Don’t Have it Today? Don’t Write it Today in Your Business Blog!

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A funny anecdote I read in Reader’s Digest makes a point blog content writers need to remember.

I’d just sat down at a Manhattan diner when I noticed schav on the menu.  I ordered some.
restaurent menu"We don’t have it today," said the waitress.
"Oh, you have it only on certain days?" I asked.
"No, we never have it."
I was confused.  "Then, why is it on the menu?"
"Well," she said with a shrug.  "Some people like it."

Corporate blogging for business is about what you do have – what you do sell, what you do know, and about what you do well.  Unfortunately, I’ve see blog writers in Indianapolis and elsewhere try to "fatten up" their "menu" of website and blog content by ranging far afield from the core mission of their business.

Promoting a public speaking business, for example?  Better, in your SEO marketing blog, to list two or three main speaking topics than a smorgasbord of twenty topics.

Far be it from me, of course, to imply in Say It For You corporate blog training sessions, that being a generalist in your field is undesirable or less marketable than being a specialist.  It’s simply that the more focused the business blog writing, the more effective it’s likely to be in terms of eliciting response and action from readers.

Jakob Neilson, who offers guidelines for Web content usability, says that the actual information on any web page is the design component with the highest impact of website profitability. A second teacher of good writing,Matt Duffy, guides content writers on a similar track: "Above all," he says, "writing should make sense."  Corporate blog writing will make the most sense to readers if it’s focused around central themes – core beliefs of the business owners, and cor products and services offered by that business.

In blog content writing for business, or on menus in restaurants, don’t talk about schav if you don’t serve schav!

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Business Blog Writing – Why Blog? Why Blog Now?

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opportunity costAt the recent Financial Forum in Indianapolis, I picked up an “Advantage Calculator”, a handy little retirement planning device distributed byIndiana Investment Watch.  On the calculator is a cardboard pull tab that investors can manipulate to see how large a retirement account they might have at age 65 were they to invest a certain number of dollars weekly beginning now.

As a freelance blog writer offering business blogging training, I’m always interested in different options for presenting material to readers or to a live audience. The fact that there were two sides to the “advantage calculator” gave me an idea that I think could be useful in corporate blog content writing. You see, I noticed that, while the first side of the Indiana Investment Watch device is titled “Why Save For Retirement?”, the flip side is titled “Why Save NOW?” focusing on the cost of waiting to begin the savings process.  In other words the Advantage Calculator was showing me compelling, positive reasons to take action.  But, on the flip side, I was being shown the opportunity costs of putting off action.

Blog content writing needs to address those two aspects, as well.  One function of any SEO marketing blog, of course, is to provide valuable information to consumers highlighting the benefits to be gained by using a certain product or service or by following a certain plan. But writing for business needs to draw attention to the “flip side of the calculator”, meaning the costs of consumers waiting to take action.

In offering business blogging help, then, I need to help business owners figure out exactly why their potential customers and clients should act now, and what benefits those customer and clients stand to lose by not taking advantage of the products and services sooner rather than later. At the same time, in providing business blogging assistance, I want to steer Say It For You clients away from the kind of order-now-or-lose-it sales tactics we see on late night TV or coupon web sites.

In Tell to Win, sales expert Peter Guber teaches the use of purposeful stories.  “If you can’t tell it,” Guber says, “you can’t sell it.  Blog content writers should incorporate stories that are, in and of themselves, calls to positive action, and deterrents to deferment!.

 

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Applying the Churchill Rule to Business Blog Writing

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Hitting precisely the right "advertorial" note is the big challenge in corporate blog Winston Churchillwriting. In fact, one point I’ve consistently stressed in these Say It For You blog content writing "tutorials" is how important it is to provide valuable information to readers, while avoiding any hint of "hard sell".

Of course there was no such thing as an SEO marketing blog when statesman Winston Churchill was alive.  I suspect, however, that Churchill wouldn’t have advised Indianapolis blog writers to take the soft approach. "If you have an important point to make," Churchill taught, "don’t try to be subtle or clever.  Use a pile driver.  Hit the point once.  Then come back and hit it again.  Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack."

I find it interesting that Churchill used a pile driver image, because Rober Bly, in The Persuasion Manifesto, talks about “key copy drivers” which business content writers should use to enhance audience response. (The “drivers” are fear, greed, guilt, exclusivity, anger, salvation, and flattery.)

As someone providing blog writing services and business blogging assistance, I have to add that how much “driving” or, to use Churchill’s term “whacking” is just the right amount to use in your blog posts depends on your target market.

But one aspect of Churchill’s “tremendous whack” theory should be taken to heart by every Indianapolis blogger, and that is deciding what one important point you want to make in each post.  In fact, when it comes to blogging, Say It For You firmly believes in the Power of One – one message, one outcome, one audience, one writer, and one client. Each post can have a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of your business.

Once you’ve decided on the focus of the blog post, I teach attendees at corporate blogging training sessions, leave the rest of the “whacking” for another day!


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Use Your Business Blog to Show What it Takes – and Why It Takes YOU!

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taxiFour years ago, despite having been a writer for more than 25 years, I found that, in order to prepare for my new work as a corporate blogging trainer and professional ghost blogger, I needed to study up. The learning process, which continues to this day, includes attending quite a number of seminars, lectures, and panels, even paying for many hours of "private tutoring".

Until I read "10 Things About Britain" in Mental Floss Magazine, though, I never dreamed that, in order to become a certified taxi operator in London, drivers must study up for an extraordinarily difficult exam that involves detailed recall of 25,000 streets, along with the locations of clubs, hospitals, hotels, parks, theaters, schools, restaurants, government buildings and churches.  I was amazed to learn from Erica Rex’s article that most drivers take at least three years to master all this knowledge.

From now on, I vowed, I would cite that article in corporate blogging training sessions to make a very important point about blog content writing for business. That article reminded me that online visitors searching for a product or a service typically have no idea what it takes to do what you do and how much effort you put into acquiring the expertise you’re going to use to their benefit.

Just to clarify, what I am not telling blog content writers to do is to "wave their credentials" around just because they are writing posts for an SEO marketing blog.  As Lee Goeller.com puts it, competence trumps credentials every time. But what I do think needs to come across loud and clear in business blog writing is what preparation and effort it takes – on your part and on the part of your employees –  to be able to deliver the expert advice, service, and products  customers can expect from you.

I absolutely love the opening line of the "10 Things About Britain" piece:

            Cabbies are smarter than Google Maps.

As a business owner in today’s click-it-yourself, do-it-yourself world, your content writing  needs to demonstrate to online searchers that, in your field, you ARE smarter than Google Maps, or eHow, or Wikipedia.  What’s more, your corporate blogging for business must make clear, you’re a lot more caring for your customers!


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Freshen Up Your Business Blog Writing

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women's lifeDawn Bertuca and Tina Bishop warn readers of Women’s Life Magazine not to take their relationships with their girlfriends for granted.  As a freelance blog writer offering blog writing services to many different types of businesses, I couldn’t help thinking that the authors’ tips for making sure "girl time" stays fresh are a very good fit for blog content writers.

Understand quality time.
"Don’t spend your girls’ night listening to a sales rep try to sell you kitchenware or makeup," warn the authors. "You need time to truly connect with your girlfriends without the distraction of a sales pitch."

In offering business blogging help, I need to stress avoiding direct sales pitches in blog posts.  Let the valuable information you supply demonstrate your expertise and your core beliefs about your industry, I explain.  Even in an SEO marketing blog, you need to let the quality blog content writing sell itself.

Be specific.
Instead of suggesting to friends that "We ought to get together soon.", invite them to a specific time and place, advise Bertuca and Bishop.

In Say It For You corporate blogging training sessions, I advise focusing each blog post on just one specific topic or idea.


Build on meaning.
Experiencing new activities together is a classic bonding technique, explain the authors.

In blog writing for business, share client comments and testimonial stories, and invite readers to share their thoughts and experiences through comments or surveys. Indianapolis blog writers can share local stories that have meaning to local readers.

Review the evening.
After each girls’ night, Bertuca and Bishop suggest, it’s a good idea to evaluate. Did you get what you wanted out of the evening? What might you do differently next time?

One suggestion I make when offering business blogging assistance is to "review" by capturing the essence of the blog post in one pithy sentence at the end. In general, as part of providing blog writing services, I like to begin each post with a "downbeat" (like a conductor’s baton), and end with a parting "shot"!


When it comes to corporate blogging for business, just as with Girls’ Nights Out, it’s important to find ways to freshen up the experience!

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