When it comes to air travel these days, more is more.  American, United, Continental, and Northwest Airlines all sock passengers with a $25 charge – each way – for checking a second bag on domestic flights.  With Delta, you can make that $50.  Of course the hikes relate to the high cost of fuel; still, packing light has always been one of the better tips for savvy travelers.  I remember my grandmother advising us girls, “Wherever you’re headed, take half the clothes and double the money.”

In earlier Say It For You blog posts (see Kosciuszko National Memorial: A Blog Of A National Park), I offered similar advice culled from my experience as professional ghost blogger, explaining it’s best to focus each blog post on one idea.  Blogs, after all, are web logs, not web catalogues or web brochures.

Think of your website as the destination; your blog becomes the cab ride to the airport.  Pack your blog post with just enough material to show searchers they’re on track to find the services or information they need.  You might just find my grandmother’s advice was “right on” for your business, and that, by targeting your blog, you bring in half the browsers but double the buyers.!

On the surface, I wouldn’t have expected to find valuable insights about blogging in one of several professional journals I read to keep up my financial planning credentials.  But, in the June issue of Employee Benefit Advisor, I found an important piece of blogging wisdom. In his article “OMG I Have No Money – The Texting Demographic Requires New Approach”, Brent Shearer points out that employees under age 27 (there are 80 million of them in the U.S.) need tailored communications to urge them to participate in retirement savings plans.

Shearer sums up the hurdle facing employers and the investment industry in words that could have been taken from a web design and blogging manual.  He notes that GenY’ers expect to accomplish their objectives in just one or two clicks.  It’s important, he says, for a company’s website to create “an environment of comfort for making decisions quickly”.

As a professional ghost blogger, I know the statistics:  80% or more of business comes as a result of organic search. If you’re a business owner or have a professional practice, that means you’ll be meeting new customers and clients not because they searched for you by name, but because they used a search engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.)  to lead them to information on a topic.  If GenY is a big part of your target market, and if you used Search Engine Optimization strategy, providing relevant, new, frequently posted information through business blogging, your blogs could be the first step in your relationship with some new GenY clients.

SInce, as Shearer so aptly points out, GenYers make decisions quickly, those browsers are going to do one of two things – “bounce” away from your blog and keep looking for what they want, or (and this is the result you’re aiming for) proceed to visit your website.  Your website is where you’ve arranged for that “environment of comfort for making decisions quickly”.  The lesson business bloggers need to learn along with the employee benefit specialists: With a well-coordinated marketing approach, your business or practice will likely get a chance to “reach out and touch” the texting demographic.  You just won’t get ’em to sit still very long while you’re doing it!