Don’t Become a Blogging Zombie!

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Not counting what Hat Trick Associates calls “Zombie blogs” (blogs that have been at least temporarily abandoned by their companies), there are currently around 400 million English language blogs online.  The numbers, of course, keep changing, as hattrickassociates.com explains, with new blogs started by the tens of thousands each day, and a large number of blogs dropping off the “radar’ out of sheer neglect.

Because of the low “barriers to entry” (a business school phrase referring to how easy or how difficult it is to get into an industry), Hat Trick goes on to say, almost anyone can begin blogging. 

“So if you’re asking yourself ‘Does the number of current blogs mean I shouldn’t bother with creating my own?’ your answer should be a definite NO!”, concludes Hat Trick. Just remembering those 500,000,000 blog readers (your potential customers and clients) should be sufficient to re-energize your devotion to the blogging task.

Badlanguage.net blogger Matthew Stibbe reminds us of a variety of reasons it’s a good idea to have a company blog:

  • To increase the number of visitors
     
  • To improve your reputation in the industry
     
  • To position your company as an authority
     
  • To interact with your target audience
     
  • To provide fresh content for Search Engine Optimization
     
  • To build incoming links

So why the heavy zombie rate among business bloggers? Hat Trick lists the challenges small business owners face when they embark on do-it-yourself blogging:

  • Finding topics to write about
     
  • Finding time to actually write the posts and upload them
     
  • Adhering to an established publishing schedule

“The main problem with company blogs is that they often get neglected after the initial honeymoon period has worn off, remarks Stibbe ruefully. Stibbe has a great list of content ideas for bloggers to keep handy, including industry news, company news, how to articles, lists, competitions, and opinion pieces.

In my experience as a professional ghost blogger and business blogging trainer, it’s the “finding time” thing that most often turns avid bloggers into zombies. As Hat Trick Associates not so subtly suggests, “Those who don’t have the time and resources to blog themselves can still hire firms like Hat Trick Associates to help them develop content ideas and take care of the writing and posting.”

All those wonderful reasons to have a company blog?  Those are the same reasons NOT to allow yours to become a Zombie blog!

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Fill Your Blog For A Buck?

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Leafing through a coupon magazine that had come in the mail, I noticed different companies using different methods to grab readers’ attention.

Since a favorite topic of mine as a professional ghost blogger and business blogging trainer is commanding readers’ attention, I was interested in the different approaches the ad writers had employed.  There seemed to be three main categories:

Price/Value
The headline above the page filled with coupons for Rally’s (burgers) read: "Fill your bag for a buck."

In similar vein, a business blog post headline might focus on a special offer or promotion.  Or, the title might highlight the fact that your company provides products or services at a price that is low relative to your competitors.

Got a Problem?/We understand
"Have You Been Hiding Your Legs All Summer?" bluntly asked the Central Indiana Vein Center on their coupon page.

A similar tactic in blog post titles would be based on advertising great David Ogilby’s advice to use titles to promise less of something undesirable – less pain, less waste, less hassle (in this example less need to hide your legs).This type of blog title demonstrates your empathy– you understand the issues your readers face…

Promise/Outcome
"Make this the last furnace you will ever need to buy", urges ARS Rescue Rooter on its coupon page.

Focusing your blog title on the end result (which, after all, is what motivated the searcher in the first place) is a very good idea. The ARS ad implies "Let us help you get the job done right once and for all."  That’s an appealing thought, whether the reader needs siding on her home, or is planning a wedding. 

Whichever of the three categories you’re using in any one title, that focus will carry over into the content of the blog post itself: Price/Value, Got a Problem?/We understand, or Promise/Outcome.

(Fill your blog for a buck, anyone?).

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It Can’t Wow ‘Em If You Can’t Use It!

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A friend who collects anecdotes shares an interesting one, probably not true, but one which illustrates a useful point…

65 years ago, the story goes, Carnation Milk offered a $5,000 prize for the best slogan submitted in the form of a rhyme beginning "Carnation Milk is best of all…."

A little old lady from Wisconsin, who’d worked on her family’s dairy form since early childhood, was awarded $2,000. The Carnation Milk rep said to the lady, "Carnation loved your entry, even though we will not be able to use it."

(Hold that thought and your question for a moment….)

Fellow blogger Matthew Stibbs, director and co-founder of Heart Internet web hosting in the UK, comments that "A company blog can be one of the trickiest forms of marketing." However, the company blog has to be one people will actually read, he adds.   It also needs to be one that doesn’t offend readers. 

In "Why Do Educated People Use Bad Words?", the editors of the New York Times point out that while public language in America is becoming less restrained, racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks are even less tolerated today than a generation ago.

For me as a business blogging trainer, the rule is quite simple:  If something you write is likely to offend at all – leave that part out and find a different way to convey your idea.  After all, why distract online visitors’ attention from the business message you’re going to all this effort to promote?

(Now, back to the jingle our little old lady from Wisconsin wrote (remember, this is supposed to have happened almost fifty years ago…)

 

    Carnation milk is best of all

    No tits to pull, no hay to haul

    No buckets to wash, no s–t to pitch

    Just poke a hole in the son-of-a-b—–!

Word to wise business bloggers: Don’t let it all hang out in your blog…exercise good taste. 

(If they can’t use it, they won’tl be giving you $2,000 before clicking away to a different website!)

 

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It Should Be Your Equitation AND Your Pleasure To Blog For Business!

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There are two aspects to winning medals in a horse show, I’ve learned – equitation and pleasure.  "Pleasure" refers to the horse itself – its posture, its control, and its looks, while "equitation" refers to the skill and the posture of the rider.

For example, RaraEquus.com advises equestrian contestants to "keep your head up, shoulders back, and try not to give your horse verbal cues if you can avoid it."

There are a couple of "cues" for business bloggers in all this, I think.  Although it’s not a judge you’re trying to impress and engage, but online visitors, there are definitely two aspects to what visitors find after clicking on your blog post:

  • The "equitation" part has to do with your blog content – is the post well-written, engaging, relevant, and to the point?  Does the blog content clearly demonstrate your expertise in your field and the special advantages you offer clients compared with your competition? One of the ways your readers will "judge" you is by your skill (your "equitation") in providing valuable, readable content.
     
  • The "pleasure" part has to do with the blog site itself.  Is it a "pleasure" to look at your site?  Is it colorful, appropriate in style to your brand?  Is it organized rather than "cluttered"?  Is the site easy to navigate, with links that are easy to follow? Are there too many "special effects", too many photos, too much Flash technology, or is everything in modest proportion and in good taste?  Is the overall impression that of a well-run company with a clear mission?

A second RaraEquus.com tip to horse show contestants can be apropos for bloggers: "A judge would rather see a balanced horse with an even gait do a large circle (which is easier) than a horse get unbalanced and break gait doing a smaller one."

A tip for business bloggers might be in the same vein: Keep your blog messages simple and focused, concentrating on what you know and do well, offering information you think is most important for readers to know. Don’t overpromise, don’t be elaborate. You love this online "contest", and that shows.  It’s obvious you have confidence that blogging is what allows you to attract new customers who are hungry for exactly the services and products you have to offer.

Keep your "balance" by maintaining a consistent pattern of posting blogs about your business!

 

 

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Blog To Say Hello

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I’m always talking about what a good idea it is to use blogs for busting myths.  Myth-busting makes for engaging content, plus it offers the chance to showcase your knowledge and professional expertise.  So long as you use myth busting in your corporate blog to actually showcase (as opposed to showing off, or "showing up" your readers’ lack of knowledge), I highly recommend the strategy.

A favorite myth-busting read of mine is The Book of General Ignorance.  One wonderful chapter is about the word "hello", which we all assume is the word used to answer the phone ever since the phone was invented.  Not true, I learned. Alexander Graham Bell used the nautical "Ahoy!" to answer the phone, while early telephone operators used to ask "Are you there?"  In fact, the word "hello" wasn’t used as a greeting even for in-person encounters until Thomas Edison started to tinker with the phone while inventing the phonograph.

Edison discovered that the word "halloo", which was used to call hounds, could be heard from further away than most other sounds.  Eventually, Edison’s frequent repetition of "halloo" into his primitive phonograph spread to co-workers and from there became common usage.

Halloo, bloggers for business! Just as that word was used to call attention (originally of hounds and ferrymen), the function of each business blog post is to call online readers’ attention to a particular aspect of your business.

Working diligently in his Menlo Park laboratory, Thomas Edison discovered that, when he shouted "Halloo!" into the phonograph, a steel point was created on the telegraph paper. When he ran the paper back over that steel point, the machine responded "Halloo!".

As a professional ghost blogger and blog trainer, that’s a "point" I want to emphasize: What makes a business blog work is the response it elicits.  As bloggers, we need to lead off by putting our message onto the "telegraph paper" (the Web). What has to happen next, though, is that we "hear" our online readers saying "Halloo!" in return, commenting on our blog posts, and responding to our Calls to Action.

 

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