Blogs Can Carry Heavy Weights On Their Heads

By the time they are young women, East African girls can carry up to 25% of their body weight on their heads, according to Don Vorhees, author of The Book of Totally Useless Information. The amazing thing is, those young women do this using no more energy than it would take to wear a straw hat.

I like to use this metaphor to illustrate some points about business blogging.  A small business owner’s or professional practitioner’s blogging efforts can have an effect on marketing results that is disproportionately larger than might seem possible from mere short, informal pieces of writing.

For business owners seeking to leverage their blog marketing efforts, it’s worth noting the secret behind the East African ladies’ carrying power: It’s their remarkable posture control, Vorhees points out.  "They form a rigid straight line between their vertebrae and pelvis."  With very little movement of the head, neck, or shoulders, their power is concentrated.  Westerners, Vorhees adds, tend to bob and dip when they walk, wasting a lot of energy.

Blogging is "leveraged" almost by definition.  Internet commentators David Verklin and Bernice Kanner (Watch This, Listen Up, Click Here) say blogging is part of "marketing to the moment of aperture", offering the right product or service at the right time before the right prospect. Because searchers arrive at the blog seeking information on exactly what you do, what you sell, or what you know, there’s a "rigid straight line" between the potential customer and your business!

At the same time, just as the East Africans maximize carrying power through focusing energy in a straight line, you can enhance the power of blog marketing through focusing each blog post on one central theme, then using key words to help direct traffic your way.

Blogging for business has a creative element to it, no doubt, as interesting, well-written content will engage readers and keep them coming back. Along with the art comes the science of blogging.  The science involves focusing on a theme and using key phrases to create that "pull marketing" power. 

The combination of art and science is the hallmark of East African basket-carrying and the hallmark of successful business blogging as well!