A couple of weeks ago, I browsed through an advertising supplement to the Indianapolis Star named “Why Buy a Piano Now”.  The supplement contained pages upon pages of information about all kinds of products and services.  Since, at the top of each page, the words “advertising supplement” were prominently displayed, everyone reading the material knew the goal was to get new customers for the businesses who had bought the space.  Nevertheless, because the information about each product or service was so helpful and so well-written, there was no hard-sell advertising at all to the section.

As a professional ghostwriter of blogs, I couldn’t help finding a parallel here.  When people go online to search for information and click on different blogs or on different websites, they’re aware of the fact that the providers of the information are out to do business.  But as long as the material is valuable and relevant for the searchers, they’re perfectly fine with knowing there’s someone who wants them for a client or customer.  The secret of successful business blogging, I found, is just that – not coming on too strong.  A blog is not an advertisement; you might say it’s an advertorial.

The Indianapolis Star supplement is a perfect example of what I mean.  The piece provided some valuable quick tips on the ABCs of Piano Shopping, explaining three basic decisions facing a piano buyer (digital vs. acoustic, upright vs. grand, used vs. new).  But the big lesson to be learned for business blogging comes in the final paragraph of the piece: You don’t have to make the ultimate piano decision the first time, it tells us.  You can choose a piano that will accommodate a child’s entry into the piano world.

Think about how reassuring that statement might be for a potential piano buyer (They’re trying to help me, not sell me the most expensive instrument in the store). Now, think about someone searching the Web for information on a product or service that costs a lot of money (home remodeling, for example), or that is quite complex or scary (think bankruptcy or cosmetic surgery, for example).  If, in your business blog, you can convey the idea that there are different levels of involvement possible, and that ultimate decisions need not be made the moment the potential client of customer steps into your website, visitors to your blog will be reassured there’s a comfortable place for them with you!  In other words, before selling them the piano, help visitors to your blog understand “Why To Buy A Piano”!

Tuning in to National Public Radio turned out to be a good thing for me to do the other day.  I caught another of those word tidbits that so delight the wordsmith in me. Daniel Gardner, author of a new book, “The Science Of Fear”, was being interviewed by Diane Rehm.  Gardner was expounding on why we fear things we shouldn’t, ironically exposing ourselves to real dangers.  He attributes our irrational fear to the fact that we’re constantly being fed disaster stories by the media.  Our unconscious minds absorb this “parade of improbable negative events”, causing us to overreact to everyday circumstances that statistically hold little real threat. 

And here’s where Daniel Gardner said the eight little words that so completely capture the concept he was trying to present: “We report the rare routinely, and the routine rarely.” To me, effective word tidbits sock us right between the eyes, and that one did it for me.  In fact, the instant I read that particular combination of everyday words, I had an “aha! moment”.  I was able to unify things I already knew, but hadn’t synthesized into any true wisdom. 

Blogging, at its best, should have exactly that effect.  Short by definition, blogs don’t necessarily give online searchers lots of brand new information.  But what your blog should aim to do is capture concepts relating to your business, putting words together in a new way.  Your aim is to bring to the reader a pleasurable and satisfying “Aha!”, making that reader want to know more. (My interest was captured – I went out and bought Daniel Gardner’s book!)  You want to bring the blog reader to your website in order to convert him/ her into a customer or client.

As a professional ghost blogger, the question I would pose to each client is this:  If you had only eight to ten words to describe why you’re passionate about what you sell, what you know, or what you do, what would those words be?  Once you’ve put together the word tidbits, I can “Say It For You”, and blogging for business can begin with a bang!