Why Not To Be Negative In Blogs

(Can you see what happened here?  Now you’re focused on the word "negative".  Had I titled this blog post "Being Positive in Blogs", I would have focused your thoughts on ways to make a positive impact.

Business blogging, of course, is all about "up".  To be found on a search engine by more potential customers and clients, your blog needs to move "up" in search engine rankings and appear on Page One of Google (and Bing and Yahoo). Even more important, blog titles and content need to focus on the positive results customers can expect from selecting your products and services.

Copywriter and consultant Michael Fortin says that most of the copy he critiques disobey the cardinal rule of selling, by failing to use "upwords", Fortin’s acronym for:
 

• Universal
• Picture
• Words
• Or
• Relatable
• Descriptive
• Sentences

To "up" sales, "up" words, Fortin says. Words need to paint vivid pictures in readers’ minds, rather like icons on a computer desktop. In order for our minds to translate words and phrases into something we can refer back to, we need a visual equivalent in words.

Leave out the "buts", advises Fortin, and substitute "ands".  Rather than saying "It’s a great concept for a website, but it’s going to take at least a month to put together" (a negative in the customer’s eyes), say "It’s a great concept for a website and it will take only thirty days (imagine getting that whole wonderful job accomplished in only thirty days!) to get it up and running."

When I train business owners and their employees how to develop content for their blog posts, I try emphasizing the positive in a different sense as well. Although one approach in a business blog is to compare your products and services to others’, it’s important to emphasize the positive rather than "knocking" a competitor. Rather than starting with what "they" (the competition) is doing wrong, devaluing other company’s products and services, use the power of WE to demonstrate what you value, and the way you like to deliver your services.

To "up" online rankings, blog "up"!