“Cat blogs are blogs for and by and about the person blogging. A cat blog is about your cat and your dating travails and your boss and whatever you feel like sharing in your public diary,” explains marketing guru Seth Godin.

When Say It For You was started five years ago, it was certainly not with cat blogs in mind. I and my blog writing services clients in Indianapolis were interested in what Godin had termed viral blogs. Why write viral blogs? “The blogger is investing time and energy in order to get her ideas out there. Why?” Godin answers: “ To get consulting work, to find new customers for a business or to make it easier for existing customers to feel good about staying.”

I think of business blog writing as a kind of matchmaking service, an efficient, pleasant way to help my business owner and professional practitioner clients “meet strangers”, hopefully converting at least some of those into friends and customers.

Through the search engine optimization process, potential customers searching online for your type of product or service get to your blog. Then, when they read the very relevant information you've provided there, these buyers go to your website, and decide to do business with your company. I explain at corporate blogging training sessions.

 
Well, just the other day, I happened upon a http://www.corporatebloggingtips.com/blog post composed by Doug Karr, founder of the Marketing Technology Blog and co-author of one of my corporate blogging training session “bibles”, Corporate Blogging for Dummies. Karr’s title is “We Should Stop Saying Influential When We Mean Popular”.  Not only was this post based on a very interesting premise, it reminded me of the importance of including opinion in SEO marketing blogs.
 

“If you want people to see your stuff…, says Karr, “go for popularity.  If you want a lot of people to buy your stuff…go for influence.” Influencers don’t have millions of social media followers and fans and they’re not famous. What influencers have done is gain trust and build relationships.

I agree, and I liked reading the way Karr made the distinction. But as someone involved full time with online content writing, I realized I was being reminded of a really important point, one all freelance blog writers and business owners need to keep in mind. Whether it’s business-to-business blog writing or business to consumer blog writing, the blog content itself needs to use opinion to clarify what differentiates that business, that professional practice, or that organization from its peers.

There’s a saying that comes to mind:  There’s a big difference between having to say something and having something to say.”

When working with business owners to arrive at the right tone and the right emphasis for their business blogs, I begin by challenging the owner of the business or professional practice with the following question: "If you had only eight to ten words to describe why you're passionate about what you sell, what you know, and what you do, what would those words be?

When online readers find a blog, one question they need answered is “Who lives here?” Providing information about products and services may be the popular way to write corporate blog posts,but in terms of achieving Influencer status – that takes opinion!

“Gone are the days when speaking publicly meant only that – speaking,” says Jean Palmer Heck, teaching speakers to shoot videos audiences will want to watch. The same cautions might be added to the list of how-to-write-a-blog rules, I’d remind business owners, practitioners, and freelance blog content writers.

Begin by establishing the setting with a wide shot. The wide shot establishes place, temperature, and general environment, explains Palmer-Heck.

In online content writing, the opening lines need to establish that readers have come to the right place to find the information they were seeking. Those opening lines establish the general “setting” for the specific focus of that day’s business blog post. Establishing the setting includes clarifying the “slant” of the post – will readers find “how to” information? A list of sources for products? Some cautions and “don’ts? General definitions and categories?

Use close-ups for emotional connection and impact. It’s the details – of nature and of human faces that stimulate emotional responses in viewers.

“Blogging consists of one person — or one company — communicating directly with consumers in an unfettered, unfiltered manner. In that sense, blogs are a more personal form of communication,” observes Practical eCommerce’s Paul Chaney. In fact, as I explain to Say It For You freelance blog writers, blog posts have a distinct advantage over more static website copy precisely because of that razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of the business or practice. And the “closer up” the focus in business-to-business blog writing, and the more personal the approach, the greater the impact.
 

One mistake amateur videographers make is panning in and out, “zooming” too much. Heck advises turning off the camera before zooming in, so that the focus is on the close-up scene itself, not on the camera’s movement.

In SEO marketing blogs, I remind freelance blog writers in Indianapolis, it’s the recurring “leitmotifs” that connect the various “zoom-ins” of the individual blog posts. In writing for business, the variety comes from all the details you fill in around these central themes.

The leitmotifs in blogs establish the setting which is the company’s or the professional’s signature style. The “zoom-ins” then help blog writing stay smaller and lighter in scale, making for blog posts audiences will want to read!