Business Blog Writers Strive for Substance, With Style

/0 Comments/in /by

“Stop selling.  It may sound counterintuitive, but, seriously, stop selling,” Rheba Estante tells professional speakers. “Speakers who earn top dollar have substance that sells itself.”

Substance sells products and services in blog content writing as well. To deliver “substantive” blogging for business, blog writers need to follow Estante’s advice to stop pushing the PR and start focusing on “knowing what your audience wants and delivering that.” That’s the only road to being seen as an authority and a go-to resource for important things, Estante cautions.

What is substance?  Speaker Magazine says it’s the difference between façade and fact, between appearance and reality.  It’s about providing proof. As a corporate blogging trainer, I really related to one line in that magazine article about “Substance, With Style”:

“It isn’t what you’ve done, but what you’ve learned – and the insights you can share – that give your expertise substance.”

I think that observation is extraordinarily relevant to anyone writing for business. The facts (which are the raw ingredients of corporate blogging for business) need to be “translated” into relational, emotional terms that compel reaction – and action – in readers. The typical website explains what products and services the company offers, who the “players” are and in what geographical area they operate. The better websites give at least a taste of the corporate culture and some of the owners’ core beliefs.

The function of the business blog writing then, is to give readers “proof”, but even more, a deeper perspective with which to process the information you’re offering. Truly effective SEO marketing blogs don’t appear to “market” anything. The substance sells itself.
 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Indianapolis Blog Writers Count to 13

/0 Comments/in /by

Like all trainers, I’ve tended to develop “hobby horses”, points I find myself emphasizing over and over when offering corporate blogging help. Using word tidbits is one of those “hobby horse” things for me. A good word tidbit is any particular combination of everyday words that helps readers have an “aha!” moment, where they’re able to unify things they maybe already knew, but either hadn’t really understood or hadn’t translated into action.

If you’ve ever wondered where the phrase “baker’s dozen” comes from, here’s the “skinny”:

In the 1200’s British bread makers were notorious for cheating customers by giving them very skimpy loaves. Finally King Henry III decreed that loaf “shorting” would be punished with beatings or jail sentences. To stay on the good side of that law, bakers would actually give 13 loaves to any customer ordering a dozen.

When it comes to keywords in blog posts, it seems, content writers tend to err on both sides of the “dozen”, either neglecting keyword phrases or over-stuffing. By using keywords in the title and in the first sentences of the blog post, we assure our readers that the information they’re seeing is intended for them. If we “short” keywords, we’re also not letting search engines know which topics we’re targeting.

As I caution newbies to corporate blogging, though, it’s not effective to target too many keywords. “Stuffing blog posts with keywords makes the text unnatural-sounding, which, as bloggingpro.com explains, “provides a negative user experience and will probably get you penalized by search engines.”

The Google Webmasters site has something to say about keyword use as well: "Don't load pages with irrelevant keywords. Google’s recommendation: "Focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and in context."

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Blogging Like an Egyptian

/0 Comments/in /by

If you’re into Egyptology, it’s easy to find books on the subject. One tells you how to “Run Like an Egyptian”,  others how to “Walk Like an Egyptian”, “Think Like an Egyptian”, “Treat Your Lady Like an Egyptian Goddess”, or even ”Shop Like an Egyptian” .

None of these seemed to have any usefulness in terms of blogging for business. I did find a number of interesting ideas I can use in corporate blogging training sessions in a Mental Floss Magazine article entitled “Gift Like an Egyptian”.

“Want to make your presents felt while globe-trotting? Author Laura Turner Garrison begins.

  • "In Egypt, a gift recipient will generally wait until after the gift giver has left to unwrap his or her treasure.”


It’s possible that some readers of your SEO marketing blog won’t be ready to take action just yet. They may want to wait until later to “unwrap the gift”.   In offering business blogging help, I remind writers to offer different options. Visitors ready to buy should be able to do that right away, but others may want to watch a video or download a white paper to learn more, or merely “favorite” your url and “unwrap” it later.

  •  In Japan, Garrison explains, “your gift may be declined numerous times before it’s accepted.”

In blogging for business, you want to be perceived as a subject matter expert offering usable information and insights. Once readers feel assured that you know your stuff and that you care about offering good information and good service, they might be ready to take action.
 

  •  “Brazilians are somewhat superstitious about the color of their gifts, including the wrapping; black is an obvious no-no.” In Russia, I learned, “sending a birthday present late isn’t rude.  In fact, sending one early is considered incredibly bad luck.”

Knowing our target readers’ culture is crucial for freelance blog content writers in Indianapolis when composing content for business owners’ and professional practitioners’ blogs. There are many subsets of every group targeted, and not every message will work for every person. At Say It For You, we realize online searchers need to know we’re thinking of them as individuals and that we understand their problems and wishes, not merely their stats.

Running like, walking like, thinking like, and shopping like Egyptians – that’s all well and good for general cultural knowledge and sensitivity. But blogging like an Egyptian? That means learning about our target readers and then writing business blog content with them in mind!
 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Mooc-ing in Indianapolis with Blog Content Writing

/0 Comments/in /by

No, I didn’t say we Indianapolis blog content writers should be compared to a mooch, (you know, that parasite-like person who’s always asking you for favors and never reciprocating).

I was referring to MOOC’s, those Massive Open Online Courses) offered by universities and organizations. Always on the alert as I read my Indianapolis Star for interesting material that can be of business blogging help, I was fascinated to read about Ball State University instructor Christina Blanch, who’s teaching 5,000 students from around the world about, of all topics, Gender Through Comic Books.

I was also fascinated to learn that not every university has as positive an outlook on MOOC-ing as BSU. Purdue’s Chief Information Officer Gerry McCartney characterizes MOOC’s as marketing devices.  “They are not an educational device,” says McCartney, “not in their current form.”

Maybe MOOC’s are all about marketing rather than about university-standard education. Since at Say It For You, we’re all about content marketing strategy, we’re more than OK with freelance blog writers being thought of as the MOOC-ers of the Internet. Still, I’d have to point out, business blogs are massive educational instruments in their own right. Anyone providing business blogging services should be able to state “Wow! I learned something today!” and those writing for business should aim for the target readers being able to make that same statement about the informative material they’ve been offered. In fact, information (as opposed to promotion), is what successful business blog content writing is all about.

In the world of academia, MOOC advocates consider those online courses a “disruptive innovation” that will transform higher education for the better. Critics compare MOOCs to trucks that deliver groceries but can’t influence changes in nutrition. It’s certainly true that blogging for business has its own advocates and critics (when blog content writing is compared with more traditional websites and even with alternative marketing strategies).

I found what Karen Head, Director of Georgia Tech’s Communication Center, had to say especially interesting:

“As instructors test the new pedagogical environment, college may not be able to meet the growing need for sophisticated support system.  In our case, we cannot wait, so we continue to make adjustments day by day.”  

Blogging is growing by leaps and bounds, both as an online marketing strategy and as an  educational and  opinion forum. The lesson for me as a freelance blog content writer serving my business and professional practitioner clients is both complex and simple:

We business bloggers will need to continue to make adjustments day by day!

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Blogging Aloud With Imagery

/0 Comments/in /by

I think Holly Becker might be onto something, especially when it comes to a few of the 15 blogging tips she offers readers of Where Women Create Business magazine.

Of course, as a freelance Indianapolis blog copywriter, her reminders to

  • Know your audience
  • Set a schedule
  • Keep going

have become “old hat”, but as a corporate blogging trainer, I loved Becker’s observation that “perfection is not the goal.  …Bloggers are relatable and that is our competitive edge.”  

One excellent piece of advice Becker offered is simply “Sleep on it. If you write a post but are not sure whether you should post it, don’t water it down or delete it – save it as a draft. Read it the next day and see what you think.” In fact, with quite a number of my professional practitioner Say It For You ghost-blogging clients (doctors, lawyers, accountants in particular), all of the blog content we create needs to be preapproved by the client after checking for accuracy and compliance with the regulations in their field.

“Experiment more”, Becker advises bloggers, trying new layouts and formats.

“Inspire with imagery. On days when you cannot write, post a few photos and let the images speak for you. Form a few coherent, short-but-sweet sentences to accompany the photos.”  Besides offering a text-writing ‘break” for the blogger, photos can have an extra purpose: in SEO marketing blogs, embedding keyword phrases in the tags of photos can help in the overall effort to “get found”.

My very favorite of the Becker tips is the very practical suggestion to “Read your post aloud. Hearing your words may help you to better structure your copy and to edit or even add to what you already have.”
 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail