The Sincerest Form of Blog Flattery?

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Choosing Between Right or Wrong“They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  Yet on the Internet, some people take this type of compliment way too far,” says Nick Schaferhoff of torquemag.io, referring to plagiarism of blog content.

“Building on the work of others is good.  Stealing from them is not,” says Michelle Lindblom of wiredimpact.com.  Of course you want to offer quality information your readers can’t find elsewhere, she acknowledges, and coming up with totally original information is not the only way to do that.  So what can you do to build on the work of others without stealing their words? Lindblom offers a number of tips for blog content writers who want to curate content in a professional and ethical way:

  • Take Your Time. Give yourself enough time to research, write, and rewrite blog content.
  • Read multiple sources and combine the information into content that is original.
  • Link liberally to the original authors’ work.
  • Paraphrase, putting the ideas into your own words.

Actually, I think well-done blog posts need to do a lot more than simply avoiding the sin of plagiarism.  In training newbie business blog writers, I explain that in business blog posts, as compared to brochures, ads, or even the company website, it’s easier to communicate the unique personality and core beliefs of the business owners.  Over time, in fact a business blog becomes the “voice” of the corporate culture, whether the “corporation” (or partnership or LLC) consists of one person or many. That means that, no matter how valuable the “other people’s wisdom” you choose to share in your blog, you absolutely need to put you(or the business owner’s or the professional practitioner’s unique slant on it.

If blog content writers properly attribute content to its source, their “imitation” may be welcomed as a sincere form of flattery by the original content writers, and the information may be useful and therefore welcomed by readers as well. But assuming the purpose of blog marketing is to gain friends and customers, it’s only when blogging for business reveals your unique slant or philosophy within your field that readers will feel they know who you are, not merely what you do.

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“Iffy” Blog Content Writing

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National Geographic Kids collects quirky, fun facts. I like the ones presented as “ifs”. I think we blog content writers could sometimes present business information in that same thought-provoking format.  The “If”, I find, is what puts each fact into perspective and makes readers curious to learn more.

“If you continued to grow as fast as an average baby, you’d weigh about 413,300 pounds by age 10.”
Any of the following business owners or professional practitioners might use that fact to kick off a discussion about child growth, offering useful information to prospects and clients and demonstrating their own expertise:

  •   Child care centers
  •   Pediatricians
  •   Children’s magazine publishers
  •   Child psychologists
  •   Photographers

“If the longest blue whale could stand on its tail, it would be as tall as a ten-story building.”
Who might be interested in using such an arcane comparison in their content marketing? How about…

  • Cruise companies
  • Travel agents
  • Recreational boat operators
  • Science and nature publications

“If you spent a dollar every second, it would take about 32 years to spend a billion dollars.”
Sometimes, in quoting statistics about the economy or about events in the news, we’re forced to use numbers so large we cannot comprehend their meaning. Marketers can play off this concept:

  • Organizations raising money to fight world hunger
  • Financial advisors talking about economic trends
  • Money management counselors
  • Science academies

As a business blogging trainer, I urge bloggers to ask themselves why the facts they’re offering might matter to readers, and to demonstrate ways that readers can use that information for their own benefit.  Engaging readers’ interest by including in your blog posts facts that are even loosely related to your industry is a fine tactic. That information, though, doesn’t always need to be actionable.  If the facts you present in your blog are intrinsically interesting, it’s worth including them. Why?  To add variety.  To make reading your blog posts fun. To demonstrate your own interest and knowledge in your field.

What “iffy” thought provoking statements can you think of to put your business messages (or, in the case of freelance blog content writers, your clients’ messages) into perspective for readers?

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Blogging the “Real Truth” About Your Business

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Is coffee good or bad for you? Turns out the answer is quite complicated, as Jenn Wood explains in Mental Floss coffee potMagazine.

“Excessive coffee consumption can lead to anxiety, depression, and frequency of psychophysiological disorders,” stated the journal article “Advances on Alcohol & Substance in 1984. Yet, by 2015. a study reported in “Heart” showed that “moderate coffee consumption was associated with a lower prevalence of subclinical coronary athereosclerosis.”

“Individuals with a genetic variation associated with slower caffeine metabolism appear to have an increased risk of non-fatal heart attacks with higher amounts of coffee intake,” warned the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2006. Yet, by 2011, the Archives of Internal Medicine was reporting that “the risk of depression was 20 percent lower among women who drank four or more cups of coffee.”

“In the last decade alone, scientists have published hundreds of papers attributing both harms and health benefits to coffee,” observes Christie Aschwanden in slate.com. There’s one problem with all the studies, she says – they are observation, finding associations without establishing causality.

Helping readers sort truth from myth is one important use for business blogs.  In the natural order of business, many of misunderstandings about a product or service present themselves, and shining the light of day on misinformation shines light on your own expertise in your field.

Even when (as is the case with the ongoing good/bad coffee debate, there is no final answer, blog content writers can summarize the different schools of thought and recap the research that is being done in the field. That in itself can go a long way towards making your blog a “go-to” place for readers seeking information relating to your industry or profession.

Is blogging good or bad for you and your readers?  No complications there – the answer is a resounding yes.  Even where there really is no one “real truth”, it’s helpful to discuss what we know so far and how your business or practice is using the information that is available as of today.

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Blogging About What It Stands For

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Harry Truman’s middle initial is S, but that S “doesn’t stand for anything”, I learned recently from my National Speakers Association friend Todd Hunt. Or does it?

The S honors Truman’s grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young, but Harry Truman himself had no middle name. Try explaining that to the Chicago Style Manual, people, however.  After Truman became president, the Manual pedants informed him that he was setting a bad example for America’s youth by omitting a period after his middle initial. Never mind that the S in Harry S stood for two very important “somebodies”, namely the two grandfathers Harry’s parents had wanted to honor by including the S in their son’s name.

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Since I’m always on the alert for interesting tidbits relating to history, to business, or to language use, I particularly appreciated this Truman anecdote. Since I offer business blogging help to business owners and to freelance blog content writers, the tale reminded me of two important – and in no way mutually exclusive – concepts that business blog content writers need to keep in mind.

1.    Everyone who knows me at all well is familiar with my near-maniacal preoccupation with proper language usage. Informal and conversational as business blog writing might be, I constantly stress, it’s of paramount importance to catch any potentially distracting bloopers in blog content before it “goes live”.

2.    As a corporate blogging trainer, it’s long been my belief that, when online searchers arrive at your website, they need to find a lot more than product and service descriptions, price lists, and testimonials. They need to meet the people behind the page. Business owners’ top beliefs should be on their prospective customers’ need-to-know list.

The Chicago Style Manual people were making a valid point. The president of the United States needs to serve as a good example of proper use of the English language. When it comes to the ongoing debate among Indianapolis blog writers about whether correct spelling and proper grammar matter in conversational, informal blogging, I’m in the camp of making quality impressions when presenting one’s business to the world.

On the other hand, the S in Harry S Truman is not an initial and therefore does not require the period.  But how was anyone to know, if Truman didn’t , at least not very publicly, explain that salient fact?

In your business blog, make clear what your business ”stands for”!

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Winning Traits of Innovative Blog Posts

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Ray Anthony and Barbara Boyd wrote Innovative Presentations for Dummies to help speakers get their audiences committed and acting upon their orator in publicrequests. “Competition, technology, and the ever-tightening economy have made out-presenting your competitors more important than ever,” the authors caution professional speakers.

That particular warning is one all of us blog content writers must heed, and all the practical tips offered by Anthony and Boyd for specific types of presentations are perfect reminders for us as well:

  • Motivational: Your presentation will contain personal anecdotes and memorable stories that your audience can relate to – how you faced a difficult situation and overcame it, and what you learned.
  • Progress update: Give more than a simple state-of-affairs presentation.  If you’re reporting on something negative, explain the reasons and provide a solution.  If it’s good news, explain why.
  • Solutions: When you sell a product or service, what you really sell is a solution to a problem your audience is facing.
  • Technical: Convey enthusiasm about the process or product, showing how the latest technology can help solve their problems.

Remember the Five Cs, the authors say.

  1. Clear: Use words the audience understands, and make points in logical order.
  2. Concise: Say what you have to say in as few words as possible.
  3. Compelling: Use words, visuals, and powerful information to demand total interest.
  4. Captivating: Tell impacting stories and keep the presentation moving forward.
  5. Convincing:  The ultimate test is: have you swayed your audience to your point of view or persuaded them to buy what you’re selling?

Not only are these elements winning traits of innovative presentations, they are winning traits of innovative blog posts!

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