As I drove home after a downtown meeting the other day, my eye was caught by four words on a billboard.  My first thought was that someone had designed the perfect ad for my ghostblogging business. But, no, it turned out to be a billboard ad for Indiana University: “More brain, less drain.”

Talk about an effective “word tidbit”!  It wasn’t necessary for I.U.’s advertising folks to use any more than those four words – Indiana’s “brain drain” has been the stuff of headlines, talk shows, and even political rhetoric for decades, deploring the number of students who get their degrees here in Indiana, then take off to work out of state.  In one sense, while this was a billboard I was looking at, not a blog, the ad followed good blogging principles by keeping the message short.  Quamut, the “go to how to blogging guide”, advises bloggers to get right to the point.

But, in making the connection between that billboard and blogging, I found the words “brain” and “drain” most important for business owners to keep in mind.  In my earlier blog post  In Blogs Or Tennis, Start Strong, Avoid Fizzle, I stressed the fact that many start out blogging with the best of intentions, only to find themselves unable to keep up with regular blogging while also keeping up with the demands of their own business.  Since frequency and recency play such a large role in search engine rankings, what a professional ghost blogger can add to the marketing mix is a discipline of consistently posting high quality content on behalf of the business.

Put briefly, hiring that extra “brain” relieves the “drain” on the business owner’s resources of times and energy.  Business owners can devote themselves to taking care of business, rather than writing about it.

As of a few weeks ago, at least twenty major U.S. art museums were without directors.  Newsweek commented on just how difficult it is to fill these positions with anywhere near perfect candidates. The magazine’s “Help Wanted: Museum Boss” article talked about some of the challenges of running a modern museum – dealing with huge staffs and groups of volunteers, handling budgets, running retail operations, attracting crowds to special exhibits, all amidst constant pressure to secure donations to pay for it all.  Museum trustees, Newsweek remarks, are looking for someone “who can collect like a connoisseur but compete like a CEO.”

Museum directors apparently need to juggle the demands of both art and commerce.  Juggling different roles is nothing new for my business owner clients. In fact, in my earlier blog You May Be A Finder, Binder, Minder, or Grinder – Are You A Writer?, I discussed the four different and distinct roles that must be filled in order for any business to succeed, pointing out that it’s very rare to find any one person who’s comfortable and skilled in all four.

What I’m finding, as I deal with entrepreneurs of every ilk, is that most business owners are aware that having an online presence, complete with a regular business blog, is an indispensable thing in today’s competitive – and digital – climate.  The problem, of course, is that, once Finding new business is accomplished, there’s still the Binding, Minding, and Grinding to be done, leaving precious little time for composing blogs.  A big part of the challenge is the need to post blogs with frequency and consistency, minimum requirements for success in climbing the search engine ladder.

Newsweek doesn’t suggest that finding multi-talented museum directors is an impossible task, only a near-impossible one, “like finding a lost Leonardo.  Everybody wants one, and good luck with the search.”  We all know entrepreneurs who wear many hats with consummate skill.  But, for others who lack the time and inclination (and, as some of my business owner clients are quick to admit, the talent) to write, one of us professional ghost bloggers can be hired for behind-the-scenes help in staging online “exhibits” by posting the most artful of business blogs!.