Blogging for Those Wandering the Stacks

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Searching the Library

“I’ve discovered that searching the Internet doesn’t necessarily get you only to the thing that you were looking for,” observes Vinton Cerf, VP at Google and a “father of the internet”. “Maybe this is like wandering around the stacks in the library and pulling the book next to the one you were looking for, and discovering there was something interesting there.” Cerf says.

Funny, I’ve pondered the same phenomenon about Internet search myself. As I and my Say It For You writers work on blogging strategy with our business owner and professional practitioner clients, we’re looking to use as many key words and phrases as possible that specifically relate to the audience each business is trying to attract.  Actually, we’re trying to satisfy two “masters”, the search engines and the searchers.  We know both of those are looking for the same thing – fresh, frequently changing, and very relevant content that has to do with the subject.

The way I picture it, there’s a boxing competition with two rings and two matches going on at the same time. There’s the PPC (Pay Per Click) and Sponsored Link side, which is where businesses have bought space.  In PPC, every time someone clicks on the link, the business owner pays a fee to the search engine company.

The other “ring”, organic search, is where I and all the other bloggers and writers operate. We’ve chosen organic search, my clients and I (although some businesses also employ PPC as part of their marketing strategy), not only because it offers free placement, but because more than 90% of the action (the clicks) take place on the organic portion of the search engine results page.

Every once in a while, though, just as Cerf pointed out, there’s a “disconnect” between what the searcher wanted and what he or she actually finds.  If this happens with your blog, even though it’s not one of your target customers that clicks on the blog link, it’s not necessarily bad news.  That kind of “mistake” on the part of a reader (like pulling the book next to the one you were looking for in the library) can even result in you converting a searcher-gone-astray into a buyer. I call this “accidental organic donating“.

So, I tell blog content writers and clients, don’t for a moment worry that head of yours about accidental organic donations – just murmur a quiet “Thank you” to the search engine for the miscue!

 

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Ways-To-Take-Charge Blogging for Business

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Gain control concept.

 

The article “15 Ways to Take Charge of Your Care”, cover story of December’s AARP Bulletin, is a very fine example for blog content writers.  Why?

  • It uses a numbered list, offering 15 detailed tips for saving time and money on healthcare. As Maria Konnikova remarks in the New Yorker Magazine, “Lists spatially organize information, helping create an easy reading experience.” Back in 2011, psychologists Messner and Wanke concluded that we feel better when the amount of conscious work we have to do in order to process information is reduced. We are drawn to a list intuitively, Konnikova points out, and we process it more efficiently. From all indications, I teach business blog content writers, Google loves bulleted lists, too.
  • The information in the article was specifically chosen because the topic is of interest for target readers (seniors, in the case of AARP). “Briefly,” says Jim Connolly of Jim’s Marketing Blog, “here’s how content marketing works: You build and market a website and stock it with free information that has real value to your prospective clients.”
  • The advice is highly specific, including filling prescriptions at a preferred pharmacy within your insurance network and finding out precisely which generic dosages and forms qualify for the $4 big box store and supermarket discount price. In blogging for business, every tip should be helpful in converting online searchers into customers or clients. That means content writers must invest the effort to understand customers’ needs before making the “pitch”.
  • The entire thrust of the article is empowerment for the consumer, rather than promoting the interests of the sponsoring company. Business blogs should be closer to advertorials than to ads. We content writers must satisfy prospects’ need to control the situation, going right to the heart of any possible customer fears or concerns and addressing negative assumption questions (before they’ve been asked!).

Offer information in your business blog that offers ways for readers to take charge!

 

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Using News Tidbits to Blog About Babies

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Newborn baby twins

 

Earlier this week I used stories about Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Grandma Moses to  illustrate the way anecdotes and tidbits can serve as “triggers”. Blog posts targeted to senior consumers of products and services for the elderly, such as home healthcare agencies, senior residence facilities, and estate planning practices can use stories of seniors who accomplished great things. The same concept can be used effectively when it comes to expectant moms and newborns….

I recommend blog content writers include interesting tidbits of information in corporate marketing blogs. Why? To:

  • educate blog readers
  • debunk myths
  • showcase the business owners’ expertise
  • demonstrate business owners’ perspective

Two particular news items caught my eye just this week:

“72-year-old Mick Jagger expecting baby No. 8” (pagesix.com)

“The World’s Oldest Known Seabird Is Expecting – Again” (abcnews.go.com)

Just think of the many business and practices that want to market products and services centered around newborns. Either of these two stories could serve as a “trigger” or jumping-off-point for blog posts about baby products, baby care, baby health, even animal health. Who might use this material as good blog marketing fodder? For starters….

  • meal delivery for new parents
  • professional baby care nurses
  • exercise facilities for new moms
  • insurance agents
  • baby clothing stores and websites
  • car seat  and stroller retailers

Aiming for the more creative? The Mick Jagger story (Jagger’s girlfriend is 29)) might be used in a blog for a matchmaking company or a marriage counseling service, while the seabird story could be the jumping off point for a discussion of best bird pets.

Blog writers need never run out of ideas if they keep a file of interesting tidbits of general information on hand.  And blogging about babies – that will never grow old!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Using News Tidbits to Blog About Aging

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Serenading His SweetieWhen he was almost 76, Mandela was elected president of South Africa in the first election that was open to all races in that country’s history. On his 80th birthday he married his third wife, Graca Machel.

In 1979, at age 69, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work.

The first edition of Roget’s Thesaurus was published when Roget was 73, and he oversaw every update until he died at age 90.

At the age of 89, Doris Haddock began walking the 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers) between Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. to raise awareness for the issue of campaign finance reform.

Grandma Moses, a woman who didn’t begin to paint until the age of 76, turned out more than a thousand paintings over the next 25 years.

(Source: How Stuff Works)

In corporate blogging training sessions, I often recommend including interesting tidbits of information on topics related to your business (or, if you’re a freelance blog content writer, tidbits related to the client’s business).

Today, there are many businesses and practices that serve the aging members of our population. Any of the interesting stories of senior accomplishments mentioned above could serve as “triggers” to discuss the importance of staying mentally and physically active in one’s later years.  Who might use this material as good blog marketing fodder? For starters….

  • a  Long Term Care insurance company
  • a geriatric medical practitioner
  • a senior residence facility
  • a spa
  • a home healthcare agency
  • an estate planning attorney

(Don’t be afraid to get creative. The Mandela story might be used to promote wedding services for seniors and 50th wedding anniversary party catering, while Doris Haddock’s trek might be the subject of a blog for gym stair-stepping equipment!)

Blog writers need never run out of ideas if they keep a file of interesting tidbits of general information on hand.  And blogging about aging – that will never get old!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Content Marketing Through Blogs

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Hand Drawing Content Flow ChartWhat is this thing called “content marketing”? Well, “instead of pitching your products or services, you are providing truly relevant and useful content to your prospects and customers to help them solve their issues,” explains the Content Marketing Institute. Why content marketing? Because it works. How? In three ways, the Institute goes on to say:

  1. Increased sales
  2. Cost savings
  3. Better customers with more loyalty

Very important, successful strategies address issues readers care about, not your own business.

When it comes to effective content marketing, Josh Steimle, writing in Forbes, focuses on three qualities the content must have in order for people to want to consume it rather than trying to avoid it:

  • valuable
  • relevant
  • consistent

An important observation Steimle offers is this: Prior to awareness, a customer may have a need and not be aware there is a solution. Content marketing raises awareness of solutions and educates consumers about products they may not have considered before.

Since I’m a big advocate of using historical tidbits in blogs to create interest, I loved having Heidi Cohen remind me that content marketing is older than we think. The example Cohn provides is Johnson & Johnson creating guides for Civil War doctors on how to use their bandages.

“Content marketing is personal, engaging and tells stories,” Cohen goes on to say, focusing on emotions and messages that are captivating to the target audience. She quotes Dan Bergeron of Likeable Media, who stresses that the main thing is to focus less on cost and product details and more on the customer.

Since “keeping on keeping on” is the glue that holds an ongoing blog marketing effort together, I like i-scoop.eu’s observation that good content responds to the questions and needs of (prospective) customers during and after their buyer journey.”

What that means in practical terms is that we blog content writers need to keep on telling the business’ or the practice’s story in its infinite variations over long periods of time, knowing that, to a certain extent, the blog content readers who end up as clients and customers have self-selected rather than having been persuaded, “recruited”, or sold.

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