To close out the series of Writer’s Digest lessons I’ve been sharing with Say It For You blog readers, here are some valuable writing tips about “closing” business blog posts that I found in “Clinch Your Closer”, by James V. Smith, Jr..
 

Whether in a mystery novel or a business blog post, nothing fails writers more than a fizzle, a weak ending that leaves readers trailing off in disappointed mood. “What readers say after they put your book down matters more for your sales than what they say when they pick it up,” Smith sagely advises, and the same thing holds true in blogging for business.

Smith offers some dos and don’ts for a powerful close, all of which make good guidelines for anyone providing business blogging services:

Do resolve the central conflict.  Readers want to be uplifted.
Even if you as the business owner or professional practitioner want to show you understand readers’ problems, empathize, don’t over-emphasize. In your blog content writing, don’t dwell on the problem – stress the solution. Leave readers with a path to action and positive expectations.
 

Do tie up loose ends of significance.  Every question you planted in a readers’ mind should be addressed.
But then what? In any SEO marketing blog strategy, something needs to happen next. After we Indianapolis blog content writers have told them the “what” and the “so what”, our job is to answer the question, “Now what?”

Do mirror your final words to events in your opener. It’s the tie-back tactic.
In corporate blogging training sessions, I’m always talking about the “Pow” opening line.  You know, that’s the line that contains keyword phrases (important in SEO marketing blogs to reassure search engines they’ve made a good match and readers that they’ve come to the right blog.  The opening line is also the one that presents a question, a problem, a startling statistic, or a gutsy, challenging statement.

So, now, at the end of the post, do a tie-back to that opener, a finishing florish. Remember the 3-step rule from high school speech class?

• Tell them what you’re going to tell them
• Tell them
• Tell them what you told them.

In business blog content writing, it’s important to clinch your closer!

Writer’s Digest’s N.M. Kelby offers advice for novelists that Indianapolis blog content writers can certainly use. “When you write a book, it’s art,” says Kelby. “When you’re finished, it’s business.  Never confuse the two,” he adds.

In training newbie bloggers, I like to say that business blogging uses both science and art. Proper use of keyword phrases to enhance Search Engine Optimization is the "science" part the equation; writing interesting and relevant content for the blog post themselves is where the "art" comes in. In fact, the reason ghost blog writing is so fascinating a profession for me is that very combination of art and science.

After having offered business blogging assistance to hundreds of different businesses and practices, I’ve found that, in the most effective blog posts, the science and art are intertwined. In great posts, keyword phrases have been incorporated in the text in an unobtrusive and natural way, readers’ attention is focused only on the message.

When it comes to the business of blogging, Watch This. Listen Up. Click Here
authors David Verklin and Bernice Kanner explain how the business side of blogging works:

Advertisers choose and bid for keyword terms that bring up their ads
 next to search results, paying Google only when a web surfer clicks
 on their ad. Since both the advertisers and Google are making money,
the system continues. The true drivers of its (Google’s) ad bounty are
AdWords and AdSense,” the authors explain. 

Meanwhile, we business bloggers provide the smorgasbord of content that keeps those visitors coming, all the while driving traffic to our respective business web sites.
 

“Business is about sales, sales, and sales, and it makes you jumpy. You’ll never tame your beast,” Kelby cautions, “if you write wondering how many books you can sell.” In a way, that warning applies to us blog content writers as well.  To engage readers, we need to focus on conveying the passion we have for our business or profession (or, in the case of professional ghost bloggers, focus on conveying what energizes our clients). Once that’s accomplished, though, we need to stay keenly aware that the bottom line of business blogging is reached when the cash register rings with an online buyer at the other end of the transaction!

Being effective online using SEO marketing blogs can be tricky, because doing business means a whole lot more than just getting found. When you write a book, it’s art, Kelby says.  When you write a blog, it’s art and science.  In the case of either novels or business blog writing, when you’re finished, it had better be business!