Business Blog Writing and Political Telephone Surveys

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Busy writing for business in my Say It For You home office desk the other evening, Isurvey was interrupted by a phone call, which led to my having a “conversation” with a recording. The purpose of the call, I quickly learned, was to survey Indiana residents on the topic of the upcoming election, specifically concerning the role federal judges play in politics.

While the call started out as a nuisance, in retrospect I’m glad I made time for that ten-minute survey, shedding my professional ghost blogger’s “hat” and putting on my voter’s “cap” in order to participate.  The exercise actually reinforced some of the things I teach in corporate blogging training sessions about generating business using SEO marketing blogs.

The survey began with general questions:  Did I believe in voting in every election, most, or only some? Did I consider primaries to be important? 
 
Strange, this talking to a recording (Given a choice, I’ll always press “O” to get the live operator). But, never having gone through this particular kind of telephone survey process before, I realized I liked the very idea of being asked, in great detail, for my opinions! I made a note to myself to remind business owner clients and freelance blog writers that allowing comments in corporate blogging for business is a good idea if for no other reason than to engage readers!

The survey continued with questions about age range, gender, even race. As we progressed, though, it became increasingly apparent that the “agenda” related to the appointment of federal judges.  Which did I believe to be the primary responsibility of a federal judge – fairness and impartiality or upholding the Constitution?

So, in what way can all of this be of business blogging help?  In any selling situation (and blog marketing is no different), buyers shy away from sellers who employ strong-arm tactics.  This causes some providers to go to the other extreme, pretending they are offering nothing but useful, free information. Selling? Not at our company!

Taking the telephone survey actually did provide me with some valuable, free information about the appointment of federal judges and how their positions relate to which party wins an election. True, the further into the survey we got, the more apparent the “hidden” agenda became. But the point I want to make here is that it was OK!  The fact that the survey creators had a point of view to sell worked just fine for me. That same process will work just fine for content writers in Indianapolis who are offering business blogging assistance to business owners who want to make their cash registers ring!

When online readers click on a blog post or on a website, they’re perfectly aware of the fact that the providers of the information have an “agenda” and are out to do business.  But as long as the material they’re being offered by the blog content writer (whether that’s the business owner, an employee, or a ghost blogger) is valuable and well written, relevant to their search, they’re perfectly fine realizing the company would like to have them as a customer!

"Sales momentum," as Craig Davidson defines it in Employee Benefit Adviser, is "the process of creating and maintaining excitement in a buyer with the goal of making a sale." I’m the richer for having taken the telephone survey, with a much greater appreciation for the role of federal judges and the importance of how they’re appointment.

Whether your corporate blog posts lead to an immediate conversion or, for now, merely result in a better-informed readers – you can count your corporate blog writing as a winner!


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Readers Want to Know More From Your Business Blog

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“Diners want to know more”, says Tiffany Hsu in the Indianapolis Star, explaining that “fast-food and casual chains are disclosing ingredients and prep methods to draw customers.”

Online searchers want to know more as well.  To draw customers, business blog writers willrestaurant menu have to “disclose” greater detail than ever before.  And that, as I stress in corporate blogging training sessions, is perfectly OK.

Many Say It For You clients start out afraid – if they share too much ” how-to” or “how-it-works” information, their fear is, clients and customers won’t be willing to pay for their expertise. Ironically, some business owners who employ freelance blog writers have the opposite fear – they don’t want to be perceived as “bragging” or “hard-selling”.

Since one main purpose of SEO marketing blogs is to create new customer relationships, I was glad to read that restaurant owners are now going beyond legal requirements that they list the ingredients and calories in their food, and are beginning to provide in-depth material to showcase their expertise and customer care. “If you demonstrate to families that you offer them a safe meal, you establish a tremendous sense of loyalty,” observed one food executive.

That is precisely the message I try to convey to company owners that are new to blog marketing.  In providing business blogging assistance, I can share an insight I’ve gleaned in the process of creating more than 6,000 unique blog posts for corporate clients and professional practitioners:

Telling potential buyers about your special approach to your business, even sharing your special methods, is not going to either prepare or induce those buyers to “do it themselves”! Your readers just need perspective in order to make the right choice of provider – Just why is your way of doing things good for them?

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Don’t Be Beige in Your Business Blog

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beige“The voice of a writer is usually easier to hear in first person,” says William Cane in Write Like the Masters. Why? “Third person narratives so often mimic the ‘beige voice’ of an objective reporter,” Cane explains, whereas “with first person, it’s usually easier to be intimate, unique, and quirky.”

Certainly “intimate” and “unique” are qualities freelance blog content writers want to display in SEO marketing blogs, which tend to be most effective when they are at their most conversational and most personal.

Blogger John Haydon runs a bootcamp about “narrative voice”, and recommends using second person (“you” and “your”) in corporate blogging for business to provide useful information to readers and give those readers the feeling that the author is speaking directly to them.  Haydon’s colleague Nedra, on the other hand, suggests

  • First person for a personal statements and opinions
  • Second person for a how-to’s
  • Third person for news

As a corporate blogging trainer, I recommend a mix of narrative voices, so regular readers of the company blog can find variety. Even a professional ghost blogger, I explain, can write in “I” format when sharing a personal experience that brings out some important aspect of the client company’s products, services, or corporate culture.  First person writing doesn’t mean filling pages with the word “I”, points out blogger gamergirl.com, because” that would allow creativity to lapse.” Brenda Hill of WOW-womenonwriting.com agrees, saying that “we can successfully write in either first or third person…It all depends on the story you want to tell.”

Forrester’s Top 15 Corporate Blogs list is full of companies whose blogs allow readers to identify with the business in personal, unique, and even quirky ways. To stay personal, we Indianapolis blog writers need to show readers we’re talking very specifically to them. At the same time, blogging for business will be at its best when it’s colorful, filled with the company’s special brand of energy and passion. 

If I had to boil down business blogging assistance to one line of advice, that might be “Don’t be beige in your blog!”

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Try Not to Talk to Yourself in your SEO Marketing Blog!

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speech bubbles“Language is at the core of our being,” remarksNoam Chomsky, who’s been called the “father of modern linguistics”. Since we’re always immersed in language, he observes, “It takes a strong act of will to try not to talk to yourself when you’re walking down the street…”

In corporate blog writing, (which takes a strong act of will, anyway, in terms of maintaining the frequency and consistency needed to” win search”), you will definitely need the same strength of will Chomsky describes in order to avoid talking to yourself – and only to yourself – in your business blog writing.

One of the realities about corporate blogs that is toughest for newbie Indianapolis writers of blog content to accept is that other people, specifically online searchers, are interested, first and foremost, in themselves and their own needs, wants, and interests. Their curiosity about what you do – or about what you have to say or sell, I explain in corporate blogging training sessions, will be at its most intense when it concerns testing their own limits or their own knowledge. My theory is that’s why magazine self-tests and quizzes are so hard for readers to resist, and that’s the reason I believe including an occasional quiz or survey is a good idea for anyone providing business blogging services..

In Say It for You corporate blogging training sessions, the What’s-in-it-for-Them Rule is always part of the curriculum.  Speaker Magazine gives some very sage advice to authors trying to launch a new book:

“Don’t tell your prospects how great you are;
tell them how great they will feel when the ideas in your book relieve the pain they’re experiencing.”


Now there’s a piece of advice that can be used by every one of us involved in corporate blogging for business!. As Chomsky so wryly instructed people walking down the street – try not to talk to yourself.  Yes, readers found your blog because they were seeking information, products or services that relate to you, but never forget – now they’ve arrived, what they want to find relates to them!

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Balancing the Bullet Points in Your Business Blog

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“Keep your bullet points symmetrical,” advises fellow blog content writer Brian Clark.to do list One way to do that, Clark explains, is to keep all bullet points in a group the same approximate length. That’s easier on online readers’ eyes, he adds.

That bullet points in general are a good fit for blogs is actually something I stress in corporate blogging training sessions.  By most accounts, search engines like bullet points.  Even more important, I’ve found over the years as professional ghost blogger, bullet points keep everyone on track, especially the writer.

It’s interesting that, just the other day, I was helping a student team at Ivy Tech learning lab put together a Power Point presentation on the subject of effective studying for tests. I noticed that their textbook recommends that students organize their notes using bullet points.

Clark offers a second bullet point-related tip that can relate to corporate blogging for business. “Practice parallelism,” Clark says, meaning that each bullet point should begin with the same part of speech and should maintain the same grammatical form.

This “honey-do” list in a blog by Cypress Media is a good example of Clark’s two rules (All the bullet points are one short line long, and all begin with a “command” verb):

  • Take out the garbage
  • Feed the dog
  • Drop off dry cleaning
  • Wash the car
  • Buy stamps

Cypress’ Catherine Hibbard explains that using numbers in place of bullet points would imply an order of importance; with bullet points, all items have equal value. Like Clark, Hibbard recommends beginning each bullet with an action word where that’s appropriate, but in all cases making tenses and verbs consistent.

There’s no doubt bullet points are of business blogging help, but be careful not to overuse the technique.  I remind Indianapolis blog writers that SEO marketing blogs need to be conversational and personal in tone.  Truth is, we don’t tend to converse in bullet points!

Going back to that Ivy Tech textbook recommendation about organizing material, it seems to me that bullet points’ highest and best use is as organizers. That means the bullet points can be good tools for freelance blog writers whether those bullet points find their way into the finished blog posts or not!

As someone who offers business blog writing services, here’s how I’d sum up the subject of bullet points:  By all means, practice symmetry and parallelism, but consider also practicing restraint!

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