For Whom Has Your Business Blog Been Amazing?

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In the “Learning Around For Your Blog” series of posts I published this summer, I challenged readers to look for blog marketing ideas everywhere, from bulletin boards to books, from TV and radio shows to magazines, even drawing inspiration from wisdom learned from grandparents.

This week, I dared myself to rise to that challenge. Browsing the shelves at the Glendale branch of the public library, I came upon the latest issue of the Saturday Evening Post.  My challenge to myself: create three new Say It For You posts about blog marketing for business, using that magazine as my inspiration.

Starting out, a Royal Jelly advertorial caught my attention. The headline: “This Family Has Discovered Something So Amazing, It Has Influenced Tens of Thousands of People’s Lives!”

Looked at from my vantage point as a business blogging trainer, that long, boastful title is effective only because of its first two words “This family”. 

Had the title read “Amazing Discovery Has Influenced Tens of Thousands of Lives”, it would have been mere hype and hawking. It’s the family aspect that makes the Royal Jelly claim engaging and real, introducing us to two real people:

“Madelaine – Almost 30 years ago, as a young mother with two small children, I found myself physically drained.  Caring for my family was nearly impossible….Then, one day a friend told me about…..”

“Jason – As a young boy, I watched my Mom struggle with her energy level…It was hard for me and my sister Lori – we wanted a Mom like everyone else had – fun and energetic!…”

The lesson here for business bloggers: In blog titles, and in the blog posts themselves, it has to be about a “someone” or about “someones”.  Your products and services can’t be amazing in the abstract. As you blog about what you offer and how, never forget the who.

For whom has your business been amazing?

 

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Should You Be Content With a Halfalogue Blog?

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A study about distraction is something business bloggers should pay attention to.

Psychology Science  reports that hearing only one end of a two-person conversation is more distracting than hearing both sides. College students were given minute-long cognitive computer tasks to perform, during which the computers’ speakers played a two-person dialogue, or a "halfalogue", where the student could hear only one half of a phone conversation.

The purpose of the Psychology Science experiment had to do with cell phone use, and findings helped explain why it’s so difficult to ignore the "halfalogues" we overhear people talking on their phones. Bottom line – conversations work only when they are, at the very minimum, dialogues.

While the researchers were quick to offer the caveat that the test results might not apply so neatly to tasks outside the lab, as a business blogging trainer, I think there is a message here bloggers might heed.

There’s been a lot of conversation in online marketing circles about using blogs to create "conversations" with clients.  Now that a host of tools have developed to measure the success of business blogs, as Doug Karr and Chantelle Flannery explain in their book Corporate Blogging For Dummies, it’s come to light that counting reader comments is not an effective measure of a blog’s success.

"One out of 100 or 1 of 1,000 visitors will comment on a blog post, and they’re typically not the type of visitor who is going to buy from you."

In fact, the authors point out, comments to your blog are often generated by industry professionals – your competition. You should meansure the success of your blog, therefore, not by the number of comments visitors leave, but by the effect the blog has on your business!

So are "halfalogues" OK for business blogs? Yes, if they result in conversions. Responding to one of your Calls to Action is your online visitors’ way of holding up their end of the conversation. (Karr and Flannery warn against requesting too much information from readers who click through to one of your landing pages, or putting them through unnecessary navigation.)

What I’ve concluded is that the process in business blogging is very much a two-way street: 

  • (Ball in customers’ court): Searchers go online because they want something – information, products, or services.  They find your blog post because it’s a match for those needs.
     
  • (Ball in your court): You offer various Calls to Action on your blog site.
     
  • (Ball in customers’ court): They respond with questions, information about themselves, subscribing to your blog, etc.
     
  • (Ball in your court): You respond with appropriate action.

Bottom line about all this? Business blog posts are not exactly dialogues, but, when they work well, they’re hardly halfalogues, either. I’ve decided to coin the phrase
"Back-and-forth-a-logues"! 

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Should You Teach or Educate in Your Blog? Yes!

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In his presentation to our Circle Business Network group (a group he’d co-founded 2 ½ decades ago), Richard W. Smith made an interesting distinction.  The word “teach”, he explained, is related to the concept of “putting in”, whereas the word “education” derives from Latin words meaning “drawing out” or “bringing forth”.

Smith, who serves on the faculties of several universities in different parts of the world, calls himself a “depth educator”.  His efforts are clearly focused on the education aspect, “bringing out” what is already within the hearts and minds of his leadership workshop participants..

Blog posts can certainly teach, “putting in” information that can be valuable to online visitors, showcasing your expertise in your field while confirming knowledge that readers may already have. Going one step further than that, you can try to capture concepts in a whole new way, evoking in your readers an “I didn’t know that!” response. 

Teaching can transition into education when readers are inspired to think of new ways in which your products and services can be helpful to them, given their specific needs. In other words, the testimonials, the anecdotes, or the insights you’ve provided in your blog posts “bring out” ideas and solutions on the part of your online visitors!

Business blogs can play many roles:

  • A “ handshake” and a welcoming “smile”, assuring searchers they’ve come to the right place for the information, products, and services they need
     
  • A “teacher” or information source
     
  • A dialogue starter, where readers leave comments, click on links to learn more, ask questions
     
  • An “educator” that brings out and stimulates new ways of looking at the subject

Should you teach or educate in your blog?  The answer is YES!

 

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Don’t Become a Blogging Zombie!

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Not counting what Hat Trick Associates calls “Zombie blogs” (blogs that have been at least temporarily abandoned by their companies), there are currently around 400 million English language blogs online.  The numbers, of course, keep changing, as hattrickassociates.com explains, with new blogs started by the tens of thousands each day, and a large number of blogs dropping off the “radar’ out of sheer neglect.

Because of the low “barriers to entry” (a business school phrase referring to how easy or how difficult it is to get into an industry), Hat Trick goes on to say, almost anyone can begin blogging. 

“So if you’re asking yourself ‘Does the number of current blogs mean I shouldn’t bother with creating my own?’ your answer should be a definite NO!”, concludes Hat Trick. Just remembering those 500,000,000 blog readers (your potential customers and clients) should be sufficient to re-energize your devotion to the blogging task.

Badlanguage.net blogger Matthew Stibbe reminds us of a variety of reasons it’s a good idea to have a company blog:

  • To increase the number of visitors
     
  • To improve your reputation in the industry
     
  • To position your company as an authority
     
  • To interact with your target audience
     
  • To provide fresh content for Search Engine Optimization
     
  • To build incoming links

So why the heavy zombie rate among business bloggers? Hat Trick lists the challenges small business owners face when they embark on do-it-yourself blogging:

  • Finding topics to write about
     
  • Finding time to actually write the posts and upload them
     
  • Adhering to an established publishing schedule

“The main problem with company blogs is that they often get neglected after the initial honeymoon period has worn off, remarks Stibbe ruefully. Stibbe has a great list of content ideas for bloggers to keep handy, including industry news, company news, how to articles, lists, competitions, and opinion pieces.

In my experience as a professional ghost blogger and business blogging trainer, it’s the “finding time” thing that most often turns avid bloggers into zombies. As Hat Trick Associates not so subtly suggests, “Those who don’t have the time and resources to blog themselves can still hire firms like Hat Trick Associates to help them develop content ideas and take care of the writing and posting.”

All those wonderful reasons to have a company blog?  Those are the same reasons NOT to allow yours to become a Zombie blog!

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Fill Your Blog For A Buck?

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Leafing through a coupon magazine that had come in the mail, I noticed different companies using different methods to grab readers’ attention.

Since a favorite topic of mine as a professional ghost blogger and business blogging trainer is commanding readers’ attention, I was interested in the different approaches the ad writers had employed.  There seemed to be three main categories:

Price/Value
The headline above the page filled with coupons for Rally’s (burgers) read: "Fill your bag for a buck."

In similar vein, a business blog post headline might focus on a special offer or promotion.  Or, the title might highlight the fact that your company provides products or services at a price that is low relative to your competitors.

Got a Problem?/We understand
"Have You Been Hiding Your Legs All Summer?" bluntly asked the Central Indiana Vein Center on their coupon page.

A similar tactic in blog post titles would be based on advertising great David Ogilby’s advice to use titles to promise less of something undesirable – less pain, less waste, less hassle (in this example less need to hide your legs).This type of blog title demonstrates your empathy– you understand the issues your readers face…

Promise/Outcome
"Make this the last furnace you will ever need to buy", urges ARS Rescue Rooter on its coupon page.

Focusing your blog title on the end result (which, after all, is what motivated the searcher in the first place) is a very good idea. The ARS ad implies "Let us help you get the job done right once and for all."  That’s an appealing thought, whether the reader needs siding on her home, or is planning a wedding. 

Whichever of the three categories you’re using in any one title, that focus will carry over into the content of the blog post itself: Price/Value, Got a Problem?/We understand, or Promise/Outcome.

(Fill your blog for a buck, anyone?).

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