“Which Means That” Business Blogging

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Radio Station WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) is an old sales training rule that all writers of SEO marketing blogs had better remember: Buyers care about benefits, not features.

In “Twelve Tips for Writing Better Marketing Brochures”, marketing professional Al Trestrail suggests a system that copywriters and salespeople can use to develop a list of benefits. In corporate blogging training, I plan to share that system with business owners who are just beginning to blog and with freelance blog content writers in Indianapolis. And, in my work as a professional ghost blogger for business, I think that Trestrail system is likely to come in very, very handy.

Draw up a list of product features, Trestrail advises. (The professional practitioners – the doctor, lawyer, CPA, financial advisor, and insurance agent Say It For You clients can use the system to draw up lists of the services they provide.)Then, after each feature, Trestrail directs us, add the words “which means that…. “The rest of the sentence will be devoted to explaining the “WIIFM” benefit to the buyer or blog visitor. In short, in applying that copywriting rule to the business of corporate blog writing, you’ll be answering each reader’s “so what?” question before it’s even asked!

Each claim a content writer puts into a corporate blog needs to be put into context for the reader, so that the claim not only is true, but feels true to online visitors. Remember, there are millions of blog posts out there making claims of one sort or another. Based on my own experience reading all types of SEO marketing blogs, I'd venture to say only the very top few manage to convey to blog visitors what the claims about their products and services can mean to the customers!

Let’s practice together:  My special challenge to my Say It For You readers is this: Within the coming two weeks, submit to me a description of one feature of either a product you offer or a service you provide, followed by a “which means that” explanation of the way that product or service is of help to users. I’ll link back to you, which means that there will be one more “back link” to your site, which means that search engines will perceive your site as “valued” by others.

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How Does Length Matter in Business Blog Post Titles?

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“How long?” is one question I hear a lot at corporate blogging training sessions. 

Typically the business owner or freelance blog content writer is referring to the recommended length of blog posts. Sometimes, though, the question concerns the length of the blog post title.

Charles of netbulders.org looks as blog title length and content.  It’s not enough, according to him, for a title to contain the words of a reader’s search query.  For the title to be effective, he adds, it must appear to have been created specifically for the purpose of answering that very query.

As a longtime professional ghost blogger, working to create SEO marketing blog content for a variety of Say It For You clients, I thought the example Charles offers is particularly on target:

If he were looking to build a chicken coop, Charles posits, using the search phrase ‘How to build a chicken coop’, two possible results might be:

A. Chicken Coops: Buying, Building, and Maintaining Them
B. How to Build a Chicken Coop

Result A, Charles points out, wouldn’t appeal to him; it doesn’t promise to answer his specific query in detail.  Result B, on the other hand, seems to have been created specifically for the purpose of answering his query.

If there’s a lesson here for all of us Indianapolis business blog writers, it would relate to targeting. In other words, the most effective length for any one blog post title is whatever it takes to signal to online searchers that “right here” is the place they want to be to get answers.

Business blog writing overall can certainly cast a wider net (to include, in Charles’ example, prospective customers who don’t want to build their own chicken coop, but want to buy one and learn to maintain it) the tactic of keeping a very specific focus within each post and clearly describing that focus in the title is more likely to “catch” a click.

In the end, the answer to “How long?” that is likely to provide the greatest business blogging assistance might be this:

Just long enough to get that “Aha!” response from online searchers!

 

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Shocking Secrets for Your Corporate Blog?

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Admit it. The headline “10 Shocking Secrets of Flight Attendants” gets your attention. It certainly did mine. The Mental Floss magazine article offers an inside glimpse into the life of a flight attendant. Always on the lookout for ways to add interest in blog content writing, I found a lot to like about the piece.

“If the plane door is open, we’re not getting paid. The clock doesn’t start until the craft pushes away from the gate,” explains Heather Poole.

Significantly, (and this makes for a good teaching point for Indianapolis blog content writers), Poole makes sure to show how the information about the pay system for flight attendants relates to readers: “Flight delays, cancellations, and layovers affect us just as much as they do passengers – maybe even more.”  In corporate blogging training, I’m always encouraging the use of fascinating “tidbits” and statistics to engage online readers’ interest. But that’s not enough; readers need to know why you’re taking up their eyeball time – in what way does the information have relevance to them?

“We will notice if you try to sneak a dead body onto a plane.” With this “shocking secret”, Poole is following two rules of thumb for effective business writing of any type, including corporate blogging for business.

  • She’s relating to a recent news story (a Miami passenger who tried to board a flight with his dead mother inside a garment bag, because it was too expensive to transport a corpse). As a professional ghost blogger for business, I know that one way to ensure blog content is fresh is tying the content to current events.
     
  • She’s using the information to showcase the good customer service flight attendants try to offer. Talking about deaths that occur during a flight, Poole explains, “On those very rare occasions, the crew will do everything possible to manage the situation with sensitivity and respect.” At Say It For You, we realize SEO marketing blogs have to be focused on readers’ needs, yet at the same time the content must showcase the expertise and the caring of the business owner or professional practitioner.

What “shocking secrets” and “flights of fancy” can you find to share in your corporate blog writing?

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Naming Corporate Blogs and Horses Isn’t the Free-For-All It Seems

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“Horse names aren’t the free-for-all they seem to be,” Mental Floss magazine lets us know.  Apparently, names for Kentucky Derby entrants can’t:

  • Exceed 18 characters
  • Consist solely of initials or numbers
  • Be in poor taste
  • Have obvious commercial connections

 

What’s in a name when it comes to horses?  Well, last year Kentucky Derby bettors threw down a combined $112 million in wagers.

Now, I’m no big bettor – either on horses or on anything else. But, based on my experience with SEO marketing blogs, I’d bet at least some of those race attendees chose which horse to back based on the appeal of that horse’s name.

Whether or not bettor statistics would bear out that theory of mine, it’s obvious a lot of thought goes into the naming of horses.  As a corporate blogging trainer in Indianapolis, I tend to read through rosters of racehorse names with blog post titles in mind.

In fact, the rules of thumb for choosing titles in blogging for business, things I stress in corporate blogging training classes, are not too far from those on the Kentucky Derby entrant list:

Length: There’s no “can’t exceed” rule when it comes to the number of letters in a blog post title, but, as netbuilders.org points out, Google results will reveal only the first 69 characters, and that includes spaces, while Yahoo will show up to 72 characters. (The title of this Say It For You post is 65 characters long.)

Initials and numbers: Numbers in blogs help debunk myths, and statistics can provide factual proof of the problem your product or serve helps solve.  Titles such as “15 ways to…”  “The 7 secrets of….” can stimulate readers’ curiosity. On the other hand, blog post titles consisting solely of initials and numbers wouldn’t be of much help in the SEO blog marketing department.

Taste: While the tone freelance blog content writers adopt 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.

Commercial connections: When people go online to search for information and click on different blogs, they’re aware of the fact that the providers of the information are out to do business. But as long as the material is valuable and relevant for the searchers, they’re perfectly fine with knowing there’s someone who wants them for a client or customer.  It’s not OK to name your horse Pepsi-Cola, but it’s perfectly OK to connect your blog post with the name of your company – or use the name of your company in the title itself.

Blogging for business is more of a free-for-all than horse-naming, it seems. Within the boundaries of good grammar and good taste, and whatever compliance rules may apply within a particular industry, blog content writers in Indianapolis can allow their creativity to roam free!

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3 Indiana Business Blog Writing Tips from 3 Indiana Marketing Mavens

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 Don’t default to creating marketing materials that are nothing more than larger versions of your business card, pieces that focus on your experience, your education, and your services, advises Marketing Bootcamp instructor Angela Phebus.  “Remember,” Phebus says, “what your prospective clients actually care about is the RESULT they will experience if they work with you.”

As a corporate blogging trainer, I make the same point.  While business blog posts are part of a company’s marketing plan, blogs are not the same as advertisements, billboards, or even brochures.  What freelance blog content writers do is help business owners communicate to readers a vision of themselves feeling safer, healthier, more comfortable, better looking, happier, or wealthier. SEO marketing blogs are all about What’s In It For Them!
 

 


 In “Twelve Tips for Writing Better Marketing Brochures”, another local marketing maven, Al Trestrail, offers more valuable advice for content creation: “Putting helpful information in your brochure will encourage the reader to keep it, refer to it often, or pass it on to other people”, Trestrail explains.

Indianapolis blog writers can accomplish some of the same things by including helpful, usable information.  The “teaching” aspect of blogging consists of confirming information readers already know, but capturing concepts in a whole new light.  An “I didn’t realize that…” response might encourage readers to “favorite” the post, and, hopefully, pass it on to other people.
 

  

 


Why would I want to buy what you’re selling if you don’t have ‘curb appeal’? asks Susan Young of AimFire Marketing. From your storefront to your website to the way you dress for Chamber luncheons, people do notice the way you’re representing yourself and your business.

From my viewpoint as a professional blog writer, the corporate blog writing equivalent of curb appeal includes

  • Appropriate grammar and spelling
  • Clear navigation paths when readers want to follow a Call to Action
  • An uncluttered, well-organized blog page
     

Need business blogging help? Take a tip from Indiana marketing mavens.  Better yet, take three!

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