Blog Genres: Take Your Choice – Carefully

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Your choice of genres may be very different depending on who you’re writing for and point you want to make,” the authors of Everything You Need to Ace English Language Arts in One Big Fat Notebook explain. “Different genres alter the focus of the topic.” The journalism genre, for example, puts the most important facts first, leaving out all personal opinions or personal history of the author. The memoir genre, in contrast, focuses on the memories of an individual and does not refer to research.

Since blog content writing is, by definition, nonfiction, authors can follow several of the guidelines in the Notebook:

  • using research (old newspaper articles, interviews, eyewitness accounts)
  • including charts, graphs, and photos
  • skillfully using both explicit and implicit evidence

In a non-fiction text, Notebook authors explain, explicit evidence is actually stated. Implicit evidence, on the other hand, involves conclusions readers draw from the text. In order to “steer” readers to arrive at certain conclusions, “choosing the BEST evidence from all the evidence is crucial, in order to get the point across quickly and convincingly”. In fact, “choosing evidence” is a foundational aspect of blog content creation. At Say it For You, we teach that, in addition to having a focused topic for each blog post, writers must have a specific audience in mind, choosing the best evidence for that target audience.

“Every author writes with a purpose in mind,” the Notebook states. “In opinion pieces, it is an established fact that the authors have a purpose and are trying to convince the reader of something.” Still, a good writer knows that not everybody agrees, and therefore includes counterclaims or counterarguments.” When it comes to blog marketing, visitors will be subjecting your content to an “acid test”, judging whether this site is the “real deal”. That’s where presenting “evidence” in the form of facts and figures comes in.

Some “tried and true” blog genres include:     

  • advice
  • collections and top lists
  • reviews
  • predictions
  • motivation
  • trouble-shooting
  • interviews
  • how-to
  • editorial
  • personal reflection

Whichever the genre of choice, a central idea is the most importance element in any piece of writing, Notebook authors remind us. Around that central idea, the content of any piece can be constructed. As blog content writers, we can take our genres, but it’s important to do that carefully!

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Blog Content Writing is Choice Architecture

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Choice architecture is not just about how websites are designed or how policies are implemented, Eric J. Johnson explains in the book The Elements of Choice. We are all designers every day he says, posing choices to our friends, colleagues, and families.
You think you’re choosing dinner from a restaurant menu, a fund for your retirement plan, or a movie to see with your spouse, but the decisions made by the restaurant, by your employer, or by your spouse about how to pose those choices to you influence what you end up choosing.

The author relates a fascinating experiment conducted by a professor named Irwin Levin of the University of Iowa. Two groups of undergrads were asked to rate samples of raw ground beef. One group was shown packages labeled 25% fat”, while the second group was shown packages labeled “75% lean”, with the second group reporting a more positive perception of the meat. Carrying the experiment even further, Levin and his team actually cooked the meet in front of the individuals involved in the study. Half the “customers” were told the beef was 75% lean; the others were told their hamburgers were 25% fat. Those to whom the percentage of fat was told reported that their hamburgers were greasier and of lower quality!

When we create blog content, we realize at Say It For You, what we’re doing involves choice architecture. Without exception, of course, we’re striving to present the most honest and fair information about the products and services our clients have to offer their reader prospects. But in order to offer the most amount of value to prospects and customers, while at the same time creating a “honeypot”, marketing firm ON24 cautions, content writers must first understand what customers want, involving the sales team in the process. In other words, successful marketing involves planning “architecture”.

“Writing is very much about the order of ideas presented and the emphasis given to them,” Brandon Royal explains in The Little Red Writing Book. There are different “floor plans” for pieces of writing, including a chronological structure, where you discuss the earliest events first, then move forward in time, and an evaluative structure, in which you discuss the pros and cons of a concept. Different blog posts might use different “floor plans.” But no matter which approach, readers will expect to see the things most important to them, their needs, given the greatest emphasis.

Blogging is actually an ideal architectural tool, because different blog posts can emphasize different aspects of the overall message. In fact, in offering corporate blogging training, one rule of thumb I often emphasize at Say It For You is using each blog post to focus readers’ attention on just one idea, one aspect of the message.

Blog content writing can be choice architecture at its finest!

 

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Why Blind Dates With Blogs are a Bad Idea

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Have you gone on a blind date with a book? Lauren Carlton of the American Library Association asks. “The set-up for the display is simple”, Carlton says. “Just wrap books in paper to hide their covers — hence the ‘blind date’ — and decorate the wrapping with enticing facts, hints about the plotline, or our favorite, the books’ first lines”.

To get patrons to want to pick up these blind dates, Carlton advises librarians and book store owners, you need books with attention-grabbing first lines.

  • “Don’t look for dignity in public bathrooms” (Big Machine by Victor LaValle)
  • “It was the day Grandmother exploded” (The Crow Road by Iain Banks)
  • “All stories are love stories” (Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson)

Between Shakespeare’s Juliet asking “What’s in a name?” and father-of-advertising David Ogilby’s emphasis on headlines, there’s simply no contest when it comes to blogging for business – titles matter. Just as those first lines enticed readers to buy “blind date” books without seeing the covers or reading the blurb, blog titles set the tone and arouse curiosity in online searchers.

There are a number of different approaches in choosing a title for a blog post:

  • titles with an agenda (making clear the writer’s point of view)
  • emotional “grabber titles”
  • how-to titles
  • “truth about” titles

Blog post titles have two seemingly contradicting jobs to do – arousing readers’ curiosity while still assuring them they’ve come to the right place, I’ve often explained to blog content writers at Say It For You. Unlike the case with the blind date book promotion, where bookstore customers and library patrons are looking for “a good read”, online searchers are looking for specific answers to questions and specific solutions to problems they have. Searchers who’ve found your blog site won’t linger longer than a couple of seconds if what they see doesn’t reassure them they’ve come to the right place for the information they need.

In a blind-date-with-a-book promotion, the book jackets are covered with plain brown wrapping, so that appearances play no part in readers’ choice of their next read. In contrast, images and photos need to be part of any business’ blog marketing, because, as digital marketing maven Jeff Bullas points out, articles with images get 94% more total views. In fact, at Say It For You, we try to use images the same way, selecting one for each post that gives readers an idea of what to expect in the post.

If you’ve recently gotten out of a long relationship or have lost confidence in yourself, a blind date can really encourage you to get back into the dating arena. Blind dates with books are a fun promotion libraries and bookstores use to attract customers. In general, though, one is forced to conclude, blind dates with blogs tend to be a bad idea.

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Blog Your Sit-Means-Sit

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Judged by Shakespeare’s famous line “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, the Bard didn’t think monikers were very important. Apparently, to investors selecting stocks these days, they are: on average, Harvard Business Review found, companies with short, simple names attract more shareholders and generate greater amounts of stock trading than companies with hard-to-process names.

While I’m not currently a pet owner, the other day I came across what has to be my all-out favorite corporate name – Sit Means Sit. No explanation needed – not only do you know immediately that what the company offers is dog obedience training, you get a sense of the owner’s stance is on the subject.

Blog readers need to perceive you as an expert in your field, I teach at Say It For You.  And for that to happen, I believe, you need to clearly demonstrate a firm perspective on your subject. There’s no lack of information sources – and no lack of “experts” (purported or real) on any topic In blog marketing, therefore, we need to go beyond presenting facts, statistics, features, and benefits, and get authentic and yes, even opinionated. Taking a stance on your subject, using the blog content writing to express a firm opinion on issues in your industry and community, is how you leverage your uniqueness.

Blogging, remember, involves providing new material week after week, month after month, year after year. We can highlight less well-known facts about familiar things and processes. We can suggest new ways of thinking about things readers already know. Still, that’s not enough. Whether you’re blogging for a business, for a professional practice, or for a nonprofit organization, you’ve got to have an opinion, a slant, on the information you’re serving up for readers. In short, as blog content writers, we must help our clients become influencers.

“We don’t train dogs the same, because not every dog is the same,” the Sit Means Sit website continues, going on to explain that the company offers programs geared to “any dog, any age, any problem”. In fact, the Sit Means Sit website contains information about different training approaches, and, in your own blog posts, there will be ample opportunities to explain and explore different aspects of your own products or services.

“When writing an opinion piece, you are taking a side on a particular issue and trying to communicate to your audience why you believe your chosen side to be the correct one,” 201digital comments. “In fact, research shows that the only type of content more popular than that which encourages reads and shares is negative or controversial opinion.”

What are those things that you really mean when it comes to delivering your service or product to your customers and clients? Blog your own “sit means sit”!

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Blogging What You Know NOW

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Despite the commercial success of the book (and then the movie) Jaws, author Peter Benchley deeply regretted making the great white shark into a deadly villain, Mental Floss authors relate. Before his death in 2006, Benchley remarked, “Knowing what I know now, I could never write that book today. Sharks don’t target human beings, and they certainly don’t hold grudges.”

In this Say It For You blog, I’ve often written about the fact that myth-debunking is one great use for business blogs. Many misunderstandings about a product or service present themselves in the natural order of business, in the form of questions and comments from readers and customers. Shining the light of day on that misinformation shines light on your own expertise, and, if it’s done with finesse, rather than “showing up” readers, it can engage and keep them coming back.

But I think this story about Peter Benchley and the great white shark has an even deeper lesson to teach blog content writers. Later in his life, the Mental Floss authors relate, Benchley became a shark conservationist and oceanographer. His knowledge and understanding had grown and evolved.

I teach freelance blog writers to include stories of their clients’ past mistakes and failures. Such stories have a humanizing effect, engaging readers and creating feelings of empathy and admiration for the business owners or professional practitioners who overcame not only adversity, but the effects of their own mistakes – and of their own previously mistaken thinking!

“The range of human emotion is massive, from positive emotions like joy, interest, and amazement, to the more negative, such as fear, anger, or sadness Campaigns need to be geared towards evoking and connecting with these real emotions,” Nadya Khoja writes in moz.com. “This is the time to update your buyer personas to reflect the new realities your customers are experiencing,” she adds.

The lesson, I believe, is that now may be the time to update our own “personas” to reflect not only the new realities in the marketplace, but our own revised understandings based on experience. It’s time to blog what we know NOW!

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