Ghost Blogger

On my way to an appointment with one of my ghost blogging clients the other day, I heard a neat word tidbit on the radio. As a professional writer, I get special pleasure out of phrases that, in a very few words, make a big impact or that clarify a complicated concept (see my earlier blog From Meat To Mustard).

This tidbit I was hearing on the radio was actually part of a commercial for, of all things, GM cars. The speaker was painting a scene, reminding us how, in years past, you'd go into a store to buy, say, a fine cigar or perhaps a fur coat. The proprietor, in order to make you feel you were a special customer whose business he prized, would have you wait a moment while he went to the back to get his very best merchandise.  That's where the best stuff used to be kept, the announcer reminisced - the best was always in the back!

I don't know about you - for all I know, you may be too young to remember small stores with "proprietors" who helped customers, trying to make each one feel he was getting a very special deal. Anyway, I am old enough, and that word picture really took me back in time to an era of small shops manned by their hardworking owners.

But, since I was on my way to a meeting to talk about a very modern form of marketing, namely blogging, I couldn't help myself from drawing a parallel between the front and back of the cigar store described by the radio announcer and a business blog in relation to the business'  website.  In Enuf Is Enuf In Blogs, I explained that blog audiences are scanners, not readers.  A blog should offer just enough information to entice the searcher to visit your website to find out more about your products or services.  A blog needs to capture interest, yes, so that Internet browsers feel they've come to the right spot to get what they need, but remember -  keep your best stuff in the back!