Archive for category: the Say It For You blog

Celebrated portrait artist Chuck Close has a valuable lesson to teach business blog content writers, I think.  Close, whose story is told by author Kurt Anderson in Spark: How Creativity Works, reveals that as a student with learning disabilities, he would be overwhelmed by big projects. He found it helpful to isolate one small piece to work on “and forget about the rest of the picture.”

In offering corporate blogging training, one rule of thumb I often emphasize is focusing on just one idea in each blog post. Not only does this lend more punch to the post, it helps the blog content writer concentrate all his/her efforts around that one focal point, “forgetting about the rest of the picture”.

Fellow blogger Michael Reynolds, in his guest post on my Say It For You blog, suggests that  business blog writing can be broken down into two basic elements, idea generation and the writing itself. Rather than expecting to “sit down once a week and…magically produce great content out of this air”, Reynolds suggests capturing ideas that occur during a conversation or even in the shower, coming back to write them down later.

Another approach to finding “one small piece to work on” is to decide what “angle” or slant a particular post will have. Paul Gillin, in Secrets of Social Media Marketing, outlines at least six different types of blog. As an Indianapolis blogger offering blog writing services to small to medium-sized companies, though, what I’ve found is that even those who have embraced business blog writing will have just one blog rather than several.

However, I explain, even with just one blog, each post within the SEO marketing blog can be representative of a different type. Today’s blog post might be an advocacy post, “addressing a public policy upon which the company wants to make its position known.” 

Tomorrow’s might be a topical post, offering practical information that helps readers be more successful. Next week, there might be a CEO post, helping the executive connect with customers and shareholders. In fact, as a professional ghost blogger,my goal is to be the “voice” of the CEO or other officer, of the company in general, and sometimes of a customer for a testimonial.

As a freelance blog writer, then, I try to isolate “one small piece of the work”. Then, in corporate blogging training, I encourage blog content writers to focus each of their blog posts on one piece as well. Close discovered the technique by way of dealing with his learning disability. You don’t need to be learning-disabled, though, to realize that the one-topic-at-a-time  technique is excellent for sustained, effective, business  blog writing.

Passing a bulletin board in a hallway at Ivy Tech, I noticed that, while the board was literally covered with flyers and notices of all sorts, only the flyer pictured here caught my attention. Since, as a freelance SEO copywriter, I’m in the business of attention-capturing by offering business blogging help, I analyzed the flyer to find out what there was about it that drew my eye.

The look
The picture of all the different hands being raised is only part of the answer, I think. In corporate blogging  training sessions, I  emphasize the importace of graphics in blog posts, including font, bolding, and visuals (videos, charts, and photos). The first impression a reader gets once having clicked on to your blog – counts.

The headline
The first words the reader (and the search engine) sees are in the title of each blog post. In the case of the Ivy Tech student flyer, the first words involve the reader – raise your hand if you…:  Making business blog content about them (your potential customers) rather than about you and what you have to offer is simply smart business blog content writing. 

Targeting the audience
The flyer was “targeting” students from different countries and students interested in international culture. Each of the bullet points was geared towards someone that fell into one of those categories, but rather than saying “If you’re from a foreign country…”, the text is geared towards arousing curiosity and relating to students of different origins.  Wear lederhosen? Eat pain perdu? Call soccer football? Everything about this flyer shouts, “You’ve come to the right place” (meaning the International Students Association).

In corporate blogging training, that is precisely the message blog content writers want to convey to online searchers who have found the blog.  You’ve come to exactly the right place for the information, products, and services you’re seeking.  You’re home!

Calls to action
Even in the calls to action, the creators of the student association flyer followed best practices of business blog writing, I thought, offering not just one, but two ways to do something about it if you liked what you’d been reading:  Readers are invited to join the Int’l Students Association at their next Wednesday meeting, but if they can’t make it, they’re told how to email the organization to find out more.

Glancing over the flyer one final time, I realized that, in a way, blog posts have a big advantage over flyers. Remember, online readers “self-select” by typing search terms on their computers or digital devices. When they’re directed towards your SEO marketing blog, it’s because they already have an immediate need or interest in your type of product or service.  The proverbial iron’s already hot – all you need to do is have engaging, informative content ready for visitors to find!