Archive for category: the Say It For You blog

Much has been said to – and by – blog content writers on the subject of keeping blog posts short.  Ted Demopoulos, author of What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting, chose Meryl K. Evans as his favorite content maven, and quotes Evans’ advice to "shoot for 500 words or less…Readers want to get to the heart of the matter and get out."

There’s more to the matter, though, than merely counting, then chopping words, as I tell business blog content writers in blogging training sessions.  In business blogging
I explain, we can take our cue from Canadian interior designer Tamar Wouters: "When rooms lean towards a more minimal style, the focal points become more obvious."

Minimalism in blogging, I think, includes making posts readable and easier to look at, with short paragraphs and visual focal points such as graphs, pictures, photos, bullet points and bolding. Word has it that Google likes bullet points as well. Unprofessional lapses, on the other hand, such as misspelling, typos, and grammar errors, draw attention away from the focus of the blog post.

When it comes to the business blog writing itself, I explain to business owners for whom I’m providing blog writing services, minimalism, as with interior design, brings focus.  Presenting, then illustrating, a single concept, leaving the rest for another day, is the very essence of effective blog post creation.

Despite the fact that any SEO marketing blog needs to incorporate keyword phrases in the text in order to help boost search rankings, minimalist good practices apply.  In all my reading of books and blogs on the matter, I’ve never found a specific number put to this idea.  So, by way of providing specificity in this Say It For You post offering business blogging assistance, I’ll suggest a ratio of 1:10 (words in keyword phrases compared to total words in the post).

Readers, as Evans aptly pointed out, do want to get to the heart of the matter, and those providing blog writing services can help readers do just that though focusing on one idea per post.  But as an Indianapolis blog writer, I know that what business owners do not want blog readers to do is "get out".  In fact, corporate blogging for business should be directed at encouraging readers to get in, through clicking through to the business’ website to seek more information, subscribe to the blog, sign up for email or newsletter, or make the digital cash register ring right now!

Psychology Today Magazine cautions readers against love boomerangs, sweet moves that too often, give you the "flipside of your best intentions".

One "sweet move" consists of promises you make to a significant other, promises of lifelong love and commitment.  The problem – "People who have the most positive relationship feelings make bigger promises…but are not any better at keeping them."  Recommendation: Make small, concrete, doable promises, and then keep those.

I think the same advice might be relevant in corporate blogging training, where sound advice to blog content writers would consist of a caution against using blog posts to make overblown claims about the company, the products, or the services. Instead, an SEO marketing blog might focus on offering useful, actionable information in each blog post. The old rule "Under- promise, over-deliver" is certainly applicable in corporate blogging for business.

A second "sweet move" is discreetly avoiding introducing your partner to your attractive, flirty, friends. Removing temptation from a lover’s life, researchers found, makes him or her more likely to cheat! As a content writer in Indianapolis, I’ve seen the blogger equivalent of "removing temptation" in failing to properly attribute phrases or concepts used in business blog writing to their proper source.  A blog content writer might, for example, avoid inserting links to websites he/she considers "temptations" that might lure a customer to a competitor. Needless to say, that "cagey" strategy will more than likely come back to "bite" the jealous blog writer’s company.

The third "sweet move" is offering to split child care duties down the middle with a partner. "When couples attempt to pitch in identically, their parenting styles often clash and actually damage the family dynamic."  Psychology Today quotes researcher Sarah Shoppe-Sullivan: "Co-parenting takes negotiation and communication."

Corporate blogging for business, whether the company is using a business blogging service or having employees do the writing for business, takes negotiation and communication as well.  Although having different styles of writing and highlighting different aspects of the business can each add variety and interest to the corporate blog writing, in corporate blogging training sessions, I recommend building the blog around central themes or "leitmotifs" that remain consistent over time.

But over my years as a freelance blog writer, I realize, I’ve seen many companies launch a blog marketing strategy with "sweet moves", starting out with great expectations, but poor implementation, only to reap the "flipside of their best intentions". In corporate blog writing, as in love, it’s important to avoid the boomerang effect!