Say It For You Reads Around – Part One

No matter what business, what professional practice, or what organization you’re blogging about, ideas for blog content writing are everywhere, but you’ve got to be alert.  One sure-fire strategy for idea-generation is what I call “reading around”, scouring other people’s blogs and articles, magazine content – and books.

All this week, my Say It For You blog posts will share ideas I got from “reading around” in a few of my favorite tidbit-type books. “Do you have a keen curiosity?  Do you like to read books that enrich, reward, and entertain? If so,” the book jacket tells us, “you’ll delight in the 5 W’s: WHO? By Erin McHugh.

For business blogging training purposes, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more suitable piece than “Who’s Up There?” in the 5 W’s: Why. The chapter is about the Ohio State University professor, who, in 1972, categorized UFO sightings, ranging from the First Kind (a UFO is within 500 feet of an experiencer) to the Fifth Kind, where communication actually takes place between alien and human.

From my point of view as a freelance blog writer, I imagine readers of business blogs in Indianapolis might be categorized the same way.

Close encounter of the First Kind: The frequent, recent, and relevant use of keyword phrases in the SEO marketing blog caused the search engine to make a match, and the reader found the blogsite on Page One.

Close Encounter of the Second Kind (UFO leaves marks on the ground, interferes with car engines and radio reception).  When it comes to blog writing services, achieving a Second-Kind encounter might mean the reader actually clicked on the link and was transported to the company’s (or the practice’s or charity’s) website. However, the encounter goes no further, since the content failed, for whatever reason, to demonstrate to the reader that he/she had come to the right place for the information, products and services needed.

Close Encounter of the Third Kind (human is able to view alien occupants in the UFO.)
Often corporate blogging clients get too hung up on company branding and corporate identity, when in fact, corporate blog writing needs to let the readers “meet” the owners (Why did they choose to do what you do? What are they most passionate about in delivering your service to customers and clients? What are they trying to add to their industry?

Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind (abduction). Part of learning how to write a blog is learning how to “optimize a marketing outreach from the driving point to the landing page, and on through to conversion." In a fourth-kind encounter, lookers become buyers.

In the best-of-all-possible-worlds Fifth Kind UFO Encounter, communication actually takes place between alien and human. Content writers in Indianapolis aim for “raving fans’ who provide testimonials, post questions, Tweet about the business, and keep coming back for more.

As a professional ghost blogger, I used my read-arounds to illustrate points about blogging.  How can you put your own reading around to best use to tell the story of your company, your practice, or your organization?