Be Sure Blog Posts Have a Bold Start and a Smooth Finish

Radio commercials have a lot to teach us about effective business blogging, I find.  All three of this week’s Say It For You posts are based around drive-time messages I heard recently on WIBC.

Today, let’s talk about the debut of Dunkin’ Donuts’ Rainforest Alliance certified™ dark roast coffee.

Of course, one very useful function of any business’ or practice’s blog is keeping readers up to date with new developments – new products, new services, new pricing, special offers, etc., exactly as Dunkin’ Donuts is breaking the news about its new offering. “The blogging format lives and dies on current information,” emphasizes Susannah Gardner in “Writing a Good Business Blog”.

Face it, though, I tell new business blog writers – You’re not always going to have a new product or service to promote, and there won’t always be a sale going on.  But if you take the time to follow developments in your field, you can write about those. “Take the time to follow and read other blogs that relate to your field,” Gardner advises. You can even share and comment on national or community news as those things relate to your business.

Whatever your blog topic of the day, the Dunkin’Donuts’ dark roast coffee description provides a good rule of thumb: Bold start, smooth finish.

Consultant Brian Walter suggests business owners use a formula to answer the question “What do you do?”  The idea, he says, is to play verbal ping pong, making statements that “make people want you to keep talking”. The bold start begins the process by creating surprise and interest. In blog writing, that start involves the title of the post and the opening line, in which you present a question, a problem, a startling statistic, or a gutsy, challenging statement, and in which you assure readers they’ve come to the right place.

In conversational tone,  you use the body of the post to provide information, demonstrate expertise, and provide a navigation path for readers to become consumers. The “smooth finish”, then, relates back to that opening statement, re-emphasizing to the reader the one main idea you were stressing in that post.

A bold start and a smooth finish – great formula for coffee or for business blog post writing!