In Blogging for Business, Keep So-Long-As Short!

"If you plan to stay anywhere within your home remodeling budget," cautioned the interveiwee on a Destination DIY radio episode I heard just the other day, "stay away from 'so-long-as' extras."  "So-long-as-we're-fixing-up-the-kitchen-we-might-as-well-add-…." can turn out to be a very expensive train of thought, she explained.

"So-long-as" add-ons in blog content writing tend to get "expensive" in a different way.  Attempting to cover too much ground in a single blog post, we lose focus, straining our readers' attention span.
 

"One message per post" is the mantra I pass on to newbie Indianapolis blog writers.  In fact, because blog posts are updated so much more frequently, they have a distinct advantage over more "static" general website copy.  Each post, I teach in corporate blogging training sessions, should contain a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of  your business.  Other important things you want to discuss?  Save those for later blog posts, I tell them.

Still, I like the idea employee benefits professional Mel Schlesinger teaches salespeople – adding an "Oh, by the way…" to describe an add-on service or product feature.  In SEO blog marketing, you can lead to your "so-long-as" information with a link to another page, an offer of a down-loadable while paper, or by simply telling readers to watch for information on that other product or service in your next blog post.

Keeping the primary focus is crucial in business blog writing, though, because online searchers tend to be scanners rather than readers.  Truth is, many will not ever get far enough into your post to even notice the "so long as" part!

In Do-It-Yourself projects, "so-long-as" add-ons may not be a very smart idea from a budget standpoint.  In business blog writing, lack of focus can get uncomfortable costly as well.  But for readers who stick with you, you can use "so-long-as" add-ons to let them know you have lots more helpful information, products, and services to fill their needs.