Get Exactly What You Want with the Say It For You Magazine Challenge

For the third blog post (in my challenge to myself to glean a week’s worth of ideas for Say It For You blog posts from a single magazine issue), I came across the intriguing title: “Get Exactly What You Want” on page 102 of Self magazine. The author urges readers to stop pussyfooting around and ask for what they need, suggesting the formula “May I have X because of Y?”, with an emphasis on the because. For freelance blog writers, this is a formula worth remembering

Anyone providing corporate blogging for business knows that, in blogs, the “ask” comes in the form of calls to action. Because I provide business blogging assistance to business owners and their employees, I thought this Self article was “spot on“. Whether you’re asking forgiveness, asking for a discount, a date, even a raise or promotion at work, says Self, speaking up the smart way involves offering a reason. At the City University of New York, I learned, experiment subjects were instructed to ask someone using a copy machine if they could go first.  When persons making that request offered a reason, they were given permission 94% of the time (versus only 60% of the time when they gave no explanation for why they deserved to go first).

Wouldn’t you agree this study provides a valuable insight for anyone creating an SEO marketing blog? You’re asking online readers to take action, and you’re much more likely to get that action if you provide a reason.

Often, in this Say It For You blog, I’ve discussed the importance of calls to action, whether they come in the form of asking readers to subscribe to the blog, pose a question or comment, sign up for a mailing list or newsletter, or, best of all, buy products or services. Having been exposed to the "May-I-have-X-because-of-Y” idea, I think it’s something that bears passing along to all blog content writers in Indianapolis as part of the corporate blogging training I do.

The Self article can serve as a reminder to anybody involved in a company’s SEO marketing blog – it’s simply not good enough to just ask (for the order, the subscription, etc.).  In corporate blog writing, it needs to be about them, the readers. That means the “because” needs to be presented in terms of advantage to the reader for following any call to action included by the blog content writer. Is there a lower cost for buying a product within a certain time frame?  Information that can be accessed by only those visitors who submit their email address?

Get exactly what you want (the chance to convert visitors into clients and customers) by giving online searchers a reason to do business with you!