Ways to Win People Over in Your Business Blog

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thumbs up"Getting someone to really listen is no small feat," says Amanda Armstrong in Real Simple Magazine, going on to suggest "5 Ways to Win People Over." 

Getting found online’s no small feat either, I can tell you as a trainer offering business blogging help.  An even greater challenge, though, is consistently producing blog content that engages readers’ attention. As a freelance SEO copywriter, I need to pay attention to tactics development when it comes to using keyword phrases.  More importantly, though, I need to write stuff people will want to read! 

1.   "Puncture your own ego," advises Armstrong. "Getting defensive gets you nowhere with people.  Instead, be willing to show humility and, above all, humor."

During corporate blogging training, business owners new to corporate blogging for business marketing often express a fear that, if they allow comments on their blog, some of those comments might be negative. Corporate Blogging for Dummies authors Doug Karr and Chantelle Flannery put that fear to rest, explaining that negative criticism is an incredible opportunity for any company.  "Consumers no longer demand perfection – they actually want to see what happens when your company is faced with its own imperfections."

If you don’t blog frequently, and certainly if you don’t blog at all, you won’t attract negative comments. But you also won’t attract the attention of search engines that can deliver visitors to your website! Winning people over in business blog writing is about getting more conversational and more personal than you would on your website pages. 

 " Don’t be needy," Armstrong cautions. "People can smell any sense of urgency, and they’re easily turned off."

Whether you’re the blog content writer or using a professional for business blogging help, just focus on letting readers get to know you and your company.  No formality.  No elaborate claims.  Hard selling doesn’t work, and it certainly doesn’t work in writing for business. Just "talk"!

More next week about ways to win people over in your business blog…

 

 

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We Don’t Ever Get Ready For Business Blogging – We Just Run Out of Time!

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lateThe Indianapolis Star has a section I love called "Let it Out", where readers can get on their "soapbox" about topics of their choice.  There was one comment that I think should really resonate with any blog content writer – I know it did with me:

"I don’t think people ever get ‘ready’ for Christmas – we just run out of time."

When I first launched my business blogging service, it was because I knew, based on the previous twenty five years of writing columns and  newspaper articles, that no piece is ever as perfect as it might be (given further revisions and research).  At some point, though, you run out of time and smack dab into a deadline. 

With business blog writing, there are no actual deadlines (because there’s no newspaper or magazine "going to press"). In a way, though, getting content written and published regularly and frequently is the big challenge. That’s the reason, in my introductory post for my Say It For You blog, I stressed that one quality that makes for a great blog content writer – whether that’s the owner of the business or a ghost blogger- is "drill sergeant discipline". That’s the reason, in fact, most business owners need to hire someone to provide blog writing services.

I realized early on that maintaining momentum is precisely the area in which business owners who want to create company branding and corporate identity online need business blogging help the most. After all, how many small business owners have time to compose and post blogs frequently enough to "win search"? It’s all about the discipline. Fellow blogger Rick Short puts it this way: "If you won’t be able to stick with it once the blogging becomes routine, after you’ve battled with writer’s block, after numerous distractions beckon, then find a new hobby."

And, back to the Star reader’s comment about never being totally ready for Christmas, the other thing about corporate blogging for business  is you’ve got to be able to let the post "go live" even if it’s not the very best it can be.  Alternately, bring in a freelance copywriter to "say it for you"! Either way, while you may not ever be really ready for corporate blogging for business, you won’t run out of time!

 

 

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Business Blogging About Your Own “Book of Lists” in the New Year

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Santa's listDuring the holidays, American people seem to be "into" list-making. From shopping lists to Santa’s list (he’s checking his twice, we’re told!), culminating in lists of New Year’s resolutions.

One of my favorite lists is the one published each year by the Indianapolis Business Journal, and I think blog content writers can heed an important cue here.

IBJ knows its readers are business people from different industries, different fields of consumer services, or different kinds of nonprofit enterprises, and that those readers will be interested in lists of the "largest" players in their own fields. Providers of services to each industry need those lists, which contain contact names, phone numbers and addresses for each company. "Making the list" is obviously a sign of success, so competitors are checking those lists at least twice, you may be sure.

Good business blog writing, whether done by the business owners and employees of the company or by a freelance SEO copywriter like myself, is targeted towards readers who crave information about the very kinds of products and services offered in that field.  That means that including lists in the content of an SEO marketing blog can be a super strategy for engaging interest and providing information readers will value.

Looking back at the past year of offering Say It For You business blogging assistance, I found several simple lists I used to help readers come up with ideas for corporate blog posts:

List One:   Things consumers are likely to type into the search bar that could bring them to your blog:

  • Their need
  • Their problem
  • Their idea of the solution to their problem
  • A question

List Two:  Calls to action and promises to include in titles in corporate blogging for business:

If you click on this link …

  • …it will lead you to a blog post that discusses the topic mentioned in the title
  • …it will lead you to a blog post that explains how to obtain more of something desirable
  • …it will lead you to a blog post that explains how to obtain less of an undesirable effect
  • …it will explain why one popular idea is false

    What lists can you think of that might:

  • …engage the interest of online readers who have found your blog post?
  • …provide valuable information to them?
  • …clarify what you have to offer to fulfill their needs?

As part of your marketing strategy and tactics development for the New Year, think about including in your business blog writing, spread out over many different blog posts, your very own "Book of Lists"! Readers will be sure to check those lists at least twice!

 

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Ending 2010 With an Attitude of Gratitude and a Focus on “One”

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New Year's champagneLater on tonight, when I’m shouting "Happy New Year" along with the crowd, it’ll be with an attitude of gratitude.  Hard to believe, but this will mark the fourth New Year’s for my Say It For You business blogging content writing and corporate blogging training company. My very first piece of writing as a professional ghost blogger went "live" October 2007, and some 4,500 blog posts, web pages, newsletters, brochures, articles, plus one e-book later, I’ve got a lot to be proud of and many folks to thank for helping me make it all happen.

A repeating theme in my corporate blogging training sessions in corporate blog writing is focus. Each blog post should emphasize one story, one idea, one aspect of your business. I’m proud to have been consistent in preserving that same "one" focus in the Say It For You business model:

  • One writer. Each client company is assigned a single blog content writer dedicated to understanding and giving voice to that business’ goals.
     
  • One client per field. Say It For You accepts only one client in each field of business per market.  That way, all writing done as part of that client’s marketing strategy and tactics development can be devoted towards helping that business stand out from its competitors.

A wonderful side benefit of having only one client per field is the tremendous variety it brings to our work. Our corporate blogging for business topics have included everything from dry cleaning to air conditioning, financial planning to sports, autos to accounting, baby clothes to printing, plus several different fields of the law.

  • One on one contact. Initial in-person meetings and phone conferences, plus periodic meetings for follow-up and assessment help our corporate blog writing remain true to clients’ changing needs.

I’m grateful for having had the privilege of working with more than half a dozen talented contract writers, social media mavens, and even a professional illustrator. Special thanks are due the folks at Compendium Blogware (my client success manager is Dan Lockhart) for their ongoing help and advice. Indianapolis has a wonderful community of bloggers – both business owners and "ghosts" like myself, all with interesting and important things to say (I’ve been proudly quoting several of them in my own posts this past year.)

My blog writing services have the name Say It For You, but later on tonight, I’ll be saying it for ME, shouting "Happy New Year!" with gusto and an attitude of gratitude!

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Business Blogging Provides a Chance to Send Messages to Your Customers, Too!

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From time to time, my Say It For You blog will feature guest blog content writers with valuable thoughts to contribute about corporate blogging for business. Today’s guest blogger is friend Damon Richards, owner of Port-to-Port Consulting.


While the primary purpose for business blogging is to provide useful information to prospective customers so they will want to do business with you, a useful added benefit is the ability to send messages to your existing customers that you’d rather not have to tell them directly. I frequently use my business blog to post information that I want my Indianapolis outsourced IT support customers to know so that it’s familiar to them when one of my computer help desk technicians brings it up in conversation.

A great recent example was the discovery that virus infections were increasing as people started holiday shopping online from work. Personal email turned out to be the culprit, and we wanted to prepare our customers for the suggestion that these sites be restricted. I blogged about that before we contacted the organizations that were experiencing the problem.

In a business blog post, the statement seems more generic so my customers don’t feel singled out. They view things as universal problems, which makes them more willing to implement fixes. At the same time, the information presented is relevant to the prospects that I hope to find through successful Search Engine Marketing.

I’m not suggesting that you use your business blog to deliver bad news instead of taking it to the person who needs to hear it. Nor do I suggest announcing major shifts in internal policies that way. My point is that every now and then the same message that you use to enhance your brand development can be used to inform your current customers. Take advantage of the medium of blogging to reach your customers.

 

In providing corporate blogging training, I explain that blogging is just one part of a company’s marketing strategy and tactics development process. Here Damon Richards has suggested yet another application for business blog writing! 

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