Blog Oil Is No Snake Oil

After the Chicago Sun Times had written a story about fish oil supplements being a mere fad with unproven benefits, many articles and blog posts appeared in defense of the "nature’s wonder drug" Omega-3 fatty acid found in fish.

While, in the interests of full disclosure, I must admit to swallowing a fish oil capsule daily, as a professional ghost blogger and blogging coach and training, I was interested in the fish oil debate because of what it illustrates about blogging for business.

On the one hand, I noticed, the bloggers questioning the efficacy of fish oil compared it to the snake oil fad of an earlier time in America.  Then, writing in the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, John Clough titles his piece, "Fish Oil is No Snake Oil."  This month’s edition of Discover Magazine devotes an entire page to recent reports on the health benefits of fish oil, using Dr. Clough’s title. Referring to others’ blog posts and then stating your own viewpoint is way to showcase your own viewpoints and approach to your business. 

Treehugger.com takes yet another approach to the fish oil controversy that can be effective in business blogs: a survey, posing the question to readers: "Would You take Fish Oil/Omega 3 Supplements?" Online visitors are given four possible answers from which to choose:

1. Yes, it is worth the environmental cost
2. No, supplements are unnecessary if you eat a balanced diet
3. I get my Omega 3 from fish-free sources like flax
4. Other (in comments)

Using a survey in a blog post is very effective.  Suddenly, it’s all about the reader.  At the same time, it gives the business blogger a way to showcase his/her expertise on the subject. The survey works, because it turns the blog post into a discussion instead of a "lecture".

Compendium Blogware uses a slightly different approach to capture website visitors’ attention and interest business owners in blogging: "Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you want to drive demand for your organization’s product or service?
• Do you want to start personal relationships with prospective customers?
• Do you want to acquire more customers?

In addition to questions and surveys, statistics pack a real punch in blogs. Here are just three of the items from the rather impressive list of the advantages of blogging offered by Buildabetterblog.com:
 

• Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
• Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs.
• 51% of blog readers shop online.

It’s pretty apparent – blog oil is no snake oil!