Think Outside The Blog

Bloggers and burritos – it doesn’t seem as if the two have anything in common other than sharing the same first letter. Of course I could make the observation that blogs, like burritos, “wrap up” ideas in nice, tasty packages that deliver just enough information to searchers on the Web – you catch my metaphor.  Always on the alert (since I’m a professional ghost blogger, after all) for special word tidbits, I heard one the other day that made me realize there’s another way in which blogging and burritos might be connected. This tidbit came in the form of a radio commercial for steak-in-a-wrap, telling listeners to “think outside the bun”.

This is a great slogan, I think, for business bloggers (or their ghosts) just as much as for workers selecting lunch. In the U.S., and increasingly around the globe, our first association about fast food is that it comes in buns. This “outside the bun” radio message, in just four little words, effectively nudges us to broaden our tastes and explore new options.  I know that tag line got my attention!

So, how is this all connected with blogging?  With the big goal of business blogging being to “win search”, bloggers fall into the trap of thinking that every word they write has to be directly about their business’ products and services. Remember, search engines award high rankings based on frequency and longevity; the only problem with that is, if you keep a very narrow focus in your blog, it won’t be long before you run out of new things to say.  What this burrito commercial shows is that, by relating what we do to other things, especially when the link is an unexpected one, we engage readers’ curiosity.  That, in turn, gives them an “Aha! moment” that holds their attention and keeps them hanging around our blog for longer times.

Sure, generously seasoning each blog post with key words that searchers use to find you is smart strategy, as Ted Demopoulos brings out in his book about blogging.  And, sure, those key words relate directly to your business, not to other things.  But, the insight I had about the “Think outside the bun” tag line was that we bloggers should draw in information from everywhere to make our points, and to make those points in a sit-up-and-take-notice way that differentiates our blog from the thousands upon thousands of others.  In short, the best bloggers may turn out to be the ones who can “think outside the blog”!