Give Your Blog A More Natural Smile!

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Not only does Dr. Ron Wines have a nice smile, he knows how to keep customers smiling back, according to John Gifford, publisher of IndySmallBiz. Several of this entrepreneurial dental practitioner’s business practices are worth emulating in your business blog.

An important decision that Dr. Wines made is to select a specialized niche market.  The more targeted and focused your blog can be, as I explained in "With Blogging. A Small Business Can Have A Long Tail", the greater the effect your business can have in that niche market. The way Dr. Wines sees it, niche focus allows him to provide a high-quality product while increasing profitability per customer. What niche focus can do in the case of your blog is increase your chances of "winning search" by providing the most relevant answers to online searchers.

From my vantage point as a professional ghost blogger, I thought the last paragraph of the Indy SmallBiz article about Dr. Wines absolutely spot on for business blogging:

"The marketing copy is written from the standpoint of the user.  You will have a more natural smile…It is pain-free…The dentures are guaranteed for life.. Because of their excellent fit, the patients will maintain healthy bone levels."  

It’s the old WIIFM radio station idea – (Customers want to know, "What’s in it for me?").

Dr. Wines mentioned he’s seen his profits increase and his actual workload decrease.  None of that happened overnight, he was quick to point out – he began planning to differentiate his business three years ago and results have been building gradually since then.

Don’t count on a business blog marketing strategy being an overnight success, either. But, as search engines begin to "notice" your consistent blogging efforts and rewards you with higher online page rankings, and as customers begin to experience the "Aha!" of having come to the right place to get their needs met, you’ll find many reasons to smile – naturally!
 
 

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For Best Blog Results, Take Two Or Three Key Words As Needed

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If you think about it, every really well-executed professional service consists of both science and art.  Consider a dentist, beautician, or even your carpenter.  They each need to know the science of their craft – how tools work, how chemical compounds react with wood, hair, or tooth enamel. But, in addition to their technical skills, we demand they produce aesthetically pleasing results!

Blogging for business, of course, has a creative element to it.  Even though the blog is more informal and conversational than, say, brochures or print advertisements, the writing still needs to be informative and interesting to engage readers’ attention.

There’s a science to blogging, too.  You want targeted traffic flowing your way, and key words are your "traffic magnets".  Before beginning to blog, you should use analytical tools to select the best key words, then use those in your domain name for the blog, in the titles for blog posts, and in links within each post. Links are important for search engine rankings – you use key words to link to former blog posts you’ve written, to other blogs and websites, and to attract links back your way as well.  All these things are part of the "science" of business blogging.

Keep in mind, though, blogs are a form of conversation, so the text needs to flow naturally, just as if the reader were right there with you.  That means the key words must be a natural part of the sentence, not inserted artificially.  If you overdo the key words or use them inappropriately, your blog will sound "spammy" and contrived, according to the blog maven website BlogManiac.

There’s no precise formula, though, to the science/art blend in your blogs.  Don’t get so fixated on the key word idea that you forget to be yourself and allow readers to "meet" the person behind the blog. If, in a 300-400 word blog post, you’ve used your key words three or four times, that’s probably more than enough.

As BlogManiac puts it, "there’s no better food for search engines spiders than fresh content", so the main thing is to keep posting regularly and frequently. If you don’t get the key word thing exactly right today, take two or three key words and call your professional ghost blogger in the morning! 
 

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Blogs, Like PowerPoint Presentations, Can Be Boons Or Banes

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Sometimes I think blogs are nothing more than online, personalized PowerPoint slides. 

Think about it. You’re making a business presentation, and the goal is to get across information in a way that engages the audience, in a format they can easily understand. That’s exactly the standard for presenting information in a blog. As with any tool, if you use Power Point and blogs skillfully, you accomplish what you set out to do.  If you don’t know how to use the tools – well, let’s just say they can become an obstacle.

Last year, PowerPoint celebrated its twenty-first birthday. Technically, blogging’s been around as long, but blogging for business has begun to pick up real steam only in the last three to four years.  Robert Gaskins, co-creator of PowerPoint, defending the technology against its critics, explains that “PowerPoint presentations were never supposed to be the entire proposal – just a quick summary of something longer and better thought-out.”

Each blog post is like one slide in a PowerPoint.  Just as Gaskins said, it’s not supposed to be “the entire proposal”.  The blog should offer just enough information to entice readers (see Blogs, One Click Away From Colossal) to subscribe to the blog, or to come back to visit for the next “slide”. The “call to action” you incorporate in your blog leads readers to your website when they’re ready for more complete information.

In great presentations, the PowerPoint is there to support the speaker, not the other way around. The audience connects with the person, not with the slides.  In "Creating Buzz With Blogs", veteran business technology consultant Ted Demopoulos explains, “Blogs create buzz because people will feel like they know you, and people like to do business with people they know”.  Blogs represent people talking to people!
 

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Get Rid Of Gobbledygook In Your Blog

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I’m searching online for information about something I need, and I’ve just clicked onto your business blog.  You’ve got thirty seconds to convince me I’ve come to the right place…Use plain language, please.  Ready, set, go!

Karen Zwick, president of 1st Class Solutions, says the principal goal of plain language is to meet the needs of a document’s reader, not those of the writer. Never was that statement truer than when it comes to business blogs. Three of Zwick’s plain-writing guidelines read like Page One of a "How To Blog for Business" manual:

Keep a single, specific purpose in mind. As I pointed out in Enuf Is Enuf In Blogs, blog audiences tend to be scanners, not readers.  The blog needs to offer just enough information to entice searchers to visit your website to find out more.

A second blogging application for this single-purpose rule is this:  Narrow down your target audience.  Figure out what those people need and want that you have, or that you do. (You may do lots of other things that appeal to other groups of consumers. Set up a different blog for those, and a different "landing page" on your website for them.)

Use personal pronouns. Blogs are more casual and conversational than other marketing pieces.  Your readers, as I explained in Don’t Tap Dance Around In Your Blog, want to "meet" the person behind the blog. Allow your passion to shine through, sending a clear message: "I and my team will be taking care of you!"

Bloggers, I say: "Above all, create no confusion!" When it comes to web-based communication, words, along with pictures, are a business’ only tools.  As a professional ghost blogger, I work with words, turn phrases, and look for the "wow" factor.  Above all, though, my job is to communicate, as plainly and directly as possible, how your business helps its clients and customers.

If business jargon is bad, it’s even worse in blogs. Searchers came to your blog to "find out" stuff, not to "ascertain", to get "help", not to "facilitate". You want them to "use", not "utilize" your services and products. You offer the "best", not the "optimum" of each. You help clients "plan", not "facilitate", and you do that "by", not "by means of" being great at what you do.

It’s important to add that…Not!  (If it’s that important, just go ahead and add it!)

Please, get rid of gobbledygook in your blog!

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Torn Underwear Just Won’t Do For Your Blog

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In recent blog posts I talked about making your viewpoint clear to readers of your blog (see Evel Meets Good Rapper-Blogger Kanye West). Now I need to follow my own advice on a somewhat touchy blogging topic…

One big debate among bloggers and business owners is whether correct spelling and proper grammar really matter in blogs.  After all (as I myself have stressed), your blog is supposed to reveal the “real you”!

Well, the “Real Me” has a very real opinion on the subject of grammar and spelling, I must admit. Allow me an analogy: 

I don’t know whether mothers are still doing this nowadays, but my friends and I remember being warned by our mothers to wear clean, un-torn underwear “in case you get in a car accident” (my own mother would add a “God forbid!” at the end of the sentence). The maternal moral of the story, I surmise, was that slovenliness might cause us to be judged in an unfavorable light by bystanders or emergency medical personnel.

Todd Hunt, the nationally known speaker on communication, adheres to my mom’s philosophy in the arena of language use.  In January’s “Hunt’s Headlines”, Todd makes three requests.  Can we please, he asks,

1. Use the correct tense of “shrink”.  “Amazon’s profits have shrunk” (not “have shrank”).

2. Use “lay” and “lie” appropriately.  “The baby was lying on the floor.” (not “laying”, unless it was a chicken depositing eggs!)

3. Stop using “way” in place of “much”. “Coke is much better than Pepsi.” (not “way” better!)

I found at least one blogger who agrees with me that correct is much better than incorrect when it comes to grammar and spelling in blogs. “People have said that grammar and spelling don’t convey intelligence,” Carl Mattius says, “But they do convey something.  If you’re not willing to take the time to properly type out what you’re trying to say, why should anyone waste time trying to read it?”  Here’s the part I love: “If you care about something, you should do a good job of it.”

My sentiments exactly.  Your business blog represents you and your business to the world.  As Carl Mattius points out, “It’s a respect thing.  Respect yourself and your ideas enough to give them their proper meaning.”

P.S. This is your mother talking!  Don’t you DARE leave this house in torn underwear or in underwear that has shrank in the wash.  Why, your reputation will be laying on the floor!

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