Blogger’s Exercise Program

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I don’t make a practice of forwarding any of the joke-list email messages that, after circulating around the globe, spreading from distribution list to distribution list, seem to want to set up housekeeping in my inbox.  (Enough with the jokes and puns, already!)

Over the holiday weekend, however, I received a message which, while undeniably corny, I think carries an important lesson for us business bloggers.  The email, which came all the way from Israel, is titled "An Exercise Program For Everyone".  Here’s a program, the introductory paragraph assured me, that does not require all that much strenuous activity:

  • Beating around the bush
  • Jumping to conclusions
  • Climbing the walls
  • Swallowing your pride
  • Hitting the nail on the head
  • Pushing your luck
  • Bending over backwards
  • Jumping on the band wagon
  • Climbing the ladder of success
  • Picking up the pieces
  • Starting the ball rolling
  • Wading through paperwork
  • Passing the buck
  • Throwing your weight around

"Whew! That was some workout!", the message concluded, encouraging me to "Sit down, rest, and exercise caution." (Told ‘ya it was corny!)

But, just think about our English language and what a rich patchwork of expressions it is, with folklore from our own history and from other cultures and languages built into quaint expressions such as the ones on this list.  English offers a near-endless variety of ways to convey our message in our business blog posts.

True, as a professional ghost blogger, I’ve built an entire business based on the fact that most entrepreneurs (as they readily admit) lack the time and discipline to keep posting enough content to be successful at marketing their business through blogging.

Some business owners and employees, however, want to do their own writing. They ask for my help in the form of coaching on how to create engaging blog content that can drive home their message without being too sales-y. One challenge they – and all of us bloggers – face actually increases as time goes on:  How can we keep our content as fresh in blog post #213 as it was in post #Two?

That’s precisely where the lesson of the "Exercise Program For Everyone" lies. Worried about repeating yourself in talking about what you sell, what you do, and what you know about? To keep it fresh, exercise your own English language Capture a point you’ve made often before by using a new expression that "hits the nail on the head."

Before readers "jump to conclusions", debunk their myths.  "Start the ball rolling" with startling statisticsa, and "throw your weight around" by sharing your experience and expertise in your field.

For a business blog exercise program, there’s no need to circle the globe or even the gym. After all, you’ve got the ever-changing English language as your content-freshening appliance!

 

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New For The Third Time At Say It For You

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Hard to believe, but my little professional ghost-blogging company, Say It For You, is celebrating its third New Year’s today!

The company’s work product, some 2,000 unique writing selections, can be found in clients’ corporate brochures, on client website pages, in press releases and even letters to the editor. Primarily, though, our pieces populate the blogosphere.

2009 was certainly a year of learning for me, and “text” material was everywhere.  I continued to follow big, nationally-known gurus such as Seth Godin and Ted Demopoulos, along with the many local marketing and social media mavens who’ve become my friends and blogging colleagues.

Ideas for content were sparked by magazine and newspaper articles, radio and TV broadcasts, and even billboards and print ads. I paid close attention to how I was treated as a customer by businesses I patronize and by the different charities to which I direct dollars. I devoured books on marketing, SEO, web design, and the vagaries of Google and friends. Networking groups were my classrooms.  Mostly, Say It For You clients were my best teachers.

2009 was also the year in which an informal “Say It For You Manifesto” took form, clarifying a business model that reflects the way I want to do business.

Say It For You is a premium ghost-blogging and blog marketing service that provides your business with enhanced potential for improved standing in search engine results but also highest-quality marketing content for a wide variety of uses. Our blog posts are more than just a collection of keywords; they are strong, thoughtful messages about your business
by writers with extensive business experience.

When you use Say It For You, you receive the following benefits in addition to impeccably written posts:

  • A single writer dedicated to understanding your business and keeping abreast
  • of topics in your industry. That writer is ready to interface with your SEO expert,     marketing consultant, or web designer.
  • Say It For You works with only one client in each field of business, so that all research and promotional efforts are devoted towards benefiting you and your business.
  • You will have personal contact with your writer, including regular in-person meetings or phone conferences. Your writer is always available to discuss content and strategy.
  • The ideas and input of writers with strong background in business. Our writers have expertise in finance, marketing, operations, event planning, autos, seniors, international commerce, and more.

True, for Say It For You, this is only the third time to celebrate New Year’s.  But it seems that every day there’s something new to celebrate and to BLOG about!

 

 

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Business Blogging – And I Should Care About This WHY?

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Sometimes we role play, my career mentees and I.  At Butler University College of Business, where I serve as an Executive Career Mentor, one of my functions is helping students prepare resumes and train for job interviews.

One favorite technique I use is to instruct students to imagine me as a rather hard-boiled Human Resources manager at XXZ Corporation.  I’ve just scanned dozens upon dozens of resumes; this is my ninth interview of the day – I’ve seen and heard it all!  Then imagine, I tell the students, that my reaction to every statement on your resume, every statement you make in your interview, is “So I should care about this  WHY?”

Be sure the things you choose to say, I caution career mentees, whether on your resume or in your interview, aren’t about what you’ve done or about what you want, but about what they need. Don’t just tell me you spent the summer of ’08 working in a local store. Tell me how you saved your employer money, time, and hassle. Tell me how you streamlined procedures, how you raised more money for a charity, how you promoted the cause or addressed a long-standing problem for your employer. In other words, tell me why I should care about what you’re telling me!

As an “Executive Blogging Mentor”, I would have precisely the same advice to offer business owners and professionals launching a business blogging tactic as part of their overall business marketing strategy. Offer information about what you sell, what you do, and what you know about, of course.  That’s one thing business blog posts are all about.

Bottom line, though, it’s about them, the readers, and their needs. Share how you solved problems for customers or clients in the past.  Share special insights searchers might not have heard anyone else express in just that way.

For your blog to function as an effective marketing tool, imagine searchers who’ve clicked on your blog post asking themselves the question: “So I should care about this WHY?”

 

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From How-to’s To You-Do’s In Business Blogs

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“Damaged furniture needn’t mean one-way trip to junkyard,” is Angie’s advice in the Indianapollis Star.  Photos accompanying the article demonstrate key steps in upholstering a chair. Side by side with the Angie’s Advice piece featuring interviews with two local upholstering professionals is one from Consumer Reports Money Advisor on fixing furniture – or anything else, for that matter – by yourself. “To save money, it might be a good idea to learn how to handle some repair tasks without calling in a professional.”
 

Interesting. It often happens, when I’m discussing what kind of blog content to provide for new ghost blogging clients, one fear of theirs that comes to the fore is this: If they “teach” in the blog or demonstrate the steps in their process, they’ll lose, rather than gain, customers and clients:

  • Reveal the logic behind a system of selecting which stocks to put in a portfolio? The client won”t need my guidance!
  • List spine-strengthening exercise routines? They won’t need to come to my gym!
  • Print recipes and menus? They won’t need my catering services!

The reason these concerns are unfounded, I explain, has to do with the way the Internet functions. The only people who are going to notice your blog are those who are searching for the kinds of information, products, or services that relate to what you do!

In other words, you’ll engage the attention of those online searchers who are in the market for what you sell or who need your particular type of expert advice or service. Giving advice and sharing “recipes” serve to showcase your experience and expertise.  Consumers who feel fairly informed might actually prove more willing to make buying decisions.

It appears Angie Hicks agrees with my reassurances to business owners and professional practitioners: “Many things can go wrong when restoring wood furniture yourself,” she warns. “It’s worth investing in the services of a professional for items with significant material or sentimental value.” Consumer Reports Money Advisor concurs: “Don’t be shy about turning to a pro if you find yourself in over your head.”

Sharing the intricacies of what you do is a way of showing how passionate you are about your work. Ironically, “giveaways” sell!

So go ahead – show ’em how to.  More often than not, it turns out, they’ll see you as the one who knows how to  – do it for them!

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A Merry/Happy To All, With Thanks For Letting Us “Say It For You”!

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Every holiday is a marker, however you look at it, and it’s hard to resist tallying along with the toasts.

In my introductory blog post, "How Say It For You Was Born", I posed a question: "What qualities make for a great ghost blogger?" I put "drill sergeant discipline" near the top of the list, explaining that web rankings are based at least partially on frequency of posting new content, and that blogging must be kept up faithfully if "winning search" is one of the business’ goals.

I think it’s fair to give myself an "A" in the discipline department.  I, together with my contract writers, turned out close to 1,000 different original blog posts this calendar year without ever missing a deadline. In addition, Say It For You produced copy for a couple hundred web pages, press releases, brochures, letters to the editor, and newsletter articles.

This year, blog content development training was added to  the Say It For You menu of services, for business owners who, along with their employees, want to create their own blog content. During 2009, I gave six talks on "Blogging For Business" where the audience at each numbered more than one hundred.

This has been a year made rich through meeting so many new friends in the social media community. Special thanks go to continuing mentors Chris Baggott (Compendium Blogware), Ryan Cox (Schindigs), Ken Zweigel (Drive), Tony Fannin (Be Branded),  Mike Semon (Spartan Technologies), Damon Richards (Port to Port Consulting), and Kathleen Haley (KSH Marketing). I could never have come this far as a professional ghost blogger and blog trainer. without your support and expertise.

Another quality that makes for a great ghost blogger is a "third ear".  A ghost, I explained, needs not only to hear what clients want to say, but to pick up on their unique style of expression.  "The goal," I wrote, "is to speak your message, in your ‘"voice’, to your customers..  A good ghost blogger should, her/himself, be neither seen nor heard."

To all our wonderful clients, thanks, each of you, for "letting us in" to the dreams and hopes you hold for your business or professional practice.  Thanks for devoting careful thought to the question I pose to each new blogging client:

If you had only 8-10 words to describe why you’re passionate about what you what you have, what you do, and what you know about, what would those words be?

2009 tallies and toasts – it’s been a privilege and it’s been "real"!

 

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