For the article "Tips From The Inside", Inc. Magazine interviewed the purchasing agents of several mega-corporations, asking how each preferred to be sold to by suppliers and vendors.  I was fascinated by the answers, realizing that every one of those tips should be helpful for business bloggers in converting online searchers to customers and clients.

Three of the agents stressed the importance of vendors gaining an understanding the needs of their companies before making the "pitch":

From Valero Energy:
"It adds some credibility when you’ve invested time researching Valero and learning what role you might play in it."

From Intuit:
"Show you understand what our pain points are and then try to address those."

From Coca-Cola:
"The first time we hear from you should not be at bid time.  ..Come in, spend the time with us…"

Researching and understanding your target market is one of the ABC’s of all selling, and blogging to a target market is crucial to success in engaging readers.  Read, read, read is my best advice as a professional blogger and business blogging trainer. From local business newspapers to your competitors’ blog posts – it all helps hone your own message.

From Dell:
"We always tell people that, if they want to compete, they need to support customers regardless of geographic location."

One observation that I read in a white paper from Compendium Blogware really stuck in my mind. CEO Chris Baggott explained that, at the end of the day, all search is local.  In other words, each customer needs to find value "where they are" (both geographically and in terms of their unique needs). From an SEO standpoint, one tip Baggott offers bloggers is to, whenever possible, mention locations in page titles. "Location is one of the most important signals your blog provides to a "crawler", he explains.

From Northrup Grumman:
"Be as specific as possible when describing what you can do for us.  Don’t be shy.  If you have a capability, highlight that capability."

One concern business owners express to me is they don’t want to come across as boastful or self-serving in their blog. At the same time, it’s crucial for the blog posts to outline compelling reasons for prospects to work with them rather than with the competition. Being very specific and highlighting your unique capabilities (whether in the realm of above-and-beyond service, the product itself, experience, or specialized expertise) – being specific is a way to let the facts do the boasting!

 

When Success Magazine talks about healthy eating, it’s in terms of "knowing your size".

Since the average restaurant’s serving size of pasta, for example, is enough for five people, the advice Success offers is to order a to-go box with your meal, consuming just one serving’s worth of food on the spot. Then (based on the old forewarned-is-forearmed idea), Success cuts other portions down to size:

• 1 ounce of cheese is the size of a pair of dice
• 3 ounces of meat is the size of a deck of playing cards
• One 12 ounce potato is the size of a baseball
• 1 cup of rice or pasta is the size of your fist

 
When it comes to effective blogging for business, we need to "know our size" as well, exercising "portion control" in the length of paragraphs, of blog titles and of entire blog posts. That’s a hefty order in itself (pun intended), because blogs need to be conversational rather than billboard-style, and be sprinkled with enough keyword phrase use to attract targeted online traffic. Blogging, like food, is about content, and finding the right spot on the less-is-more continuum is the trick.

The professional ghost blogger rule I try to keep in mind and one I teach to business owners is this:
 

"Make each blog post as short as possible, but no shorter."

(Stick to one central idea, and then say it until it’s said.)

Using the Success Magazine notion (if only we realized how much more than our share we’ve been eating at the restaurant, we’d have the strength to shovel the remainder into the box!) here is some measured food for thought about blogs:

• 1 snappy blog post title containing 1 keyword phrase should be no more than 6-7 words long
• 1 350-word blog post might consist of 4 to 5 short paragraphs. Vary the size of your paragraphs.
• Each blog post might contain 4 or 5 keyword phrases.
• Each post might contain 1 – 3 links to other sites or to former posts.
• Beginning sentence should be strong and concise, under 20 words, introducing the topic.
• Ending sentence should leave a "parting thought", and, ideally, be under 20 words.

To produce healthy business blogging results, get to know your size!