Business Blogger Finds More Song Titles to Keep Posts in Tune

Continuing the challenge I issued earlier this week to have business owners come up with new blog post content based on song titles, here are four more to fit my own business (which provides blog content to promote corporations’ and professional practitioners’ business). Whether they’re beginners or veterans, business bloggers often confide in me (in my capacity as either their blogging trainer or their professional ghost blogger) that they have trouble coming up with new ideas for posts.)

Since in Monday’s blog post, I selected song titles to illustrate blogging “Do’s”, positive good practices, today I’d like to focus on titles that illustrate some business blogging “don’ts.

• “Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” (B.J. Thomas)

One possible approach to a business blog is to point out deficiencies in competitors’ services or products, showing what “they” do wrong and you, of course, do “right”. As a trainer who is part of each client’s online marketing team, I recommend taking the higher road, using the power of We . At _____ (your company name), we offer….we believe that….we value… we are always careful to…..  Accentuate the positives about YOU, rather than focusing on others’ “mistakes”.

• “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” (Elton John)

Too many business owners shy away from blogging for fear of receiving negative comments
from readers or having customer complaints on the blog site. True, if you don’t blog frequently, you won’t receive negative comments or complaints, but neither will you attract the attention of search engines or of readers! In fact, “getting in front” of complaints by demonstrating how you remedied a negative customer situation is probably the most positive kind of publicity you can ask for!  Don’t be afraid of showing your err-is-human side.  In fact, your blog gives you a chance to turn a “failure” into a success story.

• “Where Do We Go From Here?” (Alicia Keys)

Calls to Action, or CTA’s, are a vital component of blogging for business. A clear, easy-to-execute “next step” enables readers to learn more, ask questions, price products and services, sign up for an RSS feed of your blog, look at your website, or even proceed immediately to your shopping cart. In an attempt to avoid being too “pushy” or too “sales-ey”, many business bloggers make the mistake of being unclear about the “So, how do I…..” readers need to know.

• “Testify to Love” (Wynonna Judd)

Testimonials in your blog can definitely make the different between a visit and a conversion. When surveyed, as Chris Baggott of Compendium Blogware often relates, consumers confessed they want to buy from people “just like them”. Stories of satisfied customers speak louder than any ad.  However (and here’s the Don’t in the equation) unlike the usual testimonial  list of sentence fragments (…excellent product, …very high quality …etc.) use your blog post to tell the whole story – what the issue or problem was, how you worked to solve it, and why your solution worked better than what the customer had tried before.

Now, it’s your turn again.  Select song titles that illustrate important facets of your business. Or, find another unifying theme around which you can center several blog posts.  Remember, “The more frequently your content mentions the keywords and phrases that are relevant to your business, the better your chances of your site being found for those keywords or phrases.”