Take the Blogging Gratitude Challenge

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gratitudeThe Fast-Track Gratitude Challenge is a seven-day project created to help us take note of the brighter side of life. Not only did I love the general idea of this website, I could immediately glean ideas for making business blog writing more personalized.

It’s obvious – your customers and blog readers don’t know your products or services as well as you do.  Also obvious, as I explain during sessions where I offer business blogging help, is that you want to provide valuable information to your blog readers. This is not because you want the customers and clients to outgrow their need for you (which, by the way, is a common fear many business owners voice to me when we’re discussing blog content writing). To the contrary, offering useful, actionable, information enhances your value in the eyes of potential customers, positioning you as a go-to person in your field.

But (and here’s where the Gratitude Challenge thing comes in), what if in the course of using your blog to define your company branding and corporate identity, you got personal? You see, what I realized in going through the Challenge is that there’s hardly anything more personal than gratitude, and that there are probably no people we’d rather do business with than the ones who consider the chance they have to BE in their business as a special blessing!

"Pick one of your five senses to focus on each day.  Discover how many gifts come to you via that single port of entry and write about it." That’s the Day #2 Task of the Gratitude Challenge.

Thinking about my own work as a ghost blogger working to enhance clients’ search engine optimization efforts in Indianapolis and four other states, I realize I’m most grateful for my sense of hearing. I so savor the chance to interview business owners and learning about the elements that make each business tick.

In reality, a blog content writer needs "extra" hearing, using a “third ear” to listen to what business owners want to say, but then picking up on each one’s unique style of saying it.  So many business owners and professionals, even if they enjoy writing blogs, lack the time to keep up enough “frequency and recency” to win Internet search. I’m so grateful for the privilege they’ve given me to hear and learn, and for the trust they put in me to "translate" the message to online readers.

What are you most grateful for in your business?  Make a special effort to share that in your writing for business.  It’s sure to forge a greater connection with readers – and it’ll make you feel better, too!  Go ahead! Take the Gratitude Challenge and begin blogging on the brighter side of life!

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A Blog is a Virtual Referral – special guest post by Cindy Hartman

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Cindy HartmanToday’s Say It For You blog post is contributed by my friend Cindy Hartman, blogger and business owner.

Networking is one of the best methods for entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners to introduce – and create visibility for – their businesses. As the owner of a personal property inventory service, I have found networking, and the resulting referrals, is the best method to grow my business. Referrals and connections gained through networking are key to the growth of Hartman Inventory.

So if networking and referrals are the preferred way to build a business, why spend time blogging when I can be networking? Because a blog can be a virtual referral! As a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), which gives me the opportunity to meet women throughout the country, my true reach through networking is still local.

Since it is impossible to meet everyone face-to-face, my blog provides the introduction I might never have received. The posts explain why people and businesses need an inventory, provide some insight to who we, as owners, are and share knowledge gained throughout the years. You then determine whether you have an interest to learn more, at which point you can visit our website. The blog has now become the referral source!

I also write a blog for Hartman Inventory Systems, a turnkey business package. It allows me to reach out to those nationally who are ready to start a business. The ability to have access nation-wide through a blog is essential when seeking connections outside of your local market. Those interested in starting their own inventory company can meet me and learn about our company through these articles.

Our customers have stated that reading my business blog helped them decide to work with us. What did they learn through these articles? They found that we have a very high level of knowledge of the personal property inventory industry, what type of people we are, that we provide a great deal of support and assistance as they start and grow their own business, but that we are less costly than a franchise. It was the blog, and what they learned by reading it, that encouraged them to contact us!

So when asked why I spend my time blogging, I have a very solid, convincing answer. Blogging brings visibility to our inventory service (local) and our turnkey business package (national). It provides credibility within our industry and familiarity with potential customers. Blogging serves as a virtual referral source.

Corporate blogging for business has become the centerpiece for business’ marketing strategy and tactics development, around which an entire social media management package can be built. As a longtime blog content writer, iI heartily agree with Cidy that blogging can serve as a virtual referral source, helping businesses reach further than they otherwise could.  Rhoda

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How to Mix Prints in Blogs

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"To be chic without looking overdone, wear a large dramatic print with a smaller, more subdued print," advises Kristie Leong on eHow.  Refining the fashion concept even further, print clothingLeong recommends choosing two prints that have the same dominant color, with the small print on the bottom.

Leong might have been referring to corporate blog writing.  In these Say It For You posts, I’ve often suggested using "leitmotifs", central themes running through many individual blog posts, themes that are consistent with the business’ overall marketing strategy and with its unique position in its industry.  At the same time, blog posts tend to be more effective when they focus on just one idea.

"Mixing prints" in blogs can work, provided there’s the same "dominant color" tying together two or more sets of statistics, two or more product descriptions, etc., unified by one common theme.

As a freelance SEO copywriter and trainer for business blog writing, I was struck by Leong’s reminder to keep the "small print on the bottom". That advice is right on the money for any SEO marketing blog. Just as the first ten words of any press release are most important, using keyword phrases in the title and in the first sentences of a corporate blog post will help search engines "match" the words consumers typed into their search bar with what your blog post is about.

In corporate blogging training sessions, I explain that it’s fine, in business blog writing, to add more detail, further explanation, and to include facts and statistics to enrich the blog post and add interest, a "smaller, more subdued print", if you will.  Of course, most small businesses aren’t trying to be "chic", just to attract and serve customers.  On the other hand, readers don’t stay engaged in "overdone" blog writing. 

In corporate blog writing and in fashion, it’s best to keep the large and dramatic towards the top!


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The Foley Effect of Blogs

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listenThen National Speakers’ Association President Lou Heckler reminded speakers to start planning a speech with the end in mind – What exactly do you want your listeners to think, feel, or do?

As a corporate blogging trainer and ghost blogger, I would say that very question is an excellent way to begin planning each post in business blog writing as well. It’s almost axiomatic that business owners use their SEO marketing blog to attract online readers. 

The answer to the question about what they want their readers to do is also a given – convert into customers!  Prominent neurologist Richard Restak‘s work offers insights into how blog content writers can help make that happen. While vision is in fact our primary human sense, Restak explains, sound is the primary conveyor of emotion.

When it comes to marketing strategy and tactics development for corporate blogs, it’s useful to learn about Foley effects. Back in the 50’s, a film editor named Jack Foley assembled a studio specifically for creating movie sound effects, using everyday items as resources. Today’s "Foley artists" use sound effects in RV and movies that are often more convincing than the original. As Dr. Restak notes, when you watch a sitcom with the sound off, it’s difficult to follow the story line, but if you can hear the sound with no picture, it’s much easier to understand what’s happening, because of the emotions aroused through hearing.

If there’s one part of Lou Hecker’s question that bears repeating as I offer business blogging assistance, it’s how important it is to craft a blog post keeping in mind what readers will feel (not so much think) about your business after reading what you have to say. That’s why effective writing for business must turn statistics into stories, and facts into feelings.

An advertorial (which is what a business blog essentially consists of), just like the sound track of a TV show, must have online readers mentally painting themselves into your arena, using your products or services, feeling the satisfaction of a good decision, a healthier or safer lifestyle, a more attractive appearance, successes in their careers….

Can your blog posts pass the Foley Effect test?

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Enough With the Unflattering Blog Posts….

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Oprah makeoverO Magazine has an "Enough With The…" section showing before and after photos of several women who’d started the New Year by swearing off clothes that were too tight, too loose, too young, too frumpy, or just plain too unflattering.

Enough with the construction worker clothes:

D. used to hide her broad shoulders and stomach cargo pants, hoodies, and work boots; her "After" photo features her in a knee-length dress that shows off her legs, with ruching to minimize her middle, a look described as sexy, not revealing.

What blog content writers must realize is that a business blog is not about hiding the fact that you have something to sell – it’s about being creative in describing what you are selling!. Marketing blogger Trish Jones suggests starting the creative process by asking "How do I want people to feel when they consume my product or use my services?”  “What value can I add that my competitors are not providing?” In fact, when I’m offering blog writing services to a business owner, that is one of the very questions I pose.

Enough with the undertaker look.

A. whose monotonous, dark two-piece suits used to give her too severe and colorless a look, poses in a colorful but professional-looking silk patterned blouse and contrasting skirt.

Give your copy personality, advises blogger Michel Fortin.  In corporate blogging training, I explain that, even if not all readers agree with your slant on your business area, everyone will relate to your genuineness and the fact that you’re passionate about what you do. Don’t be afraid to make your corporate blog writing "colorful".
 

Enough with the around-the clock loungewear.

J. in her 50’s, discarded her Barbie pink sweats with slimming, neutral corduroys, dressed up with a neutral colored short trench coat, still casual and trendy, but much more age-appropriate.

In business blog writing, it’s a good idea to keep the tone informal, but remember you’re there to do business and to be informative, not chatty or overly assuming. Giving your readers a taste of your personality is fine, but keep it tasteful and on task

Enough with the XXL wardrobe.

At 35, S. wore giant tee shirts over jeans, afraid to flaunt her buxom figure.  Posing for her "After" picture in slim colorful trousers and a jersey top belted at the waist, an outfit that is both modest and becoming. 

Blogging, of course, is part of being becoming to readers. Keep blog posts short and focused around one central theme. It should be obvious that this post is about just one aspect of your business, what you happen to be talking about today. Over-sizing doesn’t work very well in wardrobes or in blog posts!

Enough with the much-too-tight attire.

L. put on some pounds, and her stretch tops were too much of a stretch.  After the consult, she poses in a shirtdress that skims her curves without being too tight, a much more professional look.

Even though you want business blogging assistance to help to make the cash register ring by converting lookers to buyers, go soft on the hard-sell. After all, your readers are the very people who found you through search. That means that what they need is a good match for what you have, what you sell, and what you know how to do. Don’t "stretch" the claims, just offer valuable information and let it happen.

After all, you want your "after-business-blogging-help" photo to show your company in the most flattering light!


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