OPA for Blog Content Writing – A

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Illustration of an Isolated BarcodeIt’s a principle used by many to build financial success – OPM. The idea: we’re not limited by our own resources, because we can use Other People’s Money. Even if we lack the financial resources to take advantage of business opportunities, explains Michael Lechter of PowerHomeBiz.com , OPM makes moving forward possible.

I like to use that same principle in blogging for business, except the resources involve other people’s advice, or OPA. This week, all three of my Say It For You blog posts will share pieces of advice that can help companies and professional practices move forward in creating high quality blog content.

“Reading from a screen is more tiring and therefore about 25% slower than reading from paper,” points out Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net. That’s why, Rowse stresses, it’s so important in writing blog content for business, to make it scannable.

Simple formatting clues, such as bolding, underlining, and bullet points, can go a long way in the scannability department, Rowse goes on to explain, and he suggests placing pictures close to the content they’re meant to illustrate. “Don’t feel you have to fill up every inch of your screen,” he cautions.  Instead, he advises, create spaces because those tend to draw readers’ eyes.

Rowse makes a point that I’ve often stressed in business blogging training sessions, which is to get to the core topic early in the post. “Don’t bury your points,” is how he puts it.  I tell newbie blog content writers that “your most important task is, as early on as possible in the content of each blog post, to convey the message to those searchers that they’ve come to the right place for the products and information they need”.

Rowse is very honest in his remarks to bloggers: offering scannable stuff is good, he explains, but hardly good enough. Another factor to consider when thinking about good content, he says, is whether it’s unique. He sees blogs every day, he admits, that have very “useful” content, but which nobody reads because there is so much of that same information to be found in other places.

Today’s takeaway piece of OPM – strive for scannable AND unique!

 

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Blog Wisdom from Roman Times

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Trivia are hardly trivial when it comes to triggering business blog content ideas. Castello di MonteranoThat’s why, when I find interesting trivia in books, magazines, or ads, I like to share them with you Say It For You blog readers. After all, it’s a hard job continually coming up with fresh content; interesting tidbits of information make things a little bit easier on busy business owners and on freelance content writers like us.

Of course, stocking up on ideas for future blog posts isn’t all about trivia.  What I’ve found, though, is that a tidbit of information can be the jumping off point for explaining:

  • What problems can be solved using your business’ products and services
  • Busting myths and clearing up misunderstandings
  • Defining basic industry terminology
  • Putting statistics into perspective

Ever on the lookout for interesting material, I found the wonderful “Ancient Rome“
issue of How It Works magazine.

1. What toys did children play with in ancient Rome? They played knucklebones (we call it jacks), a chess-like board game called Latrunculll, ragdolls and wooden swords.

These tidbits could be used in a business blog about toys or about early childhood education.

2. Romans didn’t sit on chairs. Wealthy Romans would lie on sofas set around a central group of tables, with one side of the table left clear for serving. Everyone ate with fingers, so food was served in bite-sized pieces, and there were usually three courses.

This information might serve as the jumping off point for a restaurant blog, an etiquette blog, or a home décor company’s blog.

3. Romans washed in huge public pools called baths. Romans believed baths could cure certain illnesses.

With flotation therapy centers are becoming all the rage in Indianapolis, it’s no stretch seeing how this information might be used in blog posts!  Companies that sell and install soaking tubs and whirlpools, bathroom remodeling companies and pool maintenance professionals could all make good use of these insights from the past.

Trivia are hardly trivial when it comes to creating engaging business blog content!

 

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Why-Don’t-YOU-Do-It Blog Writing

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Microphone on standWe’re all used to today’s celebrities, CEOs, and public figures who can’t spare the time to write their own books or speeches, and who hire ghostwriters. As a professional ghost blogger, I’ve become an avid reader on forms and styles of ghost writing.  “Ghosts” are behind everything, I keep learning – from classical and country music to the most popular mystery and romance novels.

The current issue of The Nostalgia Digest, a wonderful periodical I came across at the bookstore, has a story about oldtime radio show “This is New York” featuring the character Archie, bartender at Duffy’s Tavern. Reading the piece, I was reminded of the old, yet ongoing debate about who should be writing content for business blogs.  Should it be the owners of the business or practice, or a hired content creator (a “ghost”)?

Producer Ed Gardner wanted a guy to talk New Yorkese, and who would sound like a bum, not a gentleman.  He kept auditioning people, but was never happy – the accent wasn’t right or the timing would be off.  Someone in the control booth said, “Hey, Ed, why don’t you do it?” “And, by golly, he did,” relates Nostalgia writer Martin Grams, Jr.   “He filled a picture of the character (Archie) with his timing and his voice.”

So what’s the reason business owners and professional practitioners don’t “do it” when it comes to blog writing? They lack the time, the discipline, or the writing skills to do it themselves.  But can an outsider ever do “Archie” as well as the bar owner? Yes, if….. is the answer. As with any promotional materials created for a business by outside professionals, I caution owners, your blog must be in harmony with your style, your approach to your customers and your niche within your industry or field of expertise.

Over my years of working with hundreds of Say It For You client companies and practices, I found that those clients knew that writing blogs in their area of expertise was going to be a great idea for them, yet not very many of them felt they could take the time to compose and post content on a regular basis.  Still, just as Ed Gardner needed a guy to talk New Yorkese, we freelance content writers need to talk the language of each client’s target customers market , and we need to do it in the way that each owner or practitioner would if he “did it himself”!

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Nostalgic Blog Wisdom

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The “Nostalgia Digest” reminded me of the important role “history” old rag doll with heart lollipopplays in blog content writing for business. The story about Raggedy Ann finally being accepted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2002 called my attention to these toys, and in fact, got me thinking about toys in general.

Raggedy Ann creator Johnny Gruelle’s daughter, I learned, was deathly ill.  Looking for something to brighten her spirits, Gruelle came across an old rag doll which his grandmother had made.  Gruelle added two shiny shoe-button eyes, and painted a nose, brows, and mouth.  For the name, Gruelle took inspiration from two stories written by family friend James Whitcomb Riley”: “Little Orphant Annie” and “The Raggedy Man”.

Years later, Gruelle acquired a patent and, in 1924, began manufacturing dolls to be used as store window displays, in addition to producing Raggedy Ann books.

Posting blogs with history-of-our-company background stories can have a humanizing effect, engaging readers and creating feelings of empathy and admiration for the business owners or professional practitioners who overcame adversity.

Wayne Klatt’s article “Straight from the Heart” in Nostalgia Digest offers a perspective: “Two dolls with perpetually cheerful expressions might seem out of place in a world dominated by battery-powered toys and startlingly realistic video games.  But Raggedy Ann and Andy were never about competing.  They remain as they always were: a creation that was not made as a commercial calculation, but as a gesture of love to a little girl who deserved it.”

All too often, I find, there’s an overload of information and an under-serving of perspective. As a corporate blogging trainer, I remind newbie writers that there’s no lack of sources available to our readers. In our blogs, therefore, we need to go beyond presenting facts, statistics, features and benefits, and broadcast a firm stance.

The background story of Raggedy Ann has power, but that’s all the more true because Klatt is helping us see that story in a certain way. The personal sentiment adds authenticity and sincerity, making the material that much more engaging.

Nostalgia is no no-no in blogging for business!

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Blog Writers’ Opening Lines have a Big Job to Do

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Curiosity concept“The first words of a novel can be enough to set the tone for the whole book,” explain the editors of The Book of Random Oddities.

Some of the most famous first lines quoted in the book include:

  • All children, except one, grow up”.  (“Peter and Wendy”)
  • Marley was dead, to begin with.”  (“A Christmas Carol”)
  • “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (“A Tale of Two Cities”)
  • “Call me Ishmael.” (“Moby Dick”)

Each one of those four openers arouses our curiosity. (Who is the child who never grows up? Why is the fact Marley is dead only a fact to begin with? How can the times be both the best and the worst?  Why should we call him Ishmael – is that really his name?)

But, unlike novelists, can we blog content writers afford to be that enigmatic in order to arouse curiosity?  We know how essential for us to assure readers that they’ve come to the right place to find the information that satisfies the needs that brought them online to find answers – otherwise they’ll bounce away from our site before we get to share our thoughts!  What I call “pow opening lines” are great, but if we fail at showing how that “pow” answers readers’ needs, we won’t be given the chance to tell them the “how” (how what we have to offer will better their lives in some way).

One solution comes in the form of “Huh?” blog titles or opening lines.  “Huh”s need subtitles to make clear what our post is going to be about. The “Huh” startles and arouses curiosity; the subtitles or second sentences clarify what the focus will be.

The “Call me Ishmael” line introduces the narrator of the piece. Although the central figure of “Moby Dick” is Captain Ahab, readers are going to be told the story by Ishmael. The same literary device might be useful for a business blog post, so that readers understand who’s talking. “Call me Jeffrey. Before I started my Slimbo exercise program, I weighed 345 pounds and could hardly walk around the block.”

“Marley was dead, to begin with.”  The same format might be used in a blog post for home remodeling company. “My kitchen was cramped, to begin with.”

The point for business bloggers: As with a novel, in blogging, the title and opening line will set the tone for your entire post. Arousing interest and curiosity is much to be desired, but be quick to clarify where you’re going with the content of the post.

Blog posts’ opening lines set the tone and arouse curiosity, but it’s best not to sustain the mystery for very long.

 

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