Defined Petals in Corporate Blog Writing

“Did you know that…?” can be four winning words when starting a conversation – or beginning a business blog post. 

After all, when a business owner (or a professional ghost blogger writing on her behalf) shares a little-known fact about an everyday thing, not only does that showcase the business owner’s expertise, it can bridge gaps and break down barriers. 
 

Why? Tidbits are “neutral ground”, and readers tend to drop their resistance and their fear of “being sold”.

In corporate blogging training sessions, I encourage Indianapolis blog writers to use etymology, (the history of words), to offer interesting information relating to their industry. A florist, for example, could take a tip from Richard Lederer’s piece in the Mensa Bulletin about the anthology of flowery words.

As a homeowner, for example, I’ve looked upon dandelions as weeds. Still, I was fascinated to learn (there’s the “Did you know that…” effect again) the English used to call the yellow, shaggy plant a “lion’s tooth” because of its jagged, pointy leaves.  The French translated “lion’s tooth” into “dent-de-lion”, which, said with an English accent, becomes “dandelion”!

Internet vocabulary has evolved with such speed, its etymology is on steroids. One tidbit I’m fond of sharing with Say It For You clients is (did you know that…?) before the term “web log” became “blog”, writers would refer to their work as “zines”? Today, there are kittyblogs, anonoblogs (anonymous), miliblogs (military), kittyblogs (about cats), and even splogs (spam blogs).

Etymology impacts SEO marketing blogs in more ways than one. As an Indiana blogger working to help clients "win search", I realize that not only may online readers not know the name of my clients’ business, they may not even know the correct terminology for the product or the specialized service they need! All those readers can do is describe the desired result, or resort to “kadigans” such as thing-a-ma-bob or whatchamacallit.

Business blog content writers can anticipate that very problem, working from back (the history and etymology of business terms) to front (the end results that buyers can anticipate).