Look As Far As The Bottom Drawer For Blog Ideas

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If ever there was an example of drawing ideas from everywhere and everything (what I’ve been calling “learning around” for your blog), it would be L. Frank Baum and his book The Wizard of Oz.

As a child, a Mental Floss Magazine article explains, Baum had loved reading fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, but “loathed the dark, grisly endings”. He wanted to create a world where wonderment and joy are retained.  So what would Baum call his utopia?  Scanning his office for ideas, family legend holds, Baum stared at his filing cabinets, drawing inspiration from the label “O-Z” on the bottom drawer.

The oh-so-important lesson here for business bloggers relates to the fact that blogging is no sprint.  A long-term, drawn-out effort is required in order to “build equity” in keyword phrases, gather a following, and gain – and sustain – online rankings.

From both my work as a professional ghost blogger these last three years and my work as a business blogging trainer, I know just how challenging it can be to sustain the discipline and “the faith” needed for long term business blogging success.

Ideas, on the other hand? That’s the easy part.  Just stand there, listen, look around – and learn!

 

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Help People Who Need People Find You

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When Barbra Streisand sang: "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world", she was onto something that bloggers for business need to keep in mind.

Fellow blogger Michel Fortin says that, "When compared to traditional offline business, online people are more important than ever before." That’s because the Internet is cold and impersonal, Fortin explains, to some extent taking the human element out of the sales process. People are easier to forget online, he continues, and a very, very big mistake on the part of any online marketer would be thinking of potential clients in terms of click-throughs and conversion rates rather than as people.

So how does that translate into writing effective blog copy? Fortin’s advice is to make your content more experiential. "Let them feel or imagine how it feels….appeal to the reader’s ego when describing benefits."  Always remember, he warns, people buy on emotion.  (Even in business-to-business situations, Fortin stresses, it’s still people okaying the deals and writing out the checks.)

Michel Fortin’s idea of good selling copy is "copy that presses hot buttons, energizes hormones, and invigorates buying behaviors". In a way, I was saying the same thing in yesterday’s Say It For You blog post when I talked about the claims we make about our products and services.  Every claim needs not only to be true, but to feel true to online visitors.  I talked about how even that’s not enough; readers must be shown how the claim has potential to help them with their problem or need. It has to be – start, middle, and
finish – about people. Fortin calls it painting vivid mental pictures.

"Be intimate. Be ego-driven. Above all, be emotional." is Fortin’s advice to online marketers. "People want to do business with people they like and trust," Chris Baggott, CEO of Compendium Blogware continually reminds blogger.

Barbra had it right long before the blogging era. In posting blogs to promote your business, remember the principle that people need people. Consistently following that simple maxim could help you get very lucky in terms of online business! 

 

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Adding Background Color in Your Blog

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Most business blog posts make claims.  The claims may be understated, exaggerated, or exactly on the money, but still – a claim is a claim. The problem is, often blog visitors don’t know how to "digest" the claims you’ve "served up".  They simply don’t have any basis for comparison, not being as expert as you are in your field.

What I’m getting at is that every claim needs to be put into context, so that it not only is true, but so that it feels true to your online visitors.

As an example, I found a paragraph in a news magazine talking about Subaru.  The piece starts out with a fact: "A report released this week by Subaru of America shows the company sold 23,667 vehicles last month." (As my grandmother used to ask, "So, do I eat this with a fork or a spoon?")  Since I’m not in the car sales business, I had no way of judging how good our how bad 23,667 sales was for Subaru – compared with what?

Fortunately, the report went on to put the number into context in two ways:

  • 23,667 cars sold represents a 35% improvement over the same month last year.
     
  • 23,667 cars sold is the best May sales total in Suburu company history.

Now I, as the reader, can begin to relate to the number 23,667, because it has a background context. 

As a professional ghost blogger and blogging trainer, though, I know there’s more to do with claims.  After the claim has been given background "color", readers must be shown how that claim has the potential to help them with their problem or need! (It’s the old sales maxim about how customers don’t care about the features and benefits of a product or service until and unless they know how much you care – about them!

There are something like ten million blog posts out there making claims of one sort or another as you’re reading this one. Based on my own experience as an online reader, I’d venture to say fewer than 10% of them put their claims in context, and only the very top few manage to convey to their blog visitors what the claims can mean for them!

Add some winning background color to the claims in your blog posts!

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Help Fnu Lnu Searchers Find You!

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Fnu Lnu, a term used by authorities to identify unknown suspects, is actually an acronym for First Name Unknown, Last Name Unknown, a John Doe, as it were. When you’re selecting keyword phrases to use in your website and blog content, it’s useful to remember that you are the fnu lnu in the equation.  Online searchers don’t know your name – or the name of your business!

In fact, unless your business name is precisely the service or product you provide ("St. Louis Cosmetic Dentistry" or "Cincinnati Heating Services Specialists" or perhaps "Best Doggie Care in Des Moines"), at Stage #1 of their search, what the majority of consumers are likely to have typed into the search bar are words describing:

  • Their need
  • Their problem
  • Their idea of the solution to their problem
  • A question

Blogging for business, then, means introducing yourself to strangers.  Not that it isn’t a good idea to email links to your blog posts to existing customers and clients, but, for developing new relationships, your blog will be your central prospecting tool.

To convert those "strangers" to friends and customers, then, address your blog posts to them, and write about them.  Fact is, they’re going to care about your name only if and when they know you care about their problems and needs, and that you have just the means to take care of them.

Because of the relevant, recent, and frequently posted content you’ve been delivering to the blogosphere, search engines have delivered prospects to your fnu lnu door.  Now that they’ve arrived, introducing what you sell, what you do, and what you know about – with your business name attached! – is what you get to do as the reward for all that diligence.

This is the stage when "Aha!-I’ve-Come-To-Just-The-Right-Place", readable, engaging blog content counts most. Getting from fnu lnu to Joey’s Body Shop, Maggie’s Hair Salon, or Hendricks Bankruptcy Law Office – that’s the getting-to-know-you business blogging goal!

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When the Wise Speak to Business Bloggers

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The "101 Tips from the World’s Most Famous Authors" aren’t specifically directed towards business bloggers, but many of them might be.  Ernest Hemingway, for example, advised using short first paragraphs (‘nuf said).

Mark Twain had the idea writers ought to substitute "damn" for "very".  Since editors would likely delete the "damns", the writing would be left as it should be.  What this means for bloggers – let the information about what you sell, do, and know about make its own impression without help- from "very"s.

While there are differences of opinion on the use of exclamation marks, F. Scott Fitzgerald thought they’re "like laughing at your own jokes."

"Show, don’t tell," is the creative writing advice of Anton Chekhov.  "Don’t tell me the moon is shining.  Show me the glint of light on broken glass," he explained.  In the case of business blogs, along with text, the "show me" can consist of photos, graphs, clip art, and videos to boost reader engagement and response.

When Stephen King teaches aspiring writers to "read a lot and write a lot", he might well have been addressing bloggers for business.  My version (as a blogging trainer): Reading + writing = blogging. King explains reader helps writers find their own style.  In blogging, reading other blogs can help you scope out your own blogging niche.

Anais Nin observes: "The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we’re unable to say." A professional ghost blogger needs a "third ear" to hear not only what the business owner says, but to pick up on the intangibles of the business’ culture that owner has created – and then translate that into blogs!
 

 

 

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