Know Your Reader When Using Allusions in Business Blogs

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An allusion is a figure of speech that makes reference to a place, person, or event. The point of using allusions in writing? An allusion can:

  • get readers thinking about your subject in a new way
  • get a point across without going into a lengthy explanation
  • cement a bond between the writer and readers based on shared experiences and knowledge

Blog content writers can use allusions with all three of those results in mind.

  • In a financial planner’s blog: There’s no need to act like a Scrooge (allusion from Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”). Simply plan your charitable giving as part of your overall monthly budget.
  • In an internet security provider’s blog: You may think a new piece of software can be useful to your business, but it can turn out to be a Trojan Horse (allusion from Homer’s “Iliad “about how the Greeks won the war through trickery).
  • In a nutrition counselor’s blog: If chocolate is your Achilles’ heel (allusion from Greek mythology), allow yourself one chocolate indulgence each week, cutting back on other sweets.

Because allusions make reference to something other than what is directly being discussed, explains yourdictionary.com, you may miss an allusion or fail to understand it if you do not know the underlying story, literary tale or other reference point.

In the Indianapolis Star the other day, I solved the Cryptoquip as follows:  “Did you see that bird meditating while using a mantra? It was probably an om-ing pigeon.” This rather clever puzzle uses a combination of a pun (homing pigeon) and an allusion. It also reminded me that, as a blog content writer, I need to gauge my readers’ level of education and familiarity with the reference.

Remember, an allusion does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. The writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text. Problem is, if readers don’t get the connection, they’re going to find your content frustrating more than illuminating.

Know your reader when using allusions in business blogs!

 

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Blogs Must Optimize for Users, Not Search Engines

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“No longer should SEOs optimize web content just for search engines,” cautions The 2016 Enterprise Buyer’s Guide to SEO, “They must focus on optimizing for consumers. SEO success is achieved when consumers find a brand’s content to be relevant, top quality, and valuable.”

Thinking of search only around traditional search engines, the Guide author Relevance adds, is too limiting, because nowadays, social platforms are being used to answer questions, solve problems, and entertain.

In fact, a true content contribution solves customer problems in three ways:

  • by educating
  • by informing
  • by entertaining

I agree, and, as a blog content writer and trainer, I have something to say about each one of these elements.

Educating
One big goal of the writing we do for our business owner and professional practitioner clients is positioning them as experts in the eyes of their clients and of online searchers. But, in order to be positioned as an expert, you can never stop educating yourself in your area. Only after you’ve done that will you be equipped to, in your blog, discuss topics of interest and newsworthy developments in your industry, showing your level of knowledge on each topic while remaining relevant and current.

Informing
There’s one big difference about presenting material in blog posts versus other media. Once I’ve posted content on this Say It For You blog, for example, it can remain on the Internet forever.  Past blog posts don’t disappear; the content remains on the site in reverse chronological order. And what that means is that blog content writers need to include material that is evergreen, information that can continue to have relevance even months and years later.

Entertaining
Ideal blog content includes material that makes people laugh and then makes them think. While good blog posts can and should be entertaining, most online searchers are not pursuing a recreational activity, but instead are on a fact-finding mission. You can hook them with humor, but the material you serve up in your posts needs to be not only valuable, but actionable.

SEO, Relevance concludes, was once all about building off-page links.  Today, brands need to first create valuable content to contribute to their industry space. Blogs, simply put, must optimize for users, not search engines!

 

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Myths Have Pulling Power in Blogs

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Mythbusting is used in many fields to counteract what researchers suspect might be counterproductive thinking, and I’m a firm believer that myth debunking is a great use for corporate blogs.

I was reminded of this the other day by a USA Today article, listing – and then busting – some common myths about airline food:

  • Myth:  All airplane meals are frozen and reheated hours later.
  • Facts:  Salads and sandwiches are often included in airplane meals. even when food is cooked and then chilled, the “sous vide” method is used, with each ingredient sealed in airtight plastic bags and cooked slowly.

In the normal course of doing business, you’ve undoubtedly found, misunderstandings about your product or surface might surface in the form of customer questions and comments.  (It’s even worse when those myths and misunderstandings don’t surface, but still have the power to interrupt the selling process!)

That’s why the de-bunking function of business blog writing is so important. It’s owners’ way of taking up arms against a sea of customers’ unfounded fears and biases.  Blog content writing can “clear the air”, replacing factoids with facts, so that buyers can see their way to making decisions.

Myth-busting is also a tactic content writers can use to grab online visitors’ attention. The technique is not without risk, because customers don’t like to be proven wrong or feel stupid.  The trick is to engage interest, but not in “Gotcha!” fashion.

In other words, business owners and professional practitioners can use their blogs to showcase their own expertise without “showing up” their readers’ lack of it.

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Don’t Shorten – Tighten!

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“Long-form content is alive and well in an era of mobile content consumption,” says Neil Patel in “How to Write Content That Engages Mobile Readers”. Longer content is still appropriate, Patel explains, but, “instead of shortening your content, tighten your writing.”

As a blog content writer and trainer, I particularly appreciated Patel’s next statement: “Those focusing too much on mobile usability are giving short shrift to mobile copywriting. Content marketers must understand how to create content that mobile readers will love.”

And what sort of content is that? For starters, Patel explains, some of the old rules that apply to desktop reading just don’t work when it comes to mobile device readers.  Four pieces of outdated advice, he explains, include:

1.   The Golden Triangle (readers’ attention starts at the up left and goes down and to the right). This no longer applies in the era of mobile readers – there’s not enough screen real estate for horizontal sweeps and vertical movement, Patel points out. On mobile, viewers look primarily at the center of the screen.

2.   Users’ eyes are drawn to images over text. This rule is not valid for mobile. Don’t take up precious screen space with images that don’t advance your point.

3.   Users have shorter attention spans on mobile – write less. This counsel is wrong, Patel states. Longer content is still appropriate. Instead of shortening your content, tighten your writing. For mobile content, concise writing is essential, but the necessity has more to do with the screen size than the user’s attention span.

4.   Five sentences make for a good paragraph. Five sentences “turn into a wall of text on mobile, Patel explains.

Mobile readers still read articles. But the mobile revolution requires a reorientation to the art of writing.

The takeaway? Don’t write less. Write better!

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My Mother Was a Sneaker

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sneakersBlogs are not ads, as I am careful to emphasize in corporate blogging training sessions. That’s not to say, though, that we blog content writers can’t learn a lot from ad writers.

I love the Samuel Hubbard.com ad for men’s dress shoes, for example. “My mother was a sneaker. My father was a dress shoe. … I can’t help it. I was born this way.  Insanely comfortable and ready for a day in the office.”

You shouldn’t try to give searchers information about everything you have to offer, all in one blog post.  With each post, stress just one major aspect of your company or practice, I teach. On the other hand, you want your blog to stand out, to be unusually interesting, so that readers will want to stay awhile and maybe even move on to your business’ website.

And when you put two things together that don’t seem to match – that can be a good technique to capture people’s interest. Having the shoe “talk” to the reader, and suggesting that a comfortable shoe is the “offspring” of sneaker and a dress shoe is just different enough to startle and engage.

The “nucleus” around which business blog posts are formed is their topic, the expertise and products that business offers. The key words and phrases around that topic are what bring readers to the blog posts. But, even though the overall topic is the same, there is endless variety that can be used to make each blog post special. The technique used by Samuel Hubbard Shoes is metaphor – making an unusual comparison – in this case between parents and shoes.

If you place a ripe banana next to a green tomato, the tomato will ripen, too, explains Brian McMahon in Mental Floss Magazine. Interesting facts such as this can always be of business blogging help, but that advice comes with two provisos:

Your reason for including the fact in your post must be apparent early on in the blog post, and the new information should relate to something with which readers are already familiar.

What “different” metaphor or comparison can you include in your blog that catches readers’ attention but still stays true to your message?

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