

As a blog content writer, I’d been doing it for a long time, even teaching it to others in corporate blogging training sessions.  I just didn’t know the name for it.  Then I read “Business Blogging Mistakes and their Easy Fixes” in HubSpot, and learned that it’s called “content curation”.

As a freelance blog writer, I’ve always known that linking to outside sources is a good tactic for adding breadth and depth to my blog content.  Linking to a news source or magazine article, for instance, adds credibility to the ideas I’m expressing on behalf of Say It For You client companies.

And, when you link to another blog content writer’s comments about the subject you’re covering, that’s a way to reinforce your point and also shows you’re staying in touch with others in your industry.

HubSpot takes the concept even further, explaining that content curation means “selecting and aggregating information into one place that creates more value for information consumers.”

One of my best friends had to take courses for two years to become a curator in the art museum in Philadelphia. Her function is to enhance the experience of museum visitors by providing more background information about the artwork they’re viewing. She didn’t create the art, yet she’s adding value to the art experience.

That’s why the “curation” is so appropriate to describe how, in blogging for business, Indianapolis bloggers can really enhance and add value to the online consumers’ experience. While the information itself may not be original, as HubSpot points out, the aggregation of resources is very valuable to the readers. 

The wonderful thing about it all is that while curation is benefitting the readers, it’s also benefitting the people doing the blogging. That benefit takes two forms, I’ve found:

• As a corporate blogging trainer, I find that the biggest fear business owners have when it comes to maintaining a company blog is the fear of running out of ideas. Curating lets writers, every so often, use (of course with proper credit given) others’ ideas.
  
• One of the side benefits of blogging for business is what I call the “training effect”.  As you’re repeatedly communicating with readers about your business (whether on your own or using the services of a professional ghost blogger like me), the very exercise of planning the content trains you to talk effectively about your own business.

Thanks to HubSpot, I now know what to call the concept I’ve known all along: The cure for blog content writer burnout is content curation!

“…growth has been remarkable,” says Fortune Magazine, referring to Chipotle Mexican Grill., observing that profit margins in Chipotle restaurants are among the highest in the fast food industry. “That’s all the more notable since Chipotle says it spends more on food and more time preparing it,” Fortune adds.

Although I’m not a real fan of Mexican food, as a business owner myself (offering business blogging services), I found that Fortune article about Chipotle’s fascinating. While we’ve hardly achieved the status of a Chipotle’s at Say It For You, we Indianapolis blog writers do pride ourselves on spending more time preparing and devoting more care to business blog writing.

Chipotle’s high margins can be explained by other efficiencies, explains the feature article writer. “Throughput” refers to the rate of customer service, a Chipotle obsession, moving 300 customers an hour through the system. Their stated goal is to offer “Slow food fast”.

So, in what way can the Chipotle’s example be of business blogging assistance?

“Chipotle is a niche in a huge market dominated by burger joints”, points out Fortune. In corporate blogging training sessions, I stress, the first step is to define your business niche and then focus blog content writing on the needs of that niche target market.

Chipotle emphasizes efficiency in customer service, but not by rushing through the preparation and sacrificing quality. Precisely because they’ve put the needed time and care into the preparation, there are fewer customer service issues. “Blogs have informative and business-relevant content that increase traffic…” says Internet Marketing @ Harvard Extension 2011.  When online readers feel their needs are being addressed, versus sites containing purely promotional material, blog posts are able to achieve better conversion rates, is the lesson here.

Like Chipotle’s customers, I tell  business owners and Indianapolis blog content writers alike, your blog may be posted – and your online visitors may arrive - just one at a time. On the other hand, corporate blog writing is the perfect tool for achieving “throughput”.  While even the most unwieldy websites contain only a finite space for text, blogging doesn’t have such constraints. While individual posts are short, the content stays around forever, helping you build equity in those all-important keyword phrases and categories.

You might say the secret of successful corporate blogging for business is serving up slow content, fast!

The words of 50-kilometer running champion Josh Cox, “Remember, your worst run is always 100 percent better than the person who never tries,” are words I wish everyone blogging for business would tack up on their computer. As Runners’ World Magazine points out, “You’ll never regret going for a run, but you’ll always regret not going."

One of the most satisfying aspects of corporate blog writing is that the content you post remains online, continuing to build your presence as each new batch of content is added. While, according to Compendium Blogware CEO Chris Baggott, 95% of corporate blog readers will be first-time visitors to your blog, the odds of those online first-timers’ finding you increase with each new blog you post.

In essence the way the “matching” process works on the Web, blog content writing means never having to say you’re sorry about the time and effort you put in. I can honestly assure newbie Indianapolis blog writers, “Each time you post and your competition doesn’t, it’s a win!”

Sometimes, in corporate blogging training sessions, I recall the “Cathy” comic strip I used to enjoy so much in the Indianapolis Star. One strip in particular helps me explain why, out of all the different online communication tools we use on behalf of our clients at Say it For You, I am personally so “into” blog content writing.

Cathy and her boyfriend Irving are opening mail – she’s sorting through envelopes, he’s reading email.  “Who sends paper mail any more?” Irving jeers.  “People,” answers Cathy defiantly. When Irving rather tactlessly points out that most of her mail consists of ads and magazine subscription mailings, Cathy’s retort says it all for me: “Yes - people!  My mail is way closer to an actually human than you’ll get any time soon!”

“Way closer?” Not the most perfect syntax, but so “on the money” about blogging for business! Business blogs are where you meet the humans, the people running the business, the professionals providing the service, “way more” than brochures, billboards, or even corporate websites. Blogs are where you have people telling you not only what they have to offer but who they are.

As a professional ghost blogger with “way more” than 6,000 blog posts online (these Say It For You posts plus the corporate blogs we produce for clients), not to mention the thousands more posted by business owners and practitioners to whom I’ve offered business blogging assistance over the years, I can tell you this:

Josh Cox was absolutely right about the worst run.  The worst blog post writing is way better, in fact 100% better, than all the companies that never tried!

A favorite fellow blogger, David Meerman Scott of WebInkNow.com reminds readers how important it is to “make your writing easy to understand”.

Now, when I’m engaged in corporate blogging training, I sometimes critique newbie blog content writers’ attempts, always trying to keep my words positive and encouraging.

With my mother’s admonitions about tact firmly implanted in my mind. I don’t know that I could ever rise to the level of ruthless honesty Meerman-Scott showed in picking apart the content on the website of a company called ITA Software.


 "Founded in the mid-nineties by MIT computer science graduates, ITA Software has pioneered a new generation of travel technology. Our world-class engineers and travel industry experts are solving the industry's most complex computing challenges, and in doing so reshaping its very foundations."


Meerman-Scott has one word for that text: Gobbledygook. The problem, he points out, with using language like game changer, innovative solutions, next generation, world-class, customer-centric, and the like is that “these words and phrases are so overused as to have become meaningless”.

As a professional ghost writer, I can see another fault in the ITA material. In offering content writing assistance, I’d advise ITA not only to avoid trite adjectives, but to find a more effective way to impart information without “showing off”, coming across as pompous, or simply selling too hard.

It can be far more compelling, in business blog writing, to have customers do the bragging in the form of testimonials. What’s more, the ITA website paragraph offered no usable information to readers relating to either the travel industry or the software field. Rather than positioning their business as the “go to” source for things readers want to know, ITA kept patting its own back!

There are several reasons, I’d point out to freelance blog writers, that David Meerman Scott’s rewrite of the ITA paragraph is a big improvement:

"ITA Software by Google helps air passengers, airlines, and online travel agencies by making it easier for people to comparison shop for flights. Because of the huge volume of real-time transactions in airline pricing, the ITA Software engine is central in the travel industry’s most complex computing application."

•  It shows they understand their customers’ (the travel agencies’) problems and needs.
•  It offers a taste of how the end customer will benefit (“making it easier for people to comparison shop for flights..”).

1. Stay away from gobbledegook, from big words, and from boasting.
   
2. Above all, make your business blog writing easy to understand!

For the third in this week’s Say It For You blog series sharing writing tips from different books, let’s tackle an old dilemma – pronoun gender. The Little Red Writing Book advises “Keep your writing gender neutral.” The question is: How can we blog content writers stay grammatically and yet politically “correct”?

For starters, corporate blogging for business is a pretty new, modern method of communicating with potential customers, so the last thing business bloggers want is to sound old-fashioned, using “he” and “him” when referring to a person who might be either a “he” or a “she”.

You remember that old joke where a person knocks at the gates of Heaven and St. Peter asks “who’s there?”.  The reply, “It is I. “Go away!” says St. Peter.  “We have enough English teachers here.”

In corporate blogging training, I continually stress how important it is to know your target readers.  If you’re writing blog content targeted at new mothers, for example, using “she” and “her” is appropriate. Otherwise, advise the authors, use “they” and “them”. (“One” goes back to the English teacher-trying-to-get-into-heaven problem.)

If you’re providing business blogging assistance to companies with clients of both sexes, The Little Red Writing Book has some good advice about acceptable ways to approach certain “politically sensitive” terms:

Instead of “TV anchorman”, write “TV anchor”, “fire fighter”, not “fireman”, “police officer”, not “policeman”, and “spokesperson” rather than “spokesman”. On the other side of things, it’s better to use “homemaker” than “housewife” and “flight attendant” rather than “stewardess”.

When it comes right down to it, people aren’t concerned about remembering your web address or even your brand, says Chris Baggott, CEO of Compendium Blogware." With whom do consumers want to do business? As market research overwhelmingly demonstrates, "People like me", Baggott points out.

As a professional ghost blogger for so many different kinds of companies, I’ve found that it’s best to use “you” and “your”, conversing directly with those online visitors, who are, after all, asking themselves “What’s in it for ME?”

Since this week my Say It For You blog is devoted to sharing tips from three different books, today I’ll share a thought on blog content customization from Malcolm Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw.

One of the many anecdotes Gladwell relates in the book is, in two ways, especially relevant for blog content writers.   During a market research project for which H.J. Heinz Company sent researchers into people’s homes to watch the way they used ketchup, a three year old child reached for the 40-oz. bottle. His mother intervened, taking the bottle away from him and giving him a dollop on his plate.

The researcher had an epiphany: since a typical child consumes 60% more ketchup than a typical adult, the company needed to put ketchup in a bottle a child could control. The EZ Squirt bottle was born, made of soft plastic with a conical nozzle.  In homes where that bottle is used, ketchup consumption grew by 12%!

Lesson One: Those of us who provide blog writing services must know the needs of our audience.  Our corporate blog writing must speak to each blogging target audience in their language. The reason Gladwell’s story can be of such enormous business blogging assistance is that it reminds us to write content designed to let online readers know the company understands their specific needs.

Lesson Two: If you are four,” explains Casey Keller (until recently chief growth officer for Heinz), you don’t get to choose what you eat for dinner.  The one thing you can control is – ketchup! “It’s the one part of the food experience you can customize and personalize,” adds Keller. When it comes to SEO marketing blogs, success hinges on narrowing down your market and then doing everything you can to appeal to just that audience.

Remember that the secret Heinz discovered was allowing the customer to customize. Offer more than one Call to Action. Those who need more information before making a decision should be able to pick up the phone and call (and easily get a live person on the line!). Or for those not quite ready for that, they should be able to email a question (without needing to provide an entire personal biography in return!).  Or, for online visitors not quite ready even for that – they may choose to watch a video or download a white paper.

Are you serving up YOUR blog content writing in EZ Squirt?

This week my Say It For You blog will be devoted to sharing tips from three different books. (Always on the prowl for fresh writing ideas, I’ve managed to accumulate quite the little library on effective communication.)

Compare these two sentences, says communications consultant Milo Frank:

#1    “Deficits will badly affect the economy.”

#2    “Deficits will spread subtle, devastating poison through the economic bloodstream.”

The first sentence, Frank points out, is flat, while the second paints a picture in your mind.

Frank’s message is one every blog content writer needs to hear. Imagery helps make SEO marketing blogs more engaging.  In business communications, Frank acknowledges, there may be times when technical, precise language is in order.  The key factor to consider, though, is the listener, he says.  You want listeners to “see” as well as hear what you’re saying.

When it comes to providing business blogging help, I’d add, the key factor to consider is the blog visitor.  But, in whatever form you’re communicating, Frank teaches, “you can make your message colorful, interesting, and memorable with imagery.”

Of course, actual images – video clips, photos, stock art – can add impact to Indianapolis bloggers’ work, as I stress in corporate blogging training sessions.  Aside from actual pictures, though, freelance blog writers can paint pictures through words.

Is your company’s product smooth? Steely-hard? Satiny? Clean? Flowing? Razor-sharp? Crystal-clear?

Can I expect to feel happier after using your services? Confident? Healthy? Moved to tears? Powerful? Worthy? Safe? Warm and snug?

Help online visitors to your business blog assimilate your message through visualizing.  Painting word pictures is an important part of blogging for business!

Browsing through magazines can be good for your business blogging health, which is why I’ve devoted this week’s Say It For You blog posts to corporate blog writing a' la Natural Health Magazine. 

My motive for periodically testing my wits in a “Magazine Challenge”: to prove the point that blog content writers need never run out of ideas for their SEO marketing blogs.

While a restless mind seems to be a Rhoda Israelov hallmark, I’ve never been diagnosed with “restless leg syndrome” (I’d never even heard of the condition before all the TV ads began harping on it).  So, why am I choosing to highlight the Natural Health article “How can I calm restless legs?” Because it illustrates an effective way to impart important information in corporate blog posts without the business owner or practitioner coming across as either pompous or critical of readers’ behavior.  

In the magazine article, advice from three different sources is presented to readers:  an integrative physician, a nutritionist, and a naturopath. We read how each one of those professionals describes RLS symptoms and what each one suggests the possible causes might be. From my viewpoint as an Indianapolis blog writer, it seemed that, while I was getting a whole lot of information, the tone was not at all threatening – these were three authorities expressing their points of view.

One very compelling aspect of business blog writing is that business owners have a chance to provide very valuable information to readers relating to their industry or professional field.  In other words, your corporate blog posts can be a tool to position yourself and your business as the “go to” source for things readers want to know!

But what this restless leg syndrome article in Natural Health Magazine showed me is that letting outside authorities help you convey your message to your readers can be a very good idea in blogging for business. For this tactic to be of the most business blogging help, however, I’d have business owners “let the authorities talk”, then add their own spin based on their own experience in their field.

Browsing through Natural Health Magazine to look for ideas I could use as part of corporate blogging training, I saw a number of interesting articles, but my attention was diverted by an ad. The product was from Purely Products, and it was an item I’d never heard of before – a CFL.  I learned that a CFL is an air purifier and light bulb all in one.  I never would have found that out, though, were it not for the caption.

One of the big lessons in blogging for business is how important blog post titles are. The title must capture attention so that readers click on the link they’ve found through online search.

This particular ad showed a picture of a mom watching TV, cuddling with her son on the couch.  On one side of the room was a HEPA air filter showing a price tag of $500-$1,000. On the other side of the room a lamp was labeled “Healthy CFL: Under $10”.

The caption read:

“They both purify the air.  Which one would you rather invest in?”

Creating catchy blog titles isn’t the only challenge facing freelance blog writers. Shoppers these days have so many choices, both in the mall and online. Obviously business blog writing needs to be recent, relevant, and on point, but even more than that, corporate blog posts have to deal firmly with “The Why’s”.

• Why me? (The SEO marketing blog must make clear why the product is a good fit for this reader.)
  
• Why you? (What’s special about this provider, this company, this business?)
  
• Why now? (What’s so urgent that I should pay attention now?)
  
• Why this price? (Is there a special offer? How does the cost compare to other options I have?)

The CFL ad made it abundantly clear – I could purify the air in my home using a HEPA filter, or choose the much simpler, much less expensive option of the CFL.  A Maxima ad I found online follows the same format: “Wouldn’t You Rather Have an ’85 Maxima with Super Sonic Suspension?”

One other aspect of the CFL ad that I found very appealing is that it was very much in sync with the Say It For You no-hard-sell style of business blog writing.  “Shock advertising” or scare tactic blogging is, in my opinion, of zero business blogging help.   Blog content writers’ task is to present choices.  Given enough necessary, relevant, and truthful information, consumers are perfectly able to decide “which one they’d rather invest in”!

A few months back in my Say It For You blogs, I gave myself the challenge of finding three ideas for blog posts in a single issue of a popular magazine.  A couple of my fellow bloggers took me up on the Magazine Challenge, and some dozen very creative SEO marketing blog posts were born.

The idea behind the challenge was to combat “writer’s block”.  In corporate blogging training sessions, I found that blog content writers’ biggest fear is running out of ideas after weeks, months, and even years of sustaining a blog. The thought was that, as you browsed through whatever magazine you’d chosen, you’d find things that, on the surface, were unrelated to your business, but which would trigger ideas about your business, suggesting new ways to explain what you sell, what you know, what you believe, and what you know how to do. (In my case as a professional ghost blogger, the same technique works in finding novel ideas to explain my clients’ businesses.)

That was in August, and I just finished reading through an issue of Natural Health Magazine that makes me want to take the challenge all over again. So, once again, I’m inviting Indianapolis blog writers to try the Magazine Challenge along with me.

The simple rules, just as a reminder are these: Come up with three different blog post ideas, all based on titles or articles or illustrations out of a single issue of a magazine of your choice.  If you have your own business blog, simply email me a link to your site.  Or, email me your blog post(s) and I’ll publish it on Say It For You as a guest post.

Natural Health interviewed Krysten Ritter, ABC-TV and movie actress, using the star’s answers to reinforce lessons about healthy living. “Ritter reveals her cherished causes, favorite foods and why sleep is a top priority.” Ritter recalls growing up on a Pennsylvania cattle farm, explaining that she tries to support local farmers and eat organic food. She reads scripts while on the treadmill, and tries “to be realistic about my fitness goals.”

The lesson here for freelance blog content writers, I think, is that, while the message about exercise and diet is undeniably same-old, same-old, the reader’s interest is captured because it’s a celebrity saying these things, not a fitness facility owner or health food store proprietor.

The “Top 5 tips for healthy living” are not just any “top 5 tips”, they are Krysten Ritter’s tips, with the cachet factor increasing accordingly.

Anyone providing business blogging services can freshen up warnings, tips, alerts, and news by going on a “star search”.  The famous may not be counted among your clientele, but what well-known person is known for using your type of product or service? Wouldn’t adding a few drops of “star dust” add some glow to your business blog writing?

“Some writers can just sit at their desk and bang the keys,” observes Mental Floss, noting that others need to engage in outlandish behavior in order to court the muse.

Courting the online muse with long term corporate blogging for business (the only kind that helps companies “win search”) definitely takes what I call “drill sergeant discipline”.  Could descent into freakishness be of business blogging assistance as well?

• Composer Richard Wagner relied on barks from his dog to tell him if an opera passage needed to be tweaked. I’ve not yet encountered a pet than can edit SEO marketing blogs!
  
• A second composer, Von Schiller, needed the smell of rotten fruit to inspire him. I’d advise content writers in Indianapolis to try fruit-scented room freshener instead!
  
• Ancient Greek Demosthenes had trouble staying on task, so when he felt wanderlust, he’s shave off half his hair (he’d be too embarrassed to go out and was able to concentrate on his writing for a couple of months at a time!) I doubt even the most dedicated of  Say It For You freelance blog writers would be willing to try that one!
  
• Novelist Victor Hugo stood at a podium, naked, while writing his novels. Since Hugo’s podium was set up on his roof, weather conditions in the Midwest would probably render this strategy impractical for anyone providing Indianapolis blog writing services.

All my business owner friends and clients, in fact most business owners in general, know that business blog writing in their area of expertise is one tactic they can use in an effort to get indexed by search engines and get found by potential clients and customers. But, since frequency of posting new content is so key to success in blog marketing, and since blog content writing takes considerable time and effort (two scarce commodities in business owners’ lives), writing for business too often is put on – and stays on - the back burner.

Professional ghost bloggers become muses, then, providing blog writing services for entrepreneurs who’d rather operate fully clothed with full heads of hair, working in fresh-smelling showrooms and offices!

Busy writing for business in my Say It For You home office desk the other evening, I was interrupted by a phone call, which led to my having a “conversation” with a recording. The purpose of the call, I quickly learned, was to survey Indiana residents on the topic of the upcoming election, specifically concerning the role federal judges play in politics.

While the call started out as a nuisance, in retrospect I’m glad I made time for that ten-minute survey, shedding my professional ghost blogger’s “hat” and putting on my voter’s “cap” in order to participate.  The exercise actually reinforced some of the things I teach in corporate blogging training sessions about generating business using SEO marketing blogs.

The survey began with general questions:  Did I believe in voting in every election, most, or only some? Did I consider primaries to be important? 
 
Strange, this talking to a recording (Given a choice, I’ll always press “O” to get the live operator). But, never having gone through this particular kind of telephone survey process before, I realized I liked the very idea of being asked, in great detail, for my opinions! I made a note to myself to remind business owner clients and freelance blog writers that allowing comments in corporate blogging for business is a good idea if for no other reason than to engage readers!

The survey continued with questions about age range, gender, even race. As we progressed, though, it became increasingly apparent that the “agenda” related to the appointment of federal judges.  Which did I believe to be the primary responsibility of a federal judge – fairness and impartiality or upholding the Constitution?

So, in what way can all of this be of business blogging help?  In any selling situation (and blog marketing is no different), buyers shy away from sellers who employ strong-arm tactics.  This causes some providers to go to the other extreme, pretending they are offering nothing but useful, free information. Selling? Not at our company!

Taking the telephone survey actually did provide me with some valuable, free information about the appointment of federal judges and how their positions relate to which party wins an election. True, the further into the survey we got, the more apparent the “hidden” agenda became. But the point I want to make here is that it was OK!  The fact that the survey creators had a point of view to sell worked just fine for me. That same process will work just fine for content writers in Indianapolis who are offering business blogging assistance to business owners who want to make their cash registers ring!

When online readers click on a blog post or on a website, they’re perfectly aware of the fact that the providers of the information have an “agenda” and are out to do business.  But as long as the material they’re being offered by the blog content writer (whether that’s the business owner, an employee, or a ghost blogger) is valuable and well written, relevant to their search, they’re perfectly fine realizing the company would like to have them as a customer!

"Sales momentum," as Craig Davidson defines it in Employee Benefit Adviser, is "the process of creating and maintaining excitement in a buyer with the goal of making a sale." I'm the richer for having taken the telephone survey, with a much greater appreciation for the role of federal judges and the importance of how they're appointment.

Whether your corporate blog posts lead to an immediate conversion or, for now, merely result in a better-informed readers - you can count your corporate blog writing as a winner!