Researchers used to think people paid to get scared (as a population, we here in the US just finished spending close to $3 billion on Halloween) because they get a high off the relief at the end. But, as Science Daily reports, a new study shows horror fans are just “happy being unhappy”.

People getting “scared” into action is an important topic in marketing, including SEO marketing blogs. Specifically, business owners and those providing blog writing services need to weigh the effectiveness of fear tactics in galvanizing customers into action.

Shock advertising can, in fact, move people to action, I learned, reading reports from the British Department of Health on the anti-smoking campaign “Get Unhooked” (which was banned because the ads caused fear and distress in children). In business blog writing, though, while it’s important to appeal to readers’ need to avoid pain, you’re more likely to “win friends and influence people” in your blog posts by giving searchers a “feel” for the relief and comfort they’ll gain after using your products and services.

One very old selling strategy involves digging for pain points, and then creating a need for what we do or what we sell.  At Say It For You, we lean more towards the view offered by salesproductivityinsider.com, which is more in line with the sort of blog writing services we like to offer our client companies:

“Selling is not a horror show. We can professionly increase
the sense of urgency
to action without ‘scaring’ them.”

“Hoosiers can have exotic animals, but a state permit or USDA license is required,” explains reporter Mary Beth Schneider in the Indianapolis Star.  Indiana blog writers don’t need licenses, but there are some basic rules I’ve found I should emphasize in offering business blogging assistance.

Rule #1 for blog content writers should be the (admittedly subjective) Rule of Good Taste. While the tone of blog posts can (and should) be more conversational and less formal than the tone of your website or company brochure, it’s better not to risk offending the fussiest of readers by using poor grammar or just plain bad language. Claims about the company’s products and services should come across as reasonable and provable, with the use of “special effects’ technology kept in modest proportion.

One lesson I’ve learned as a professional ghost blogger comes from the fashion world, where understated style tends to create a better overall impression .  Yes, in business blog writing you can go “a little wild and exotic” in terms of  showing your uniqueness within your field, but accomplishing that within the bounds of good taste is always a good idea.

Rule #2 for freelance blog writers is to always stick to “white hat” techniques in the effort to “win search”. While SEO marketing blogs are meant to improve visibility, attract more online traffic to the website, and generate sales, above-board blog content writing is above all relevant, providing the sort of on-topic, useful information that searchers need. At the extreme, “Black hat” techniques such as link manipulation can result in getting a client website banned (by a search engine) from search results altogether. On the other hand, explains Wikipedia, “SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, …and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience.”. 

Rule #3, I stress in corporate blogging training sessions, is simply the Rule of Good Writing.  Following Kurt Vonnegut’s advice “Every sentence must do one of two things – reveal character or enhance the action”, I tell Indianapolis blog writers ton keep the content compelling by leaving no doubt in readers’ minds how much you care – about your industry, your products, and your customers. Clarity and focus lend power and strength to the material, while variety in adjectives and sentence structure keep posts interesting.

“State Lets You Go a Little Wild – But There Are Rules,” reads the headline of Mary Beth Schneider’s article about exotic animals.  Corporate blogging for business, I might add, works the same way!