Why-Do-There-Seem-To-Be Blogging For Business

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Now there’s an arresting article title if ever I’ve read one, I thought: “Why do there seem to be more baby boys available to adopt?" it read. "Since everyone knows women live long and represent more of the population at large, most clients assume that means that more girls are born. “ Unfortunately, what ‘everyone knows’ often leads to misunderstandings of what is really happening,.” the authors go on to explain.

As a corporate blogging trainer, I'm a firm believer that myth debunking is an important function of blog content writing, simply because, in every business or profession, misunderstandings about a product or service surface in the form of customer questions and complaints. Addressing misinformation in a company's blog shines light on the owner's special expertise, besides offering information that is valuable to readers. De-mystifying matters can make your corporate or professional office’s blog into a "go-to" source for readers seeking information in your field.

In a way, I’ve found, blog readers tend to be engaged, rather than miffed, when your content “proves them wrong”.  Of course, you soften the effect when you acknowledge that their misunderstandings are shared by many other people.  What’s more, the new (to them) “take” on the situation must seem relevant and helpful in solving whatever need or problem motivated those readers’ online search to begin with

The authors acknowledge that several of the reasons more girls are adopted than boys have nothing to do with the U.S. birth rates.  

  • Women, particularly single women, express a preference for adopting girls.
  • The majority of children available for adoption from other countries that are leading sources for adoptive children (think China) are girls.


A justharvest blog  I found does a great job formatting a  mythbusting post about food stamps:  

“I'm going to ask you to do something a little weird. Ready? Ok, close your eyes and try to picture someone on food stamps.” Was the person an adult? Because at most half of food stamp recipients are children. Was it a white person? Most people on food stamps are white. Were they spending the day sitting around unemployed, on welfare? Only 8% of food stamp recipients receive cash welfare benefits."

Ask yourself: How could I, as an Indianapolis blog content writer, adapt this mythbusting template to my own business or profession?
 

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If It’s Not All Right, It’s Not the End in Blogging for Business

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A rather wry, yet strangely encouraging statement I came across the other day reads:

“Everything will be all right in the end.  And if it’s not all right, it’s not the end.”

From a blog content writing point of view, I asked myself, how do we judge whether it’s “all right” to “have done” with today’s post, leaving further elucidation for another day, another blog post?

The simple, but not-so-simple-to-implement answer, I think, is this:  Stop when…

When you’ve said what you set out to say.  When you feel readers will have “gotten it”.  When you feel that the one concept you’ve chosen to convey today  has been explained.  When you’re satisfied you’ve offered a clear call to action.  When you’re sincerely convinced you’ve offered the kind of information that will appeal to your target audience.

“As you compose – think who will read what I write? With your target reader in mind, express why your message is relevant and important, ”comments  Bob Coss on writingtips.com.

Then, tell the readers what you think they need and want to know about only the topic of today’s post and no more. Attempting to cover too much ground in a single blog post, we lose focus, straining our readers' attention span. Gary DeAsi and Evan Stone advise financial planners not to be afraid to write in tried-and-true blog genres including

  1. Collections and top lists
  2. Reviews
  3. Predictions
  4. Motivation
  5. Trouble-shooting
  6. Interviews
  7. Editorial/ Personal reflection

Done that? Then it’s all right and it can be the end (for today, anyway).
 

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Business Blogging – Royal Pronouns in the Post?

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Mignon Fogarty is “Grammar Girl”, a San Francisco journalist who covers grammar and writing. Fogarty has some interesting things to say about the “wee” word “we”. The pronouns a writer chooses, she explains, set the point of view and the tone of a passage.  That’s especially true when a speaker means “I” but says “we” to make some grandiose statement. Editors do it, because they’re speaking for the leadership of the publication. Royals and politicians use “we” as well, to speak for their entire administration, or perhaps to make their utterances seem more important that they are.

When it comes to freelance blog content writing, I believe, there’s a very special purpose to be served by using the pronoun “we” – greater honesty. What do I mean? Using first and second person pronouns helps keep a the blog conversational rather than either academic-sounding or sales-ey.

Yet “I” is not always in order if you want to be honest about the blog creation. In fact, we (there it is again!) discourage our Say It For You clients from having the “ghost” blogger “pretend” to be the business owner or professional. On the other hand, in writing “we think”, “we believe”, “we see this all the time”, the blog writer makes herself part of the team that has a particular slant or opinion to share.  Used that way, the “we” isn’t pompous or “royal” or even editorial – it just works!

Compare these two versions:

“At XYZ Company, questions and problems are handled promptly and efficiently. Our staff is trained to go all-out in serving our clients.”

“At XYZ, we believe taking care of questions and problems promptly is every bit as important as making a sale. Whether it’s on the phone or in person, we go all-out to serve you.”

In conversing with readers through blog content writing, setting a “just between you and me” tone, you simply can’t beat the “wee” word WE!

 

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Blog Your Hero Up a Tree and Throw Rocks

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As speakers, says Bill Stainton in Speaker Magazine, it’s drilled into us.  “You must have great, unforgettable stories or you’ll fail miserably.”  I know where I’ve heard that before – the same thing is drilled into us business blog content writers!

But Stainton (whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting through the National Speakers Association) says most speakers ask the wrong questions when searching for stories. His remarks on the subject can definitely be of use to blog writers.

“Wrong” questions:

  • When did something interesting happen?
  • When did something funny happen?

The right question, the one can unlock dozens of great personal stories, Stainton says, is:
“When did something go wrong?”  “Getting your hero up a tree with people throwing rocks” presents readers with a situation where everything is going wrong and there’s no turning back. That’s what propels the story forward, he explains.

I teach freelance blog writers in Indianapolis to include stories of their clients’ past mistakes and failures. Such stories have a humanizing effect, engaging readers and creating feelings of empathy and admiration for the business owners or professional practitioners who overcame not only adversity, but the effects of their own mistakes!

I agree with Stainton when he says the trick to great presentations is telling stories. The trick to finding story ideas for writing business blog posts month after month, year after year may be, as Malcolm Gladwell says in What the Dog Saw, “to convince yourself that everyone and everything has a story to tell.”

Who’s the hero in blogging for business?  It might be a product or service that saved the day for a customer or client facing a severe problem or dilemma. It might be the business owner herself who overcame a big obstacle in bringing the product or service to market.

When did something go wrong? What was done to get that hero down off the tree?
 

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Blogging About Who Your Heroes Really Are

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“The man who ‘saved’ his dog from the jaws of an alligator should be cited for animal neglect instead of being called a hero.”  At least that’s the opinion C. B. from Leesburg, Florida shares in a letter to the editor of Readers Digest.

Now, there’s kind of a different take on the matter, I thought, engaged enough to read on. “Anyone who lives in that area of Florida knows there are alligators in the waters where he let his dog run around without a leash.  He put his dog at risk, and an innocent alligator died because of it,” C.B. finishes with a flourish.

Always trying to relate interesting things I learn to blog content writing, I realized that I found that letter engaging because it’s an example of what fellow blogger Hector Cuevas calls the “shock and awe approach” – starting posts by disagreeing with what is commonly accepted as the norm.  Cuevas recommends this approach because it builds an instant sense of curiosity in readers.  Then, he cautions writers, it’s up to you to explain your point of view.

But is offering offbeat opinion really such a good idea in blogging for business? After all, I’m training blog content writers to gain converts (read “buyers”), not to antagonize readers! Well, then I remembered a post by friend Doug Karr titled “We Should Stop Saying Influential When We Mean Popular”. If you want people to see your stuff, Doug was saying, go for popularity. But if you want a lot of people to buy your stuff, go for influence, meaning building trust and creating relationships.

Interesting. That whole process of considering the Readers Digest letter and then recalling the Doug Karr blog post helped me conclude that it is important, even necessary, to include business owners’ opinions in marketing blogs. Why?
Whether it’s business-to-business blog writing or business to consumer blog writing, it’s opinion that clarifies the difference between that business, that professional practice, or that organization and its competitors.

Ever hear the saying, “There’s a big difference between having to say something and having something to say.” In the final analysis, people are going to want to do business with people who have something to say about their field and about the way they choose to operate within their world. At least that’s my conclusion.
 

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