Blogging’s Big Four

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The old saying about a chain being only as strong as its weakest link is certainly true of blogs.  Each time you publish a post, that post becomes the newest link in your blog chain. Actually, it becomes the first link in your blog chain, because all your posts remain on the Internet, appearing in reverse chronological order.

The chain concept is the secret behind blogging’s effectiveness in helping your company or professional practice get found.  “With blogs you’re casting a super-large net of keywords,” explains Chris Baggott of Compendium Blogware. “By nature, blogs have more of the positive variables that search engines are looking   for when compared to a website,” he adds, citing four blog qualities:

1. Content-rich
Each blog post should offer expert information and advice in a professional, easy-to-understand way.  Visual aids such as the font you use, bolding, italics, photos, and charts can all add interest, but the main job of business blog posts is to assure visitors they’ve come to the right place, and to tell them why that’s so.

2.  Specific
Arriving at your blog, Web searchers are on a fact-finding mission, looking for information about what you do, what you sell, and what you know about.  Give them “Just-the-facts-Ma’am” satisfaction.

3.  Relevant
Keywords and phrases in the title and in the body of your blog post help search engines make as close a match as possible between the question and the answer, the problem and the solution, or the need and the product or service. Keep those “key people” – your blog visitors – in mind whenever you post!

4.  Personal
“Though we live with digital technology, it’s still an analog world,” comments Tony Fannin of Be Branded. Great marketing, he points out, is still about humans talking to humans, and blogs must give readers a sense of real people talking. (The essence of my work as a professional ghost blogger is to capture your personality and your message and express that to your customers and clients.) 

Before you hit “Publish” or “Submit”, give each of your blog posts the once-over to be sure that newest link in your blog chain meets the “Big Four” test!

 

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Incorporate Iconic Statements In Your Blog

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In "Fall-ify Your Home" (veteran realtor and friend Dan Bowden of F.C. Tucker faithfully sends my copy of Tucker Talks) I found a juicy word tidbit.  Regular readers of my Say It For You Blogs know how I relish little word groups that convey big concepts or that conjure up multiple connections, and one sentence in Tucker Talks did just that:

 "Pumpkins and gourds are among the most iconic parts of autumn, and easy to incorporate in your décor."

Fall, of course, provides us with many visuals – yellow and red leaves, for example. Acorns. Squirrels. Cornucopias. But Tucker Talks is right – pumpkins and gourds capture the essence of the season.

If you’re a business blogger, you might do well to think about icons as well.  Your business may offer diverse products and services, and you may have much knowledge to share in your professional specialty.  But, to the extent you can incorporate iconic statements in blog posts to capture the essence of what your business is truly "about" – for you as well as what you hope to bring to your clients – you’re that much more likely to capture visitors’ interest.

As I’ve often mentioned these blog posts, one question I always pose to new business blogging clients is this:

 If you had only eight to ten words to describe why you’re passionate about what  
   what you know about, what you sell, and what you do, what would those words be?

But what if…your clients were given the task of explaining what you do in just three words?  Or in a picture?  Those are your icons! Make sure iconic statements find their way into each of your blog posts!

 

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Professional Ghost Blogger Weighs In: Should Each Business Blogging Client Be A One-And-Only?

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Sales trainers speak of having a "unique value proposition".

Marketing guru Jim Ackerman recommends that each provider of products or services be able to complete this sentence:  "I am the only…………". 

Business coach Lois Creamer advises being crystal clear about who you are and what you do – and creating a "positioning statement"™ to tell others about it.

It’s obvious the big question on buyers’ minds is "Why you?", and that if you want their business, you need a succinct statement about what makes you special. In other words, what’s the "only-ness" of

  • your products
  • your services
  • your approach

Quite early on in building my Say It For You professional ghost-blogging business, I made a pivotal decision in the only-ness department.  Now, this may be controversial, and other ghost writers may think otherwise, but here’s my idea of how things should work:

I consider blogging to be one tactic in any business’ overall marketing strategy, with Say It For You becoming part of each of my business clients’ marketing team. The goal is to hone the business’ message and then get it out online, working to "win search" and increase business. So far, I think, everyone would agree. 

But, to me, this is like gearing up for a basketball or football game.  Our team members respect the opposing team and treat its members with courtesy and consideration, but, bottom line, we’re out to win the game.  Every point we score means a point the other team doesn’t.

Moving a blog from Page 19 on Google or Bing up to Page 1 means some other blogs are being moved down. The way I see it, I can’t be a team player for both teams.  What that says to me is that I can’t be a ghost blogger for two different florists, or two different patent law attorneys, two different restaurants, or two competitors in any industry or profession.. 

My team and I at Say It For You need to be dedicated to the task of conveying your only-ness.  And so, your business is going to be our one-and-only, no matter what game you’re playing!
.

 

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The Nesting Instinct Of Blogs

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"Birds do it, bees do it.  Even little tables do it," says Indianapolis home décor maven Sally Falk Nancrede. Nesting, Nancrede means, but as she explains nesting, she may as well have been referring to blogs.
                                                              

Nancrede describes nesting tables as "smaller, lighter in scale, and more flexible than big-box cocktail tables that permanently anchor a room." Similarly, blog posts are smaller and lighter in scale, much more flexible in their every-changing content then the "big-box" material that anchors the typical company website.

  • "Tables fit into each other….ready to expand for entertaining."

I’ts best for each blog post to focus on one idea, which in turn may "nest" inside an ongoing discussion or explanation continued in other posts.  A post may focus on a core belief you have about the way you handle your business, or it can highlight one particular product or service you offer, building on an over-arching theme of the blog.

  • Nancrede describes Martha Stewart’s Beekman table as combining the "warmth of wood and smart style of modern".

No doubt blogging and social media are modern methods of reaching an audience.  Never forget, though – what makes blogging unique is the personal warmth that characterizes effective blog content.

  • "People’s living spaces have changed.  The scale is just different."

Speaking of space needing changing, Conversion Chronicles points out ("Top Ten Mistakes In Web Design"), "A wall of text is deadly for an interactive experience.  Intimidating.  Boring. Painful to read. Write for online….support scanability."
 

  • "Tables cozy up to offer flexibility and save space," sums up Nancrede.

My conclusion:

Well-crafted blogs, like nesting tables, can be "delicate, chic works of art."

 

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In Blogs, One + One + One = Infinity!

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Understanding why blogs beat websites hands-down when it comes to winning search engine rankings is a matter of simple addition.

See, if a searcher is using a particular phrase in asking a question or looking for a product or service, the search engine wants to make as close a match as possible between the question and the answer, the problem and the solution, between the need and the product or service. An apt explanation was given by local SEO maven Ken Zwiegel's metaphor: Google likes to say "Gotcha!". 

The problem, points out Chris Baggott of Compendium Bogware, is that the typical website has only a finite amount of space for text.  It's nearly impossible to have a large volume of content that targets all the key words that relate to that business. On the other hand, Baggott explains, blogging doesn't have those constraints, because blog content stays around forever.  As new content is added, all the formerly posted content moves "down" a spot to make room, but remains on the blogsite, adding to the cumulative number of repetitions of key words and phrases! "The more content, the more chances you have to use the keywords you want to be found on," adds Baggott.

When I explain the concept of cumulative blog content, I use a real estate analogy.  Blogging for business is somewhat like building "equity" in real estate. Since the whole idea behind Search Engine Optimization is to move your business name higher in the rankings on search engines (when someone is online searching for information in your field of expertise, for a service you provide or a product you sell), you want your name to come up on Page One.  The more relevant and cumulative content you've posted using your key words and phrases, the more likely that is to happen. Cumulative blogging, I like to say, is what "saves your real estate spot!"

In blogging for business, one + one + one = infinity!

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