When Barbra Streisand sang: "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world", she was onto something that bloggers for business need to keep in mind.

Fellow blogger Michel Fortin says that, "When compared to traditional offline business, online people are more important than ever before." That’s because the Internet is cold and impersonal, Fortin explains, to some extent taking the human element out of the sales process. People are easier to forget online, he continues, and a very, very big mistake on the part of any online marketer would be thinking of potential clients in terms of click-throughs and conversion rates rather than as people.

So how does that translate into writing effective blog copy? Fortin’s advice is to make your content more experiential. "Let them feel or imagine how it feels….appeal to the reader’s ego when describing benefits."  Always remember, he warns, people buy on emotion.  (Even in business-to-business situations, Fortin stresses, it’s still people okaying the deals and writing out the checks.)

Michel Fortin’s idea of good selling copy is "copy that presses hot buttons, energizes hormones, and invigorates buying behaviors". In a way, I was saying the same thing in yesterday’s Say It For You blog post when I talked about the claims we make about our products and services.  Every claim needs not only to be true, but to feel true to online visitors.  I talked about how even that’s not enough; readers must be shown how the claim has potential to help them with their problem or need. It has to be – start, middle, and
finish – about people. Fortin calls it painting vivid mental pictures.

"Be intimate. Be ego-driven. Above all, be emotional." is Fortin’s advice to online marketers. "People want to do business with people they like and trust," Chris Baggott, CEO of Compendium Blogware continually reminds blogger.

Barbra had it right long before the blogging era. In posting blogs to promote your business, remember the principle that people need people. Consistently following that simple maxim could help you get very lucky in terms of online business! 

 

Fnu Lnu, a term used by authorities to identify unknown suspects, is actually an acronym for First Name Unknown, Last Name Unknown, a John Doe, as it were. When you’re selecting keyword phrases to use in your website and blog content, it’s useful to remember that you are the fnu lnu in the equation.  Online searchers don’t know your name – or the name of your business!

In fact, unless your business name is precisely the service or product you provide ("St. Louis Cosmetic Dentistry" or "Cincinnati Heating Services Specialists" or perhaps "Best Doggie Care in Des Moines"), at Stage #1 of their search, what the majority of consumers are likely to have typed into the search bar are words describing:

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

Blogging for business, then, means introducing yourself to strangers.  Not that it isn’t a good idea to email links to your blog posts to existing customers and clients, but, for developing new relationships, your blog will be your central prospecting tool.

To convert those "strangers" to friends and customers, then, address your blog posts to them, and write about them.  Fact is, they’re going to care about your name only if and when they know you care about their problems and needs, and that you have just the means to take care of them.

Because of the relevant, recent, and frequently posted content you’ve been delivering to the blogosphere, search engines have delivered prospects to your fnu lnu door.  Now that they’ve arrived, introducing what you sell, what you do, and what you know about – with your business name attached! – is what you get to do as the reward for all that diligence.

This is the stage when "Aha!-I’ve-Come-To-Just-The-Right-Place", readable, engaging blog content counts most. Getting from fnu lnu to Joey’s Body Shop, Maggie’s Hair Salon, or Hendricks Bankruptcy Law Office – that’s the getting-to-know-you business blogging goal!