Business blogs are wonderful tools around facts.  That’s why business owners can use corporate blog writing as a way to dispense information, but, even more important, to address misinformation.

Why is that important to do? False beliefs about products and services often stand in the way of customers taking action. You might say that the de-bunking function of business blog writing is owners’ way of taking up arms against a sea of customers’ unfounded fears and biases.  Blog content writing is a way of “cleaning the air”, replacing factoids with facts, so that buyers can see their way to making decisions.

Take this example from James and John Caher’s book Personal Bankruptcy Laws for Dummies. One myth the Cahers address is that “people who go bankrupt are sleazy deadbeats.”

The authors combat misapprehension with statistics and findings from scientific studies:

• A five-year study published in Health Affairs in February 2005 revealed that, “from 1981 – 2001, medically-related bankruptcies increased 2200%.  Most of the filers were middle class folks with health insurance.”
• The fastest-growing group of bankruptcy filers are older Americans and more than half are forced into bankruptcy by medical debt.

Granted, this example of using statistics to combat mistaken perceptions comes from a 350-page book, not a corporate blog.  Still, I think, it serves as a perfect example for corporate blogging training.  Once the myths are out of the way, readers can deal with the question “How could filing bankruptcy help me?”

Every industry, every profession has its myths, ideas that sound true but simply aren’t.  Presenting the actual facts and statistics in your corporate blog writing has the same effect as the windshield defogger on your car. Once the mist is cleared off the glass, you can see for yourself what’s out there – you won’t need to be either told or sold!

Speaking of selling, one concept I continually stress to Indianapolis blog writers is that blog posts are not advertisements.  Hard-selling is nothing but a “turn-off” for online visitors.  The goal, instead, is to win loyal fans and to build trust, talking with readers and showing who you are in addition to what you do and how you do it.

In corporate blogging for business, the products and services you offer, properly presented with the myths cleared away, will sell themselves!

I was flattered when friends Tracie and Greg Mrakich included me among the recipients of their email list of “Puns for Those With a Slightly Higher IQ”. A couple of the cutest, I thought were:

• Santa’s helpers are subordinate clauses.
• Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.
• A lot of money is tainted – T’ain’t yours and t’ain’t mine.

The one pun I’ve chosen to discuss with all blog content writers, though, is more than just funny – it contains some wisdom that can really improve corporate blogging for business:

“He had a photographic memory that was never developed.”

Most business owners can think of quite a number of things they want to convey about their products, their professional services, their industry, and their customer service standards. Still, I’ve found over the years of being a business blogging trainer, business owners’ biggest fear seems to be running out of blog content writing ideas.

That’s why Tracie and Greg’s pun jumped out at me. It’s not, I realized, that business owners (or thefreelance blog writers they employ) don’t have enough ideas – it’s that those ideas need to be developed! In other words, it’s possible to continue to write about the same few central themes, yet continually develop those themes into fresh, interesting, and engaging content.

If you’ve built a business, it’s likely no one has knowledge of its ins and outs as “photographic” as yours.  The basic purpose behind your business blog writing doesn’t change over time – it’s to tell your story.  One post at a time, corporate blogging for business informs readers what you have (your products), what you do (the services you provide), and what you know (your experience and expertise).

The most effective kind of blogging for business, though, goes further and develops and expands on those basic themes. What are some of the best ways to take your photographic knowledge of your field and present that information in fresh new ways?

• “Learn around.” Ideas are everywhere – conversations, magazines, radio, bulletin boards – ask yourself how you can use remarks and observations you hear and read to clarify to readers what you do and how you do it. Quoting experts in your field and linking to blogs written by others shows blog visitors you keep current.
  
• Become a teacher rather than a “teller”. Imagine you’re tutoring the slowest students in your class, helping them grasp some aspect of your business. What diagrams can you use to illustrate your points? What comparisons might you use?
  
• Use stories in the news. Find articles that can help you explain the way you do business or your particular processes of manufacture or of client service.
• Use metaphors.  Writers developing blog content in Indianapolis, for example, might choose comparisons with car racing. You might use the new traffic “roundabouts” to explain how your company takes the hassle out of ordering and shipping.  Metaphors help “develop” pictures in blog visitors’ minds of how they’ll feel using your company to solve their problems.

Freelance blog writers can start with the basic blog content, then add breadth and depth by developing the “photographically memorized” facts!