In Blogging for Business, End Up Where it Says on the Ticket!

Don’t Swallow Your Gum: Myths, Truths, and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health was Dr. Aaron Carroll’s and Dr. Rachel Vreeman’s first book. Their newest title is Don’t Cross Your Eyes…They’ll Get Stuck That Way! 

Reading Shari Rudavsky’s review of both books in the Indianapolis Star, I couldn’t help thinking about the way titles are used in business blog writing. For example, both books are about medical myths. 

In an actual Google search I performed using “medical myths” as my search term, neither one of the Carroll-Vreeman books showed up on Page One. When I searched using “myths and truths about health”, once again I was not matched up with either of the two books. For this very reason, in Say It For You  corporate blogging training sessions, I emphasize using keyword phrases in the first part of the title of each blog post.

A second factor to consider is that the main category of any SEO marketing blog post needs to appear first in the title. Rather than. Don’t Swallow Your Gum: Myths Truths and Outright Lies, a blog post title should reverse the order, reading Medical Myths, Truths, and Outright Lies – Don’t Swallow Your Gum.  That helps search engines match the category (medical myths and truths) with the inquiry.

A third concept that’s important for blog content writers to keep in mind is keeping the title and the actual blog post content congruent. I own a very funny Jerry Seinfeld CD, on which Jerry finds humor in various aspects of the air travel experience. He thinks having the captain come on the PA system to detail the flight plan is ridiculous. “Just end up where it says on the ticket!” says Jerry. Come to think of it, that’s a very good rule for business blog writing.

Friend and fellow blogger Michael Reynolds found out that sometimes speakers need to ‘course correct” when the talk fails to match up with the promise in the title. “In my effort to create a catchy, demand-creating title,” Reynolds confesses, he became upset when he realized his title was out of sync with his content, and that he had incorrectly set expectations. Well, as every freelance blog writer needs to remember, it’s the blog title that sets the online reader’s expectations, and that title needs to be in sync with the content to follow.

Turns out, the experiences of both Michael Reynolds and Jerry Seinfeld can be of business blogging assistance.  In writing for business, be sure to end up where the ticket says!