The Power of One in Business Blogging

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One of the "Seven Deadly Sins of Website Copy", says fellow blogger Michel Fortin, is lacking a clear call to action.  The offsetting good habit, he explains, is focusing on the "power of one". As I was reading about the three aspects of what Fortin means by "One" , I couldn’t help thinking how relevant these are to business blogging.

One message:
"If your copy tells too many irrelevant stories, you will lose your prospects’ attention and interest."

It’s here that blog posts have a distinct advantage over the more static website copy.  Each post can have a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of your business.  Other important things you want to discuss?  Save those for later blog posts!

One audience:
"If your copy tries to be everything to everyone (and is too generic or too complex), you will lose your prospects completely." Fortin advises creating a "perfect prospect profile" by listing all the qualities you find in your most profitable and accessible market.

Blogging can have several different purposes, but make no mistake – blogging for business is marketing.  As a professional ghost blogger, I consider myself part of each client company’s marketing team.  The more focused out efforts are on connecting with a narrowly defined target audience, the more successful the blog will be in converting prospects to clients and customers.

One outcome:
"If you ask your prospects to do many things (other than buy then or whatever action you want them to take), you will lose sales.  Provide clear instructions on where and how to take the next step."

Business blogging is ideal for using the Power of One .As bloggers, we’ve got to focus on creating engaging blog content that focuses readers’ attention on what we have to offer and the steps they need to take to get some!

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In Business and in Business Blogging, There’s No Substitute For Showing Up

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A long-time West Point legend has it that, if a cadet is failing a class, what he should do is dress in full uniform, and, at the stroke of midnight before the final exam, spin the spurs of the General’s boots for luck.

The General in question is Civil War leader “Uncle John” Sedgwick, class of 1837.  There’s a certain amount of risk involved for cadets resorting to this last-ditch attempt to pass: while spinning spurs isn’t against the rules, being out after midnight is.  (For the sake of the ritual, authorities apparently look the other way.)

I suppose, to one degree or another, we’re all creatures of tradition, but I have serious doubts concerning the efficacy of spur-spinning for improving final exam grades.  Author Daniel Pink apparently agrees: at the freshman convocation for Butler University’s College of Business, Pink chose “Show up!” as his most important success tip for students.
Pink made clear he wasn’t referring to showing up at the stroke of midnight, but to students’ consistently showing up for classes or job duties and doing the work.

The same advice, seems to me, applies to business blogging.  As a professional ghost blogger and blogging trainer, I know there is more than one element leading to success in blog marketing:

  • Marketing expertise: This includes identifying a niche for your business and pinpointing target buyers.
  • Technical expertise: This includes optimizing your website and blogsite, and continually analyzing results.
  • Writing expertise: This includes composing blog copy that’s fast-moving, engaging, and personalized – to both your own style and to your target online readers.

Trumping all of these, though, is what I dub “drill sergeant discipline”, which involves the simple but very difficult exercise of “showing up” online.  Full dress uniform is not required, but showing up consistently every couple of days with content to feed into the blogosphere is.

Whether it’s passing your final exam at West Point or winning search, the simple secret to success can be told in two words:  SHOW UP!

 

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What’s Your Most Inconvenient Blog Destination Spot?

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In the July/August issue of Mental Floss Magazine, I found a fascinating little article about a destination wedding.  (As unlikely a connection as Mt. Everest may seem to blogging for business, I think this little magazine piece demonstrates several important things about online marketing through business blogging)

The title of the story is "The World’s Most Inconvenient Destination Wedding Spot", and it describes the 2005 "destination wedding" of bride Mona Mulepati to groom Penn Dorjje Sherpa, both from Nepal, which took place on the peak of Mt. Everest, 29,000 feet above sea level.

The Mental Floss writer is quick to explain that, from the time Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the summit of Mt. Everest in 1953, getting to the highest point on earth has become somewhat less of a big deal.  In fact, more than 4,000 people have accomplished the climb. However, Mona and Penn upped the ante by getting married on top of the world.

And that is precisely my point.  Most businesses have competitors, and, let’s face it – most of the competitors in your field or industry, at least generally speaking, offer customers the same general range of products and/or services that you do. The fact that your business has an attractive, well-designed and easy-to-navigate website – So what else is new? In other words, no big deal.

The point I keep trying to get across as a professional ghost blogger and blogging trainer is that you have to find your own way to be a big deal. And then, you have to find your own way (either through blogging yourself and having your employees blog and/or by hiring a ghost blogger to be your "voice") of expressing your business’ unique and very special "destination", that place "on top of the world" where you’re inviting online readers to share in your special way of doing and being.

Your unique proposition (as sales trainers are fond of calling those "Everests") may be as mundane as getting to their home ASAP to fix the air conditioner on a hot day, selling special bath towels that fasten around Mom’s neck so the newborn can’t fall, or helping disabled people apply for Social Security disability benefits.

Whatever the product or service, your blog posts are what ups the ante, and what makes you the big deal because you care about them and because you have just the solution they need.  The message in your business blogs: There’s nothing too inconvenient for you to do in serving your customers.  On the other hand, dealing with you will prove to be nothing but convenient for them!

 

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Blogging to Readers of Both Sexes

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"His, her, or they?" is the touchy question on which fellow Mensa member Steve Merchant weighs in. "What strategies can be used to avoid gender bias without making language stilted? Does it matter?" asks Merchant.

Thanks for bringing this up, Steve.  Bloggers, including, I’ve found, business bloggers, appear to share the belief that being sticklers about correct spelling and grammar is superfluous. Blog posts are more casual than websites, the argument goes, and should be written in conversational tone.

It probably comes as no surprise that I don’t agree with that view. Putting our businesses’ best feet forward in our blogs, however casual and conversational their tone, means avoiding language that distracts readers from our message –  even if some of those readers happen to be eighth grade English teachers!

In this month’s issue of The Mind, Merchant quotes rules from Words and Type, a respected book in the publishing business:

  • It is convenient to use "his" when both sexes are referred to.                             Each student must give me his choice before tomorrow noon.
  • If you are a feminist writer or writing for feminist readers, it is wise to use the more cumbersome "his or her".                                                                                         Each student must give me his or her choice before tomorrow noon.

The most common solution, and, according to Steve Merchant, the best compromise, is this: Make the original noun plural. 
Students must give me their choices before tomorrow noon.

Out of curiosity, I revisited some random blog posts from two of my favorite fellow bloggers to see how they handle the gender-in-blog-writing challenge.

From Seth Godin’s Check-in, Chicken:

"Another way, probably a better one, is to have each member of the team announce what they’re afraid of."

Rather than the awkward "have each member of the team announce what he or she is afraid of", or, worse, risk being accused by feminists of the sexism by having "each member of the team announce what he’s afraid of", Godin incorrectly uses "they" tp modify "each member". Steve Merchant would advise Godin to use the plural noun members, who could then (correctly) announce what they’re afraid of!

From Roundpeg’s blog:

"Every now and then we have are lucky enough to bring on a new client who has a good idea of what they want…". "Has" is obviously a mismatch with "they", but Taylor, too, wanted to avoid the awkward "he or she" in referring to the new client (singular). 

Steve Merchant’s solution would fit nicely here: "Every now and then we are lucky enough to bring on new clients who have a good idea of what they want."

Does any of this matter to readers (to him or her?) Well, for bloggers trying to avoid distracting readers with awkward sentences, it should!

 

 

 

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Blog Post Titles That Don’t Bait and Switch

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Not to belabor the obvious, but the first thing online readers will see on your blog post is its title;  largely based on that title, those readers are going to make the decision to read further – or hightail it away.  For that reason among many, what words to use in each blog post title is a decision that could prove far more important than you might think.

Titles need to do at least three key “jobs”:

  • Engage and entice readers
     
  • Offer an overview of the topic of the post
     
  • Incorporate keyword phrases to help search engines index your blog

In their new book, Corporate Blogging For Dummies, Doug Karr and Chantelle Flannery suggest using titles for case studies that are results-driven.  “Using numerical results adds that extra punch,” they explain. The book also emphasizes the importance of using keyword phrases at or close to the beginning of each blog post title.

In the course of the constant skimming, scanning, and reading I do to keep the content fresh in these Say It For You blogs, I came upon a really interesting piece about actress Elizabeth Banks.  Born Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell, the actress decided to change her name to "something short and sweet and a little WASP-y, because I wanted to advertise exactly what I was." 

In fact, Banks has hit on an important point business bloggers need to remember: It’s all well and good to use keyword phrases in blog titles, but the post needs to deliver on that implied promise.  In other words, advertise exactly what you are.  In an old routine that struck me as particularly funny, Jerry Seinfeld said that, as an airline passenger, he didn’t need to hear introductions or announcements from the pilot.  "Just end up where it says on the ticket is all I ask," he quipped.

It may be the title that draws the attention of online readers (quite possibly preceded by that of the search engine mechanism), but you need to make sure your readers arrive where it says on the "ticket" which is your title.  Nobody likes a bait-and-switch!

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