Topping Needs to Be in the Same Category in Your Business Blog

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“I only slept three hours last night,” bemoans Alice in a recent Dilbert cartoon.kung fu
“I used Kung Fu to divert an asteroid that was on a collision course with Earth,” replies the co-worker.
”Topping needs to be in the same category!” says Alice indignantly.

 

As a reader (and yes, I still read the paper “paper”), I enjoy the wacky cynicism of Dilbert, but this particular conversational exchange reminded me of the way categories are supposed to function in business blog posts, and of the way they so often don’t.

Blog categories help readers find their way to content that matches their specific intentions. In the early stages of your blog, I teach business owners, organizing the material isn’t so important – readers can simply scroll down and read earlier posts. Once you’ve been creating blog content for months and even years, the categories become invaluable.

That “rule of thumb”, though, assumes that, from the get-go, you’ve focused each post on one central idea and one idea only, perhaps supporting that concept with a couple of examples. In corporate blogging training sessions, I refer to that blog writing concept as “the Power of One”. Simply put, if your copy tells too many irrelevant stories, you lose the reader’s attention. (No call for a boast about Kung Fu when Alice is complaining about sleeplessness!)

The same rule applies to the Calls to Action we incorporate in our blog posts. Our job is to focus readers’ attention on what we have to offer and on what steps they can take to get some!

That is not to say that we bloggers need to become One-Note Nellies. Not adding variety to our blog posts would surely serve as a “reader repellant”. So how can we harness that Power of One and still offer the degree of variety that keeps readers engaged? Effective blog posts are centered around key themes, just like the recurring musical phrases that connect the different movements of a symphony.  The variety comes from the details you fill in around those central themes, from the stories you tell and the instructions you offer, and even the metaphors you use.

Wanna brag about how you used Kung Fu to divert an asteroid? Save that for another day, another blog post.  The “topping” needs to be in the same category!

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In Business Blog Posts, Go Ahead and Mess With Mister In-Between

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Duckling lying between two rabbits against white backgroundPeople are drawn to articles with negative titles, points out friend and fellow blogger Lorraine Ball. Why? Because, Lorraine answers, they are afraid of doing something wrong. All too often, she observes, writers take the safe, boring route, choosing a headline that sounds like every other headline.  Instead, she advises trying to be bold, which might mean being negative.

Singer Johnny Mercer (no business blog content writer he!), would have begged to differ.  Remember Mercer’s lyrics?  According to him, we’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, and avoid messing with Mister In-Between.

Corey Eridon of Hubspot suggests a compromise position:  “There’s an undeniable correlation between page views and negativity,” he points out. “We all know the news has gone the negative route for years, and they do it because it works,” he says. But, he then cautions, “If you’re going to get negative with your titles, you have to back it up with some solid content, perhaps using a shared negative experience to create a bond with your readers.

In many marketing blogs, in fact, the content writers focus on appealing to consumers’ fear.  Fear is one of seven emotions that marketing writer Courtney Mills calls “key drivers” for successful ad copy writing. (Others include greed, guilt, anger, salvation, and flattery.)

Having spent nine years and much effort on blog content writing, one of the questions I continue to ask myself is whether “scare tactic”, or at least negative, marketing is ever appropriate for use in business blog writing.

On the one hand, there’s no arguing with the fact, which Lorraine points out in “Why Your Blog Titles Suck”, that you have mere seconds to capture the attention of a potential reader and get them to decide to spend time reading what you’ve written.

On the other side of things, since the blog represents just one aspect of any company’s  (or any professional practitioner’s) overall marketing strategy, the tone of the blog needs to be consistent with the client’s overall brand. It’s important to appeal to a better kind of customer (you know, the ones who buy for the right reasons and then remain loyal, not those who are “scared” into action.)

Thank you, Lorraine, for forcing me (and my readers) to think about this.  As for me, when it comes to positive versus negative content, I believe I’m going to take a chance on Mister In-Between!
 

 

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What-Can-I-Make-Fresh-For-You-Today Blogging for Business

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fast food Orange fast food iconAmazing, the difference your customers’ first encounter with you will make to your success in business!  And, if that encounter takes place online (as so often proves the case today), the one chance you’ll be given to make a great first impression is going to come through your business blog.

I had occasion to think about this the other day – a lot, in fact. Due to an over- programmed schedule of meetings and errands, I had ended up needing to purchase two of my three meals at the drive-in windows of fast food restaurants.
The first encounter (under some Golden Arches), was negative from the start. While I fumbled to find the exact change, the first attendant slammed the window closed, then (in a voice dripping with malice) said, “It’s THIRTY-seven cents.”  The attendant at the second window practically threw the paper bag containing my breakfast into my car, then shut the window hastily. Whew! Talk about losing one’s appetite!

Later that day, in stark contrast, I had one of the best customer experiences anyone would want. As I pulled up to the Arby’s ordering microphone, a smiling voice (you could just tell!) asked, “What can I make for you fresh today?”

Think about that sentence for a moment: This guy was offering to make something just for me, and not just any something, but something fresh!  (I was just about ready to sign up for a lifetime of that kind of service…)

Statistically, marketing blogs are most likely to be read by potential clients as opposed to existing ones. As a content writer, you have only a few seconds to help readers put themselves into the scene, envisioning the savings, the satisfaction, the pride, the increased health and improved appearance they’ll enjoy after using your product or service.

What sort of fresh first impression will you be making on those first-time blog visitors today?

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In Order to Engage Blog Readers, Avoid Spoon-Feeding

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Feeding a cute Lovely Baby Girl“Better to be tried by twelve than carried by six.”

I was hearing this phrase for the first time, spoken by a police chief in a news broadcast, but later learned that the saying has been around for decades.

As a writer, I’m always fascinated by what makes certain word combinations pack such tremendous power.  In this case, I concluded, it was because I. as the listener, needed to go through a certain thinking process in order to get the meaning. Couldn’t that same concept apply to readers of our business blog posts, I wondered?

Reminds me of something that humorist Dick Wolfsie teaches. In order for a joke to be funny, he explains, the person listening to the joke or reading the joke has to figure things out!  The laughter is the reward that the listener or reader gives himself for having figured out what the punch line is really saying.

It may be that the same concept applies to the material presented in our business blog content writing, and that, for the blog to cause real communication, it takes two.

People go online and use search engines to find information.  They need to know more about something, and that something has to do with what you have, what you know about, or what you know how to do.  If you’ve provided relevant, up to date content in your blog post, the reader’s browser found you, and you’ve got yourself a potential client or customer. That individual, just like the person who gets a joke, feels rewarded for the search.

Needless to say, the content needs to be understandable.  But what the “Better to be tried by 12…” lesson might add here is that we don’t want to spoon-feed the readers. They need to be able to do part of the “work”.  Otherwise, like bored students at a lecture, they might doze off (or, in the case of online readers, click off!).

Educational theory supports my understanding.“A lecture is still a lecture, and having students simply listen is still a passive action,” observes Ben Johnson of Edutopia. “The solution is simple,” he offers: “If a teacher wants to increase student engagement, then the teacher needs to increase student activity — ask the students to do something with the knowledge and skills they have learned.”

Engage blog readers, but avoid spoon feeding!

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A LASSI Assessment for Business Blogging

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ExamDid you know that our ability to learn can be diagnosed?

The LASSI (Learning and Study Strategies Inventory) is an 80-item assessment based on the theory that success in learning relies on thoughts, behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs.  What’s the purpose of the assessment? The LASSI, developed at the University of Texas, gives students feedback, so they can focus on improving their  knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and skills.

The aspect of LASSI that was so fascinating to me as a trainer in the field of business blogging was its three components: Skill, Will, and Self-regulation.

Skill
One key skill the LASSI looks for is information processing, including selecting main ideas.

As I think about that, before the reader ever sees our blog content, we writers need to have exercised skill in selecting the main idea we want to present.
A repeating theme in my corporate blogging training sessions is focus. Each blog post should emphasize one story, one idea, one aspect of the business or practice. If the writer has exercised that very key skill of selecting a main idea, it will be that much easier for the “student” (consumer of the blog material) to focus and get the point.

Will
This component of strategic learning has to do with attitude and motivation, with diligence and self-discipline.

In fact, in the early years of my company Say It For You, I talked about the “drill sergeant discipline” needed by blog content writers and about the fact that the main key to business blogging success was going to be simply keeping on task.

Self-regulation
An important part of the self-regulation component of strategic learning is time management. The LASSI scale measures how well student do in managing their time and maintaining concentration.

Couldn’t help recalling the Say It For You video I’d recorded about time management for blogs. Allowing 120 minutes total per blog post, I explained, I’d allocate 40 for research and “reading around”, learning others’ opinions on your topic and gathering information.  50 minutes should be used, I advised, for the actual writing and editing of the business blog, with 10 minutes for finding photos, charts, and clip art for illustrating your points, and 20 minutes for the actual posting on the site.

What might a LASSI assessment tell YOU about achieving greater business blogging success?

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