Browsing through magazines can be good for your business blogging health, which is why I’ve devoted this week’s Say It For You blog posts to corporate blog writing a’ la Natural Health Magazine. 

My motive for periodically testing my wits in a “Magazine Challenge”: to prove the point that blog content writers need never run out of ideas for their SEO marketing blogs.

While a restless mind seems to be a Rhoda Israelov hallmark, I’ve never been diagnosed with “restless leg syndrome” (I’d never even heard of the condition before all the TV ads began harping on it).  So, why am I choosing to highlight the Natural Health article “How can I calm restless legs?” Because it illustrates an effective way to impart important information in corporate blog posts without the business owner or practitioner coming across as either pompous or critical of readers’ behavior.  

In the magazine article, advice from three different sources is presented to readers:  an integrative physician, a nutritionist, and a naturopath. We read how each one of those professionals describes RLS symptoms and what each one suggests the possible causes might be. From my viewpoint as an Indianapolis blog writer, it seemed that, while I was getting a whole lot of information, the tone was not at all threatening – these were three authorities expressing their points of view.

One very compelling aspect of business blog writing is that business owners have a chance to provide very valuable information to readers relating to their industry or professional field.  In other words, your corporate blog posts can be a tool to position yourself and your business as the “go to” source for things readers want to know!

But what this restless leg syndrome article in Natural Health Magazine showed me is that letting outside authorities help you convey your message to your readers can be a very good idea in blogging for business. For this tactic to be of the most business blogging help, however, I’d have business owners “let the authorities talk”, then add their own spin based on their own experience in their field.

A few months back in my Say It For You blogs, I gave myself the challenge of finding three ideas for blog posts in a single issue of a popular magazine.  A couple of my fellow bloggers took me up on the Magazine Challenge, and some dozen very creative SEO marketing blog posts were born.

The idea behind the challenge was to combat “writer’s block”.  In corporate blogging training sessions, I found that blog content writers’ biggest fear is running out of ideas after weeks, months, and even years of sustaining a blog. The thought was that, as you browsed through whatever magazine you’d chosen, you’d find things that, on the surface, were unrelated to your business, but which would trigger ideas about your business, suggesting new ways to explain what you sell, what you know, what you believe, and what you know how to do. (In my case as a professional ghost blogger, the same technique works in finding novel ideas to explain my clients’ businesses.)

That was in August, and I just finished reading through an issue of Natural Health Magazine that makes me want to take the challenge all over again. So, once again, I’m inviting Indianapolis blog writers to try the Magazine Challenge along with me.

The simple rules, just as a reminder are these: Come up with three different blog post ideas, all based on titles or articles or illustrations out of a single issue of a magazine of your choice.  If you have your own business blog, simply email me a link to your site.  Or, email me your blog post(s) and I’ll publish it on Say It For You as a guest post.

Natural Health interviewed Krysten Ritter, ABC-TV and movie actress, using the star’s answers to reinforce lessons about healthy living. “Ritter reveals her cherished causes, favorite foods and why sleep is a top priority.” Ritter recalls growing up on a Pennsylvania cattle farm, explaining that she tries to support local farmers and eat organic food. She reads scripts while on the treadmill, and tries “to be realistic about my fitness goals.”

The lesson here for freelance blog content writers, I think, is that, while the message about exercise and diet is undeniably same-old, same-old, the reader’s interest is captured because it’s a celebrity saying these things, not a fitness facility owner or health food store proprietor.

The “Top 5 tips for healthy living” are not just any “top 5 tips”, they are Krysten Ritter’s tips, with the cachet factor increasing accordingly.

Anyone providing business blogging services can freshen up warnings, tips, alerts, and news by going on a “star search”.  The famous may not be counted among your clientele, but what well-known person is known for using your type of product or service? Wouldn’t adding a few drops of “star dust” add some glow to your business blog writing?