Awhile back, I blogged about four distinct business roles that financial planner Stephanie Bogan says must be filled if a business is to succeed.
  
Finders are the "rainmakers" who develop new business.
 
Binders use their presentation skills to consummate the business with new clients.

Minders are relationship managers and provide client service.

Grinders take care of office and administrative tasks.

The point of the article Bogan wrote for Financial Planning Magazine was that the different roles represent different strengths, and not everyone can be strong in all those areas.
Then, just recently, I read a review of a book about Walt Disney that suggests that the great man was able to play three different roles in his business. 

"There were actually three different Walts: the dreamer, the realist, and the critic.  You never knew which one was coming into your meeting," said one of Disney’s animators.

Disney the Dreamer could visualize extraordinary scenarios, for films as well as business projects.

Disney the Realist made things happen.  "He had the ability to co-ordinate teams of diverse workings to bring his dreams to life."

Disney the Critic "subjected every piece of work to rigorous scrutiny."

As a professional ghost blogger, I work with different business owners who have different skill sets and different personalities.  Most entrepreneurs are aware that blogging is becoming an indispensable tool to market their business and to drive traffic to their websites.  In many cases, though, their efforts are devoted to being Finders and Binders, while their staff members’ time is devoted to being Minders and Grinders. That’s why they’ve enlisted me to be part of their marketing team, to bring the discipline and frequency of posting that win search engine rankings.

Our challenge is to utilize all the unique skill sets and reflect those in the company blog posts.  The beauty of blogging is that while today’s post can focus on the "dreamer" aspect of the business, expressing the passion of the business owner, tomorrow’s can focus on the "realist" aspect, offering a mini "how-to" course on getting the most out of the product or service.

Some companies use a combination plan, alternating blogs written their own team members with professionally ghostwritten posts. The blog reflects different aspects of the business and different personalities. Airflow Technologies, for example, has at least four or five different bloggers telling about Airflow’s indoor air quality product line and offering readers valuable tips on keeping their homes well-ventilated.
 
Think of a blog as nothing more than an ongoing conversation.  People drop into the group, stay awhile, then might move on, while others stop in to chat.  Whether you propose to do the blog writing by yourself, have your entire team participate, or collaborate with a professional ghost partner like me, the content in the blog posts will be a way of continually thinking through and reinventing your business brand.

Just as Walt Disney’s associates never knew which of his personalities might show up at a meeting, there’s just no limit on which aspects of your business show up in your company’s blog!

Posting blogs is how businesses take advantage of the main reason people use
the Web – to find stuff.

The idea behind blogging is that, rather than running traditional ads for your brand of hats, or vitamins, or travel, you provide lots of information on the history of hats, on why vitamins are good for you, and about exciting places to go on safari.  Consumers interested in your subject, but who never even knew your name, come to see you as a resource. When blog readers follow your “calls to action” by phoning your business, faxing in a request or an order, signing up for your newsletter, subscribing to your blog through an RSS feed, or by proceeding to your shopping cart to buy your product or service, you know your blog marketing strategy is working.

But there are millions of other blogs out there for searchers to find, so what is it that can transform yours into a powerhouse?  Fellow blogger Michel Fortin answers that question in one word: PROOF!  Fortin believes that, while some blogs miss the mark because of poor customer targeting or shoddy copy, most blogs miss their goal due to lack of proof.

People are skeptical, he explains, today more so than ever before.  That’s why you need to prove your case, says Fortin, not just tell it or sell it – prove it! If there’s reasonable doubt, you’re going to lose the sale. Your blog is there to make ‘em believe.

There are several kinds of proof you can use:

Factual proof:  Offer statistics about the problem your product or service helps solve

Reverse proof: Compare your product or service with others that are on the market.

Credentializing proof: Tell about your years of experience, degrees, newpaper articles you’ve written or that have been written about you. 

Evidential proof: Clinical trial results, testimonials.

Often in these blog posts, I’ve discussed the fact that frequency is one of the criteria search engines use for ranking blogs and websites. Most blog mavens advise a minimum of three posts a week, with more being even better. It’s interesting that Michel Fortin himself posts blogs just once a week, explaining that “consistency is more important than frequency.”

One aspect of blogging on which Fortin never compromises is conversion. He’s alluding not to religion, but to converting blog readers into believers. 

Lesson for today: Only blog believers become website buyers.