Putting Your Business Blog’s Most Flattering Face Forward

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“New research shows that the left side of the human face is generally more appealing to others than the right side,” psychology professors Schirillo and Blackburn found. Why? “Results suggested that posers’ left cheeks tend to exhibit a greater intensity of emotion, which observers find more aesthetically pleasing”.

That’s a fascinating finding, Huffington Post remarks, but does the study yield a practical take-away message for people who want to look their best? Yes, says Dr. Schirillo: "Practically, people should turn slightly so that they show more of their left than their right cheek when being photographed."

As a content marketer and corporate blogging trainer, I find this right-side/left-side research fascinating, too.  More important, I can find more than one practical take-away messages for us Indianapolis business blog content writers.

The Nielsen Norman Group did their own study on how users read web pages, finding that users often use an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe. First, users read horizontally across the upper part of the content. Next, they move down a bit and read across again.  Finally, users scan the left side in a vertical movement. The take-away? The title and first ”pow” sentence of blog content are of crucial importance in readers’ split-second decision to read more or “bounce”.

Exhibiting emotion in content marketing is a good thing. In fact, emotional impact is an essential ingredient in all good writing.  Brandon Royal, author of the Little Red Writing Book, comes back to that concept again and again. We need “close-ups”, he says, for emotional connection and impact.

Are you putting your business blog’s most flattering face forward?
 

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Blog Content Writers – We’ve “Arrived”!

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If you’re reading this post, I bet you thought social media had “arrived” long ago. They hadn’t, but now they have, (now that the SEC has “blessed” Facebook and Twitter and allowed investment information to be disclosed on those sites, that is)..

I must tell you: As a 27-year veteran of the compliance-top-heavy financial planning profession, now a professional ghost blogger and content marketing trainer, I got a giant chuckle out of the Wall Street Journal headline “SEC Embraces Social Media.”

In case any of my Say It For You business blog readers missed the big announcement, “…the Security and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that postingson sites such as Facebook and Twitter are just as good as press releases and company websites, as long as the companies have told investors which outlets they intend to use.”

It was obvious that the SEC watchdog people had happened upon Roger Laing’s new book “Social Media Marketing Made Easy.” Laing defines blogs as “online journals for individuals and businesses.”  “Blogs and bloggers often rival major media companies as sources of information,” Laing adds, much to the delight of all of us Indianapolis business blog writers.

Blogging for business, Laing proclaims, “lets you share knowledge and expertise to boost sales and promote your business, both directly and indirectly.”  What’s more, he explains, the blog allows you to show your value as a commercial partner.

Promoting businesses and professional practices, sharing knowledge and demonstrating value – that’s what we freelance blog content writers are out to do! (Boy, that SEC blessing has us beaming!)
 

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Blog Content Writers Like Martha Washington’s Household Staff

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We business blog content writers are rather like First Lady Martha Washington’s household staff.

Of course, with dozens of kitchen and dining room servants, Mrs. Washington didn’t have to actually prepare the meals served in the first presidential White Houses (in Mt. Vernon and New York).  On the other hand, we’re told, she personally supervised the staff to be sure every dish was prepared precisely as called for her family heirloom cookbook.

So where’s the analogy? As Indianapolis freelance blog content writers, I and my Say It For You colleagues are part of a relatively small, elite group of specialty writers for hire. The reason modern business owners and professional practitioners use bloggers is that there’s not enough time, discipline, or writing skill for them to do it themselves. Still, as was the case with Mrs. Washington, it’s important for the business owner to provide some “supervision” and to set the tone and direction for the blog writing.

Actually, George Washington, like his wife, had writing help, using several very famous ghostwriters, including Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison to compose his political speeches and writings.

What I have found over the years of content marketing through blogs, social media, and PR pieces, is that each Say It For You business client has an important message to spread. The blog content writer needs to ‘buy into” business owners’ or professionals’ passion and special slant on their industry or profession and put a “voice” to those concepts.

Like Martha Washington’s household staff, we content writers actually prepare the food.  The recipe, though?  That needs to take inspiration from the owner or practitioner and from the employees!
 

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The AWAH Template for Writing a Blog

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Truth be told, I’m not crazy about slide presentations. But at the AWAH (Art With a Heart) fundraising breakfast a couple of weeks ago, there was one particular slide in Executive Director Andrew Lee’s Power Point that I liked.  I liked it a lot, as a matter of fact.  The slide was titled “What We Do”, and I found myself thinking what a great template it could be for business blog content writing.

The slide had four bullet sections, with an arrow pointing downward from each to the one below:

  •  WHEN people give us money…..
     
  •  WE send an experienced art teacher to a school
     
  • WHERE they give fun, high quality art classes to underserved kids
     
  • THAT educate, inspire, provide hope


What did I find to like about that message?

First, as a corporate blogging trainer, I teach new Indianapolis blog content writers to help readers follow their logic to a conclusion. Online searchers rarely read. Instead, they scan. With a minimum of effort on their part, those searchers need to be able to discern what it is you do and that they've come to the right place.

Second, there are many personal pronouns: “People give US money…WE send teachers…THEY give classes…  Blogs are more casual and conversational than other marketing pieces. Your readers want to meet the people behind the blog. The message is “WE will be taking care of YOU!"

That slide makes very clear what we can expect AWAH to do, and the “template” is one that freelance bloggers can easily use in marketing a business, a professional practice, or an organization:

WHEN YOU (the writer is telling readers)…hire a professional realtor/bankruptcy attorney/cleaning service/cosmetic surgeon/house painter/massage therapist….. like (name)
WE….take the following steps
WHERE….we….provide the following products and services
THAT….benefit you in the following ways……

It’s really quite a simple formula, that AWAH template.  Translated into my own business, it means that when we offer business blogging help to Say It For You clients, we’re helping them tell their prospects, “Here are the results you can expect when you give us money!”
 

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Blog Content Writers Need Spooks

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“Sometimes a planner needs a spook,” begins an article in Financial Planning Magazine.

It felt as if I were reading this feature story with “two pair of eyes”. Not only am I a CFP®  (now retired from practice), but  a professional ghost blogger and corporate blogging trainer.  I found the premise of the article very applicable to my work in providing business blogging assistance to Say It For You clients.

The Financial PlanningMagazine article began with a true tale.  One wealth manager, it seems, had saved his small business owner client from the costly mistake of taking on the wrong joint venture partner. That “save” happened because the wealth manager called on a professional investigator “spook” for help.

The moral of the story, according to columnist Ann Marsh, is that every business owner or professional needs a team of advisors. While the financial planner may help assemble that team, no one advisor can have specialized knowledge in all the necessary areas.

Why do I think that story applies to blog content writing in Indianapolis? Well, if you’re a business owner or professional practitioner, your blog is (at least it should be, in my opinion) just one piece of the general strategizing you do with your ‘team” – your web designer, marketing consultant, managers, and employees. And, while we freelance blog writers can often serve as “quarterbacks” and help our clients assemble the team of “spooks”, (Subject Matter Experts in various areas such as Search Engine Optimization, reputation management, public relations, graphic design, and web design, and CRM), our main focus needs to be on content marketing and on writing blogs!

FutureNow's Brendan Regan has something to say about online persuasion that business owners need to hear, at least if they want their business blogs to work. The way Regan puts it, we need to learn "how to optimize a marketing outreach from the driving point to the landing page, and on through to conversion."  

A lot of this involves getting the mechanics right, everything from initially selecting the right key words and phrases, setting up the widgets using the blog platform and website software, choosing the right url addresses and tags, having a clear navigation path from the blog to the website landing pages and shopping cart, all of that. (That's the part in which I, as a blog content provider and teacher am not directly involved, but my work becomes much more effective if a Say It For You business owner client has hired experts to get the setup right from the get-go.)

Yes, sometimes we Indianapolis blog writers need spooks!

 

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