Archive for category: the Say It For You blog

Where better than a restaurant review for me to find one of those wonderful word tidbits that can so enrich a blog?  Indianapolis Business Journal reports that Maxine’s Chicken & Waffles at Ohio and East Streets has a decidedly down-home feel.  "And oh, those wings…..the breading was crispy and well-seasoned without overpowering the tender meat," (Psst!  Here comes the word tidbit:) Maxine’s wings are "..nothing like the fast-food varieties that are more batter than bird."

The visitor obviously liked Maxine’s for its natural, human, down-home feel. And, according to blog mavens Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos, one of the characteristics writers of business blogs need is "the ability to write in a natural, authentic, human voice."

Besides making for a tasty word tidbit, I think the IBJ reviewer’s remark about the batter/bird ratio is an important one for bloggers to remember.  As a professional ghost blogger, I’m always reading what other bloggers have to say and noting how the material is presented to the reader.

When we go to a restaurant, an important part of our enjoyment of the meal is the presentation – from the general atmosphere of the restaurant down to the way in which the food is arranged on the plate – it’s all important.  But when it comes right down to it, the food has to taste good.  There needs to be "meat", not just "batter".  

I think the "meat" for business blogs is information. After all, searchers arrive at your blog seeking information about what you do, what you sell, and what you know.  The "batter" might be the way the blog site is laid out, pictures, illustrations, and even cleverness in the writing. But, when it comes right down to it, the quality information needs to be there.  Part of providing that extra level of quality is researching sources where most people wouldn’t think to access, and linking to those in your blog post.

Remember me saying there’s a science and an art to business blogging? The fact is, search engines reward frequency and recency of posts (which is the science, and in a way, the "batter"), but what’s going to engage the reader is the quality of the "meat" – the information you provide in answer to their search or their query.
    

If it’s true, as Chris Baggott, CEO of Compendium Blogware stresses in webinars and white papers, that only 5-15% of business conducted online comes about as the result of
pay-per-click advertising or paid sponsorships, why do search engines reward blogging and give us business bloggers all that “free space” in which to strut our stuff across the runways of the blogosphere?

Elementary, my dear Watson.  Search engines such as Google attract advertisers by bringing visitors who have come to rely on Google as the place to most quickly and easily get the information they need. If Google (or any search engine) can lure double the number of visitors, the advertisers’ 5-15% will also double. Happy searchers + happy advertisers = happy search engine! 

And the most important winners are….(drum roll) my clients and all the other businesses that provide up-to-date, easy-to-understand, and relevant content by regularly posting blogs.

A few facts of blogosphere life will lend some insight into the enormously effective symbiosis I’ve just described.  First of all, as David Verklin and Bernice Kanner stress in their book Watch This. Listen Up. Click Here, “Google is the undisputed leader in search….and search is the most lucrative activity on the Net..”
 
The authors go on to explain a second fact: “The true drivers of its (Google’s) ad bounty are AdWords and AdSense.”  Advertisers choose and bid for keyword terms that bring up their ads next to search results, paying Google only when a web surfer clicks on their ad.  Since both the advertisers and Google are making money, the system continues.  Meanwhile, we business bloggers provide the smorgasbord of content that keeps those visitors coming, all the while driving traffic to our respective business web sites.

Indianapolis small business marketing maven Lorraine Ball says blogging is no longer optional for entrepreneurs.  “Even traditional business-to-consumer, nontechnical businesses are going online and adding blogs to their marketing mix.” Ball cites some of the unique benefits of blogs: they’re simple, less invasive than email or snail mail, they’re interactive, and they provide a way “to share the latest news about the company, new products, industry trends, and the occasional comment from a customer.”

So who foots the bill for blogs?  I like to think of it this way: The advertisers foot the bill, while we business bloggers fit the bill by providing exactly the kind of knowhow, information, products, and services visitors came to find!