Failure Can Be the Secret to Success in Blogging for Business

Whoa, was I glad to see Robby Slaughter’s “Failure: the Secret to Success” newsletter come back from the dead!  I love the book, and the blog about the book is a great monthly treat.  

One post I particularly want to share with my own Say It For You blog readers is “The Failure of Anxiety Affects Celebrities, Too,” because it brings out a point every business owner, professional, and freelance business blogger ought to keep in mind: Writing about past failures is an important factor in the success of any business or professional practice’s blog.

Blogger Alyssa Puglise uses actor Harrison Ford as an example.  While the characters Ford portrays in movies are smooth talking and charismatic, she explains,Ford himself is actually afraid of public speaking!  Because he has embraced this failure, though, speaking around the world to benefit various charitable causes, he turned his weakness into an enhancing factor for his career, vastly increasing his popularity.

When it comes to blogging for business, true stories about mistakes and failures are very humanizing, adding to the trust readers place in the people behind the business. What tends to happen is the stories of failure create feelings of empathy and admiration for the entrepreneurs or professional practitioners who overcame the effects of their own errors.

As a business blogging trainer, I stress that, in addition to providing information, blogs have a damage control function.  When customer complaints and concerns are recognized and dealt with publicly (there’s nothing more public than the Internet!), that gives the “apology” – and the remediation – a lot more weight in the eyes of readers.

Yes, in business blogs, failure really can serve as the secret to successful content writing!