More About Using Skeletons to Bring Life to Your Blog

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In the delightful little book Unfortunate English: The Gloomy Truth Behind the Words You Use, you can find a treasure chest of fun ideas for livening up business blog posts. Author Bill Brohough alerts readers to the fact that many of the words we use daily used to have very war-related, sexually oriented, or even disgusting meanings.

Last week in this Say It For You blog, I suggested several ways in which that collection of verbal “skeletons” which Brohough put together can be used to enliven blog marketing content for different types of businesses and professional practices,. skeletonThose word “skeletons” can be use, I explained:

  • to define basic terminology or give basic information to readers
  • to explain why this practitioner or business owner chooses to operate in a certain way:

After all, every business blogger faces the challenge of creating material about the same subject over long periods of time, and anything we can use to deepen and broaden and generally “freshen up” the topic tends to be a good thing.

Two words we’re used to seeing in marketing content, terms used to describe everything from clothing to home décor to autos, for example, are “sophisticated” and “luxury”.  Today, Brohough points out, if you call something or someone “sophisticated”, you mean cultured and refined.  The original meaning of the word was quite different.  To “sophisticate” something was to adulterate it by mixing it with something inferior, and being sophisticated meant the opposite of genuine. The word “luxury”, Brohough adds, has a similarly shady past. The Old French word meant “indulging in abundance”, lacking in taste, or even lecherous.

In corporate blog writing, the target audience dictates the nature of the content, including the writing tone and style, the length of the posts, which keyword phrases to include, and what the Calls to Action will be.  But, even with all those preparations made and research done,  writers need to maintain a full content “quiver” (with the arrows pointing in the right direction!).

Trivia such as those in Unfortunate English can add a dash of humor and a whole lot of new interest to business blog marketing content!

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Does Your Blog Have Skeletons in its Verbal Closet?

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unfortunate-english-book

You’ll find skeletons in verbal closets, Bill Brohough says, and he devotes an entire book to helping us do just that in Unfortunate English: The Gloomy Truth Behind the Words You Use. Brohough alerts readers to the “improprieties, disgusting notions, licentiousness, and other foul thoughts” we speak daily without realizing it.

  • I love “reading around and learning around”, as I call it, and advise all blog content writers to do the same. Ideas are all over the place, all of the time, but we’ve got to see and hear those ideas, learning everywhere and from everyone, making connections between our own experience and knowledge and Other People’s Wisdom.  There are several ways in which I think Brohough’s collection of verbal “skeletons” and his caution to writers about using words can be used to improve blog marketing content for different types of businesses:1.  to define basic terminology or give basic information to readers: The expression “caught red-handed”, Brohough explains, originated in the 1400’s and meant caught with blood on one’s hands. Another speculation, he says, is that the term traces back to 800 B.C., when guilt or innocence was tested by putting the accused’s hand on a red-hot axehead.

A nutrition company or health practitioner might use this piece of trivia to discuss the importance of including various colors of food in the diet, so as to include different phytonutrients advising blog readers to include strawberries as a source of folic acid and cherries which are high in fiber..

2. to explain why this practitioner or business owner chooses to operate in a certain way: A printer or web designer might discuss the way red brings text and images to the foreground, and stimulates buying decisions.  A fashion clothing business or professional makeup salon might offer advice on using red accessories as an accent color for basic black or brown business suits..

As bloggers, we face the challenge of churning out creative writing over extended periods of time, and word “histories”offer fresh ways to approach our subject.

It’s worth searching your blog “closet” for skeletons!

 

 

 

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People Who Don’t Even Like You Are Reading

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Microphone on standLearning that someone had posted a negative remark about him on social media, WIBC radio talk show host Tony Katz quipped, “People who don’t even like me are listening!”

Now, there’s an observation we blog content writers would do well to keep in mind.  Granted, Katz is “out there” in terms of his content, and you may think your content, by comparison, is tasteful and non-offensive.  Truth is, anybody who’s posting content on social media is putting themselves and their business “out there” – (isn’t that the point?).

Online entrepreneur Mike Filsaime coined the moniker “cowboys”, referring to people in online forums who don’t like something you’ve posted and make it a personal mission of theirs to attack you in public forms, negative comments, or blogs.

“As your blog becomes more popular,” writes Yaro Starak in Entrepreneurs-Journey.com, you’ll receive more comments. Some people are going to be negative, argumentative, or not agree with what you’ve written in your blog, Starak warns. There are four possible ways to respond, he says. You could:

  • delete the comment
  • censor it by deleting parts
  • respond in anger

The best course of action, Starak advises, is to use negative comments to demonstrate your own credibility, using a calm, “your-side-of-the-story”, response.

Editor Esther Schindler, writing in Forbes, agrees. Treat the commenter with respect, she advises. Acknowledge the point he makes, then point to the data that led to your differing conclusion. “Always keep the discussion about the subject of the article, not the people.”

In fact, I remind newbie business bloggers, one of the special things about blogs is that they’re available not only for reading, but for acting and interacting.  Good blogs invite readers to post comments and encourage them to subscribe to your blog.

Marketing online begins with attracting eyeballs to our content. It’s a good sign, as Tony Katz reminded us through his on-air quip, when people who don’t even like us are reading our blogs!

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Think Differently About Your Blog

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Powerful Writing Skills

 

“Organize and present your ideas with a targeted reader in mind,” advises Richard Anderson in Powerful Writing Skills. “Don’t be satisfied with putting down data and results or observations and opinions.  Find a way to make this information meaningful to your reader.”

That doesn’t mean you should talk down to your readers, Anderson cautions. Think of your readers as being just as intelligent and sincere about their jobs as you are about yours. (Even if they aren’t, he points out with tongue in cheek, they’ll appreciate you assuming they are.) Respecting readers helps them see you as intelligent and well-informed, so try to imagine, Anderson adds:

  • what they might ask you
  • what they might object to
  • what they might already know
  • what they might find interesting

In blogging for business, of course, there’s a fifth thing to try to imagine: what you want the reader to DO as a result of reading your post. Each business blog post should impart one new idea or call for a single action. Focused on one thing, your post has greater impact, since people are bombarded with many messages each day. Respecting readers’ time produces better results for your business.

Not only must you as a writer think differently about your reader, you must think differently about your subject, Richard Anderson stresses. Imagine you’re writing a memo or a letter. Studies show that readers respond positively to memos and letters that contain a sense of the writer’s enthusiasm, Anderson points out. That doesn’t mean announcing your excitement, he adds – let the subject speak for itself.

When you blog, you verbalize the positive aspects of your business, reviewing the benefits of your products and services, constantly providing yourself with training about how to talk effectively about your business. In communicating the information to others, you can end up thinking differently about yourself!

 

 

 

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Bring Just Enough, Not Too Much, to the Beginning of Your Blog Post

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Female speaker at the board. Business conference
“Occasionally, speakers try to bring too much to their opening paragraph.  They essentially give away the punchline of their talk, writes Chris Anderson, head of TED Talks. Instead of giving it all away up front, he advises, imagine what kind of language will seduce the audience into wanting to come along for the ride.

  • Ineffective opening:  “Today I’m going to explain to you that the key to success as an entrepreneur is determination.”
  • Effective opening: “Over the next few minutes I plan to reveal what I believe is the key to success as an entrepreneur, and anyone here can cultivate it.  You’ll find clues in the story I’m about to tell.”

As a blogging trainer, I use the analogy of the “downbeat”, the opening bars of  music, which set the mood for the concerto to come.  The equivalent in blog writing is the opening sentence of each blog post.

From a “scientific” standpoint, of course, you want to use keyword phrases in the title and first sentences of each blog post to help search engines match your content with the search terms online readers used.  But SEO aside, the press release aspect of writing for business dictates that the first ten words of any post be effective in engaging interest. 

So how can blog writing for business make the most effective use of Anderson’s advice about not bringing too much to the opening paragraph?  The Happy Freelancer says opening sentences can:

  • Raise questions in readers’ minds
  • Illustrate a provocative scene
  • Connect with readers

I would add a fourth item to the list: Startle readers.

Bring just enough, not too much, to the beginning of your blog posts!

 

 

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