The Ghosts of Business Blogging Past and Present

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ghostChanges are happening, have been happening, and will be happening. This week I’ve been thinking a lot about the changes that have taken place in the world of business blog content writing.  Google has been changing its algorithms as frequently as we change underwear, it seems, and that has meant we’re learning to write with readers, rather than spiders, in mind.

Attitudes about ghost-blogging have been changing, too. (As long as the writer doesn’t pretend to actually be the business owner or professional, I’m not sure “ghost blogging” is the correct term to use). In any event, a growing number of businesses and practices are hiring professional writers.  That’s not what’s changed. It’s just that no one’s hiding it any more.

Ghostwriting itself has a long, proud history, and people hired writers for the same reasons back then as they do now. Celebrities or public figures didn’t have the time, discipline, or writing skill to create a book, a speech, an autobiography, an article, or even an important letter, so they hired writers to do these things for them.

As a professional blog and website page content writer, I am an avid reader on the topic of all forms and styles of ghost writing. The more I read, the more interesting material I uncover.

  • Our first president, George Washington, used several very famous ghostwriters, including Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, to compose his political speeches and writings.
  • The movie “Amadeus” brought out the fact that composer Wolfgang Mozart was paid to ghostwrite music for wealthy patrons.
  • Romance novelist V.C. Andrews actually hired writers to compose content that would appear after his death!
  • Around the Nashville country music scene, I learned, it’s called co-writing, because most of the artists whom you hear performing the songs didn’t actually write the words..

These are all fun facts from the past, but blogging is much more in the here and now.  The mission of a ghost blogger like me is to market your business or practice, helping clients and customers find your business. While reasons for using ghostwriters (both then and now) include lack of time and lack of discipline, many simply aren’t confident in their own writing abilities.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Ghost blogging can help “say it for you”, win the search, and get the business!

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Change Has Got Blog Writers in a Bear Hug

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Back in 2005, when blogging for business was a fairly newly new thing, The Businessweek cover story was titled “Blogs Will bears hugChange Your Business.” Now, just one week ago, the now Bloomberg Businessweek comments: “Go ahead and bellyache about blogs.  But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they’re simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself.”

Of course, I was in on most of the story, having begun my Say It For You blog content writing business seven and a half years ago. It’s interesting to read what others have to say about how blogging has changed over the last decade.

  • What does Daniel Hannan of the UK mean by this strong statement:  “Blogs changed everything – if not in the way we expected”?  Far from the lack of quality control predicted for online media, he says, “the dialectic of blogging ensured a higher standard of accuracy than before” and “Blogs have improved veracity, quality, and diversity.”  While Hannan is referring primarily to news and opinion blogs, blog content meant to promote businesses and professional practices must stand the same rigorous test by well-informed consumers. “Sure, most blogs are painfully primitive,” comments Hannan. “That’s not the point.  They represent power”.
  • Unbounce.com talks about the way blogging changes the blogger. “The net result is not only a profound understanding of what you are doing, but a believe in its purpose.”
  • Google’s been changing the way it approaches blogs as well, points out Eric Enge of Search Engine Watch. “In short, Google is doing a brilliant job of pushing people away from tactical SEO behavior and toward a more strategic approach, Enge observes. In its Hummingbird algorithm, “Google has built a capability to9 understand conversational search queries much better than before.” How does this development represent major change? “The focus now is on understanding your target users, producing great content, establishing your authority and visibility, and providing a great experience for the users of your site.”

    Well, I guess in the business world, we’ve all been told about how important it is to embrace change. For us freelance blog content writers – change has got us in a bear hug!

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Better Business Blog Posts Emphasize the Positive

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sticky tape dispensr“The tape guns are not for customer use!” was the headline on the poster my National Speakers Association colleague Todd Hunt saw in his local UPS store. There was more text on that sign, Hunt reports: “For liability reasons, it is prohibited for customers to use our industrial tape guns.  If you need something taped up, please either purchase a tape dispenser from our retail wall or just ask us to tape it up for you.  We’re always glad to help.”

In his e-newsletter,Todd (who’s been described as “funnier than a business speaker, more informative than a comedian’) uses this UPS sign to teach his readers a couple of lessons all of us business blog content writers can use:

  • “They (UPS) offer a great service, but they’ve buried it in the body text!”  Come right out with your message (I call this   the “pow’ opening line). “Need your package taped? Just ask!” is the starting statement Hunt would’ve put on that sign.

Be purposeful about your opening lines, leaving no doubt in searchers’ minds that they’ve come to the right place to find the information, products, and services they need.

  • Todd Hunt suggests deleting the sentence about the liability – too negative. Just stash the tape guns behind the counter out of sight, he recommends, if there have been so many problems with customers using them! Emphasize the positive.

In business blogging I advise taking the high road in marketing strategy. In other words, don’t put down your competition.  Instead, simply emphasize your own expertise, products and services. “Accentuate the positive and latch on to the affirmative,” as Bing Crosby used to croon.

  • Offer your customers different options, Hunt suggests. We’re happy to tape your package closed for you at no charge.  If you prefer to do it yourself, we have tape dispensers for sale on our retail wall.

Communicate the fact that you and your staff have the experience, the information, the products, and the latest technology to solve problems and meet needs, yet offer choices of action to help readers feel they are in control.

Better business blog posts accentuate the positive!

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Business Blogging Helps Friends See What You Enjoy

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“Each year, the largest performing arts conference in the world draws artists from around the globe to New York Midtown Hilton Towers in Manhattan. …you can enjoy the newest ideas in theatre, dance and music,” explains my friend and fellow blogger Thaddeus Rex. “But, please,” he warns, “Don’t plan to eat in the area.”  Why? “Food in this hood winds up extremely expensive and excessively lame.”

Rex’ blog post, which begins on this negative note, carries two positive benefits for readers:

A valuable tip:
“Walk just a few blocks west of 54th and 6th to 9th or 10th Avenue, and you get twice the quality for half the cost.”

In blogging for business, it’s important to proactively interpret information in ways that are not only understandable, but usable by readers. Engaging? Fresh? Relevant? Unique?  Those are all qualities to strive for in blog content writing. But offering basic, immediately usable information is a very compelling way to welcome prospects who are meeting you through your blog.

An insight:
“These businesses have learned the secret of differentiating via location.  They know they don’t have to be best in the world.  They only have to be best on the block. Once people are up on their feet, walking around, they get hungry….They assume high price means high quality.  And many never know the difference.”

Smart blog content writers know that there is no lack of sources where readers can find information on our subject.  But readers don’t want to do that – they want our help making sense out of the ocean of information out there. They want our guidance arriving at insights that will help them understand and use all that information.

Many consumers (those who assume a burger with a high price is a burger of high quality) never know the difference. “But YOU know the power of energy,” Thaddeus tells his blog readers. “YOU discern quality with a steady eye and are willing to work for it”.

Does your business blog help your new friends (your online visitors) see what you enjoy?

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Don’t Notch the Bedpost in your Business Blog Post – Yet!

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“Most branding activities are just well-catalogued brag sheets“, according to marketing speaker Bruce Turkel (whom I had the pleasure of meeting at our National Speakers of Indiana chapter a few months ago). And while these “bedpost notches such as credentials, accomplishments, satisfied clients, etc., may please your grandmother, he says, they don’t interest anyone who’s not already thinking about hiring you.

Reading that advice, I couldn’t help being thankful. To a certain extent, we blog content writers are able to put our business owner and professional practitioner clients in a more advantageous position as they meet prospects. After all, readers who arrive at a business blog have already “drunk the Kool-Aid”. They already have an interest in the topic and are ready to receive the information, the services, and the products our clients have to offer.

Having said that, our task is to keep those visitors engaged with valuable, personal, and relevant information.  Bedpost notching is important, enumerating the business’ or the practice’s special areas of expertise, years of experience, and success filling customers’ needs. To be sure, we don’t have a very long “window” to accomplish that task, really just a couple of seconds. That’s where Bruce Turkel’s “simple but not easy” recommendation comes in.

Build an “all about them” brand, he says. Speak to your clients’ wants and needs and not your own. Turkel offers two examples of that new paradigm thinking (in the context of how professional speaker should promote themselves):

Don’t:      “Roger McFlintock is the leading expert on underwater basket weaving.”
Do:          “Underwater basket weaving can change your life.”

Don’t:      ”Ellie Dabooter has spent the last 15 years teaching leadership skills”.
Do:          “Leadership is the single most important skill you can use to improve your
business. Ellie Dabooter is singularly qualified to lead you there.”

As a corporate blogging trainer, I wholeheartedly agree. Any piece of marketing material can be tweaked to put the emphasis where it belongs – on the buyer or user. In terms of online marketing, the What’s-In-It-For-Them paradigm shift is particularly relevant for blog posts.

Don’t notch the bedpost – yet. Sure, those online visitors found you because they’re already interested in your type of product or service.  Your first order of business, though, is confirming the importance of the subject matter in terms of the difference it can make in their lives!

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