The billboard at the side of the highway read simply 1-866-YOU-HERE, a Call to Action if ever I’ve seen one. The question, of course, was whether or not I, driving my PT Cruiser up I-465, would see myself there on that billboard. 

In fact, as a professional ghost blogger offering corporate blogging assistance, I’d say the ultimate challenge blog content writers face is getting readers to "see" themselves using the products and services described in the blog posts.  Can readers, from your words, "feel" how much safer, healthier, financially secure, and more attractive they’ll be, once having availed themselves of your help?

The giant rectangle with the "I see you here" message that I viewed from the road was obviously a billboard.  By contrast, the majority of traffic to any business blog, as author/speaker Debbie Weil points out, comes from first time visitors, many of whom might not realize that what they are reading is a blog!  In corporate blogging for business, therefore, the I-see-you-as-a-customer message is, by definition, indirect, with Indianapolis blog writers painting pictures in readers’ minds through words.

To facilitate viewing, the billboard was positioned quite a number of feet above the highway level.  A Weber Communications blog advises doing the same think with Calls to Action in blog writing, positioning those CTA’s above the "scroll" line.  That, advises Weber, "gives you the opportunity to draw response from more subscribers…With your Call to Action up high, they can just glance and click.". 
 
The billboard’s simple CTA of 1-866-YOU-HERE was the entire message.  In blogs, though, Weber advises providing multiple calls to the same action.  What I like to remind business bloggers in corporate blogging training sessions is to provide several different options for readers, including

• read more
• subscribe to an email newsletter or to the blog itself
• download something
• contact
• answer a question
• take a survey

Importantly, the billboard fell directly into my visual path as I drove north on the highway.  As a freelance blog writer, I try to put Calls to Action in readers’ line of vision by using bolding, linking, or italics, and by separating content into short paragraphs. In offering business blogging help, I stress this rule:

Call attention to your Calls to Action!

Sometimes it seems that no matter what business you’re in, and no matter how well you run it, there’s some organization or person out to prove your industry and all its practitioners are cruel, uncaring, wasteful, and in for the money only.

As a content writer in Indianapolis offering business blogging assistance and corporate blogging training, one thing I suggest stressing in blog posts is best business practices.  While one goal of any SEO marketing blog is to help your business "get found", once that’s happened, the goal changes to helping the online readers get comfortable with the way you do business.

Mental Floss Magazine highlights the making of the 1991 movie "The Silence of the Lambs", in which the serial murderer is obsessed with collecting rare moths.  Animal rights groups might have protested the exploitation of harmless insects just to make a film, but, thanks to animal wrangler Raymond Mendez, the 300 tomato hornworm moths traveled first class, were kept in a room with special heat and humidity settings, outfitted with tiny harnesses during high speed stunts.  As an Indianapolis blog writer, I was amazed to learn that once the filming was concluded, Mendez housed the moths and cared for them in his own apartment for the rest of their lives.

Blog content writing is the perfect vehicle for conveying a corporate message like this one. Think about your own business.  Is there anything that might be considered unsafe, cruel, or environmentally non-friendly about your industry or your business? What are you doing to mitigate those factors? Certainly, the content on your website can deal with the subject and offer reassurances, but there’s nothing like the cumulative effect, spread over time, of stories, testimonials, tidbits, and information delivered through corporate blog writing.

Negative criticism, say authors Doug karr and Chantelle Flannery in Corporate Blogging for Dummies, is an incredible opportunity for your company…Consumers want to see what happens when your company is faced with its own imperfections.

Take a Say It For You tip straight from the Mental floss Magazine story about the Silence of the Lambs – Don’t stay silent about your best practices!
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