Finding Uses For Not-So-Useless Information in Business Blog Writing

/0 Comments/in /by

We Indianapolis blog content writers are likely to find a whole lot of very useful information in Don Vorhees’ Book of Totally useless Information. As just one example, I found this little piece about “posh”.

Why is “posh” used to describe something elegant or fashionable?

During the Victorian era, Voorhees explains, wealthy British travelers would go to India on luxury cruise ships.  Air conditioning hadn’t yet been invented, and the air on the route around Cape Horn was extremely hot and humid. Portholes were the only way to ventilate the staterooms. 

Since staterooms facing land tended to be cooler (more shade, more shelter from bad weather) than the rooms facing out to the open sea, it became trendy to pay extra for the privilege of staying in a portside cabin on the way to India and a starboard cabin on the way back home. A "P.O.S.H." label on one’s luggage signified “port out, starboard home”.

So, why do I, a professional ghost blogger and corporate blogging trainer, find such so-called “useless” tidbits of information so very useful when it comes to SEO blog content writing?

  • Common myths surround every business and profession.  Offering little known explanations like the one about “posh” can engage readers' interest (I know that tidbit engaged mine) and entice blog visitors to keep coming back. And, while these tidbits are probably not appropriate for the more permanent website content, they fit perfectly into blog posts. Business owners or practitioner can lead into some little-known fact about their own business or profession. 
     
  • Questions in blog post titles help capture interest (that’s the technique Vorhees used to capture his readers’ interest, including my own). How much…? How far….? How long….? How little….? How true is…..? are all questions that can be used to get readers thinking about aspects of your business of which they might not have been aware. History tidbits in general engage readers' curiosity, evoking an "I didn't know that!" response.
     
  • Back in July of last year, I issued a Tidbit Challenge to other Indianapolis blog content writers.  The whole idea was that any unusual or little-known piece of information can be used to explain the company’s products, services, and special expertise. Since I find that the biggest fear business owners have when it comes to maintaining a company blog is running out of ideas. I was out to prove that ideas are all around us.

Content that is useful for SEO marketing blogs IS all around us; if you don’t believe me, try leafing through the Book of Totally Useless Information!,

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Does Your Business Blog Have 57 Varieties?

/0 Comments/in /by

Does Heinz really have 57 varieties? asks Don Vorhees in the Book of Totally Useless Information. The answer is no! At one point the H.J. Heinz Company produced over twenty times that number of food products, Vorhees explains. Riding the elevated train in New York City, Heinz saw a billboard advertising 21 varieties of shoes.  Catching on to the special power of using a number on a billboard or in a title, Heinz decided that the number 57 had a certain ring to it.  The rest is merchandising history.

Numbers do have that special “ring” when used in blog content writing for business, especially when the numbers are used in the title of the post. One way freelance bloggers can freshen up their content is to start with an idea about the product or service and then put a number to it:

  • Two best ways…
  • Three problems that often arise with…
  • Four simple steps to….
  • 25 tips for…
  • The eight honest phrases


Not only do numbers add that “zing” to SEO marketing blogs, there are ways you can use numbers to educate your blog readers and demonstrate your own expertise. Numbers help debunk myths. If there's some false impression people seem to have relating to your field or your product – bring on the numbers to prove how things really are.

In corporate blogging training sessions, I advise newbie blog content writers to use proof in the blogs to build belief. Statistics constitute that proof, showing the extent of the problem your product or service helps solve.

An important caution, though:
Even if you do have 57 varieties in your product line, or know 25 tips that could be really valuable to your clients, remember that online readers do NOT want to read about them all in any one blog post!  In fact, at Say It For You, our professional ghost bloggers preach the Power of One:

In fact, blog posts have a distinct advantage over the more static website copy by being narrowly focused. Even if you use a statistic to make your point, or a catchy number for the title, the content itself in corporate blogging is best focused on just a single aspect of your business. Make sure to convey that you have 57 varieties (of information, products, or services), but that today, you’re focusing their attention on just one!
 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

To Re-Purpose Business Blogs, You’ve Got to Have Content!

/0 Comments/in /by

“One way to save time but still get an abundance of content is to learn how to repurpose it,” says Rob Carlson, blogger on contently.com. Carlson explains he’s referring to different distribution channels, including:

  • Blog posts
  • Videos
  • White papers
  • e-books
  • Webinars
  • Case studies
  • Charts
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

I agree, of course.  Generating new content is very time and labor-intensive. When, consequently, business owners and professional practitioners hire professional ghost bloggers to create content for their SEO marketing blogs, they need assurance that the end product will be no single-use deal.

Fellow corporate blogging trainer Brad Smith of Fixcourse assures us “There’s hope.. You can bring in more traffic, leads, and sales by simply repurposing your existing blog content.”

Smith is careful, though, to remind readers of something I teach business blog content writers in Indianapolis:  “You can’t reuse text online because of duplicate content issues, which can negatively affect your SEO.” Still, he hastens to reassure, “If you turn it into another format (like audio, video, or offline), then you can avoid the problem and double your content.”

  • “Of course, you can also flip this around and create new online content from different sources, Smith observes, including:
     
  • Old speeches and presentations
  • Raw data or statistics you’ve gathered
  • Your own past emails, especially answers to people’s questions

A big factor in re-purposing is the joy of the hunt. It’s like shopping for an outfit in your own closet! Of course, a unique challenge presents itself to those of us who provide blog content writing services to businesses and professional practices. Lacking access to our clients’ “closets” of old speeches and emails, at Say It For You, we “mine” that kind of information at periodic face-to-face meetings with the owners and their sales staff.

Talk of re-purposing is trendy in blog marketing circles, prompting me to offer a gentle reminder that to re-purpose content, you’ve got to generate content in the first place! 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Tie-Back to the Opening Line in Blogging for Business

/0 Comments/in /by

A tie-back is a news writing device that allows you to refresh the readers’ memory about past events.” The ending ties back to earlier scenes of the play (or book, or speech, or business blog) to “bring the digressive elements home”, as writer Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew puts it.

I thought about tie-backs and Indianapolis blog writers last week, driving home from Civic theatre’s production of “a Chorus Line”.  The play, one of my all-time favorites, begins with an audition for Broadway dancers.  The would-be stars are learning a routine to the musical number “One”. Two hours later, the magnificent “Chorus Line” grand finale dance routine is done to that same song.

I need to share that concept, I realized, in corporate blogging training sessions.  The reason that the “A Chorus Line” finale, with the dancers now in gold tuxes and top hats, was so very effective and moving is that it tied back to the earliest rehearsals in Scene I. The music made the audience realize the progress and growth that had happened since we heard that music the first time.  It was the repetition that put a point on it all.

As the owner of a professional ghost blogging company, 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 flourish.  But this tie-backing has to be more than just a flourish.  Business blog writing must have emotional impact if it’s to have impact at all.  The “A Chorus Line” ending number wasn’t a mere scriptwriter’s gimmick – it was absolutely essential to the effect of the entire play on the audience.

Whatever you meant to convey in each SEO marketing blog post, indicate what that’s going to be in the title and the opening lines, then “rub it in” with a tie-back!

 

 

 

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Using Incongruity in Corporate Blog Content Writing

/0 Comments/in /by

An impeccably-groomed woman who keeps a messy house – that’s the Webster-Merriam Dictionary’s example of incongruity.

But is incongruity a good or bad thing when it comes to blogging for business? (I was pondering that very question the other day when one of my Butler students showed up in a chartreuse green sweatshirt with the motto “Love pink!” emblazoned all over it.)  Is incongruity good or bad for blog writing?  As a corporate blogging trainer, I’d have to answer “both”.

University of Missouri Professor Praggyan Mohanty ponders, too, examining whether incongruity in ads leads to a positive “aha” effect when consumers “get it”.  “The incongruity in the visual attracts attention and one is drawn towards reconciling the incongruity,” the professor concludes.

Putting ingredients together that don’t seem to match, I teach Indianapolis blog writers on the search for fresh blog content ideas, is an excellent tool for engaging readers.

On the other hand, given the very short attention span of the average online reader, it’s important to use incongruity with caution.  Remember, first-time readers (who probably constitute the majority of visitors to your blog site) went online in the first place needing information about a particular thing.  Because their search had something to do with what you have, what you know about, and what you know how to do, they arrived at your blog.

You might say that precisely because of the congruity between their queries and your content, the search engine delivered those eyeballs to your site.

In using the tools of surprise and incongruity in order to make your blog content writing more engaging, be careful that readers won’t perceive you as a bait-and-switch artist.  The “aha” effect will be positive only when it helps readers locate, understand, and acquire the information, products, and services they came for.

 Incongruity may make readers think, but it’s the congruity that will make them buy!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail