Coloring Contests For Business Blog Readers?

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A favorite lunch spot for me is the Illinois Street Food Emporium in Indianapolis. Well, the other day, besides a very tasty salad and soup lunch, I got something extra in the form of ideas about ways to use blogs to drive business.

Here’s how it happened: Waiting for my number to be called, I noticed something.  Fastened low on the wall near the door of the restaurant was a metal thing-a-ma-gig with coloring sheet handouts for kids to color.  That day’s handout had an outlined picture of a snowman talking with some penguins.  There was space on the paper to fill in the child artist’s name, age, and phone number, and a pocket in which to deposit the finished work.

My first thought was how simple, yet ingenious a tactic those coloring sheets were – keep the kids occupied while Mom or Dad finish up a conversation. (As a professional ghost blogger, I’m always alert for ways business bloggers can engage readers.) Then I realized there was even more to it than that – some kid was going to win the contest and get his picture posted up there and want to keep coming back to the restaurant, perhaps bringing Auntie or Grandma to see the beautiful job he’d done on the penguins! (One benefit of engaging blog post readers is they want to come back to your site, or bring your site to them in the form of an RSS.)

There was one thing missing about those coloring sheets, I realized. As so often happens, even the best of business ideas falls short in some detail when it comes to execution.  I saw snowmen and penguins, but nowhere on those coloring pages did I see the name, address, or phone number, or email of Illinois Street Food Emporium!  Coloring’s a great way to keep the kids happy while they’re in the restaurant (maybe they come back to show off their winning entry or claim their prize). But at least a third of the page was white space that might have been used for advertising.  Uh-oh – a business blog page with no Calls to Action! 

FutureNow‘s  Brendan Regan teaches business owners to "optimize a marketing outreach from the driving point to the landing page and on through to conversion." In other words, for any business blog to enjoy bottom-line success, there needs to be a smooth process, a navigation path,  that begins when a customer first becomes conscious of your existence to when you’re closing a deal.  The CTA’s, or Calls To Action on your blog page, even sometimes in the text of the blog post itself – need to be there and be square!

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Don’t Succumb To Blogger’s Block

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Many start out blogging for business, but the fact is, far fewer are keeping up with their blog – alas, they’ve succumbed to "blogger’s block".  Even with the best of intentions, many business owners find themselves unable to keep up with regular blogging while also keeping up with the many demands of their own business.

Let’s face it: even for the most skillful of writers, blogging for business takes work, a lot of it.  Tip Talks president Bob Chenoweth lists mistakes that can wreck business communications, including:
 

  • Not knowing your audience
  • Not charting your course
  • Not using creativity
  • Not using design elements

It’s obvious avoiding these mistakes takes time, and time is at a premium with business owners.

In Business Blogging – Barrel Through Writer’s Block, Tinu AbayomiPaul, has some helpful suggestions that bear revisiting when writer’s block sets in:

  1. Talk about what you’ve already talked about (give it a new spin).
  2. Talk about what someone else is talking about (read other bloggers, magazine articles, etc., give that person credit and then add your own spin). In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m doing some of those things in this very blog post, bringing in ideas from other writers and adding my own spin.
  3. Have yourself a good rant. (AbayomiPaul warns against getting unfocused or unprofessional in tone.)
  4. Feature someone, something, or somewhere in a blog post.

One of the blogs I follow is Web Ink Now, by David Meerman Scott. His latest ebook talks about introducing conflict in writing. The object is to avoid what he calls "classic propaganda-driven marketing cr-p", that tells readers "Here’s our product. It’s great.  Here are customers who say it is great.  Now buy some of our product." Make blog posts thought-provoking, is the idea.

So there you have it:  a bunch of good remedies for blogger’s block.  Still blocked, you say?  I believe I hear my a professional ghost blogger entrance line….

 

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Blog To Win The Battle And The War

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"The best way to win an argument is to avoid it," advises Reginald Adkins in his Elemental Truths blog, admitting that "you could be perceived as a pushover who won’t stand up for his beliefs."  Barring avoidance, Adkins offers tips to increase your chances for winning battles in which you’ve chosen to take part. 

Blogging for business, you’d have to say, is not necessarily an argumentative pursuit.  Yet, in a way, your company blog is your way of "arguing"" in favor of:

  • Your product (as compared to those of your competitors)
  • Your service (as compared to services offered by others)
  • Your point of view relating to your industry (contrasted with opposing viewpoints) 

So, carrying the example one step further, thinking of individual business blog posts as "battles" in an ongoing "war", it’s certainly worth remembering that your goal as business owner is to keep winning hearts and gaining customers over the long run, and not just winning points today.

Several of Reginald Adkins’ tips are actually very appropriate for bloggers:

Never accuse a person of being wrong. 
Think about a competitor or perhaps an online reader who’s left a negative comment on your blog. "You should express your disagreement subtly," advises Adkins, "making it clear that your opinion diverges from theirs."

Let them talk. 
When it comes to presenting your side of an argument in your business blog, be sure to present the other side as fairly and completely as possible before explaining why your point of view is different.

Back it up. 
"Bring in concrete examples and supporting numbers to illustrate your point", says Adkins. Not only do statistics in a blog grab online visitors’ attention, serve to demonstrate the extent of a problem or issue, but the numbers strengthen the credibility of the points your trying to make in that blog post.

Chill Bill. 
"Arguments can be emotional.  Be calm and don’t let your feelings take over." The most important thing you have to sell in your business blog is you. The tone of your blog reassures readers they’ve come to a place where "nice guys and gals" live, people who play nice with competitors and customers alike.

Business branding expert Tony Fannin defines your brand as "an emotional collection of impressions your customers have about you." In your business blog, then, it’s not winning the argument, but the way in which you won that counts!


 

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Blog Oil Is No Snake Oil

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After the Chicago Sun Times had written a story about fish oil supplements being a mere fad with unproven benefits, many articles and blog posts appeared in defense of the "nature’s wonder drug" Omega-3 fatty acid found in fish.

While, in the interests of full disclosure, I must admit to swallowing a fish oil capsule daily, as a professional ghost blogger and blogging coach and training, I was interested in the fish oil debate because of what it illustrates about blogging for business.

On the one hand, I noticed, the bloggers questioning the efficacy of fish oil compared it to the snake oil fad of an earlier time in America.  Then, writing in the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, John Clough titles his piece, "Fish Oil is No Snake Oil."  This month’s edition of Discover Magazine devotes an entire page to recent reports on the health benefits of fish oil, using Dr. Clough’s title. Referring to others’ blog posts and then stating your own viewpoint is way to showcase your own viewpoints and approach to your business. 

Treehugger.com takes yet another approach to the fish oil controversy that can be effective in business blogs: a survey, posing the question to readers: "Would You take Fish Oil/Omega 3 Supplements?" Online visitors are given four possible answers from which to choose:

  1. Yes, it is worth the environmental cost
  2. No, supplements are unnecessary if you eat a balanced diet
  3. I get my Omega 3 from fish-free sources like flax
  4. Other (in comments)

Using a survey in a blog post is very effective.  Suddenly, it’s all about the reader.  At the same time, it gives the business blogger a way to showcase his/her expertise on the subject. The survey works, because it turns the blog post into a discussion instead of a "lecture".

Compendium Blogware uses a slightly different approach to capture website visitors’ attention and interest business owners in blogging: "Ask yourself these questions:

  • Do you want to drive demand for your organization’s product or service?
  • Do you want to start personal relationships with prospective customers?
  • Do you want to acquire more customers?

In addition to questions and surveys, statistics pack a real punch in blogs. Here are just three of the items from the rather impressive list of the advantages of blogging offered by Buildabetterblog.com:
 

  • Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
  • Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs.
  • 51% of blog readers shop online.

It’s pretty apparent – blog oil is no snake oil!


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Stop Blogging For Business You’ll Never Wear

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In Monday’s Say It For You blog post, I talked about Goodwill Industries’ TV commercial on organizing clothes closets. Then I discovered I wasn’t the only one finding valuable lessons in Goodwill ads. Personal finance site GetRichSlowly.org teaches how to "accomplish that European knack for owning less and looking better" (I can’t think of a more apropos goal for business blogs!)  Get Rich Slowly writer April Dykman claims she’s become a more skilled and targeted wardrobe shopper through gathering tips from fashion gurus, designers, and style bloggers.

"Shopping" Dykman’s article "How To Stop Buying Clothes You’ll Never Wear", I’ve handpicked 3 tips for selecting business blog post topics.  I did that remembering that the goal of your business blog is to bring in customers "of the right kind". These are customers who have a need for and who will appreciate your services and products.

Remember, just as the goal in clothes shopping is not to fill closet space or to own more outfits just for the sake of having them, business blogging is part of an overall business "pull marketing" strategy to attract exactly the right online searchers from your target market. In other words, fewer might well prove better when it comes to the numbers of searchers who find your blog, then click through to your website to become customers.

 1. Think meat and potatoes.
"70% of the clothes you own should be ‘meat and potatoes’, with 30% being icing and fluff".

When I’m training business owners and their employees to create effective blog content, I advise finding 2-5 core "themes" that relate to the business. Some basics include explaining what problems can be solved using that business’ products and services, defining basic terminology, and basic statistics showing that many others have faced the same issue as the one concerning this reader. 

30% of the blog posts can include interesting tidbits of information, news or feature stories in that indirectly relate to the business, or an anecdote that illustrates the core values of the business.

2.  Identify your personal style.
Before buying any garment, ask if it fits your personality. "Only buy items that make you feel like a million bucks."

Your business blog need to reflect your style.  In fact, as a professional ghost blogger, my mission has to be to pick up not only what message you want to convey to customers, but your unique way of saying it.  A "ghost writer" must speak your message, in your "voice", to your customers. As I’m fond of repeating, a good ghost blogger should not, herself, be seen or heard!

3.  Price doesn’t dictate style.
"If the perfect pants in the perfect color are $30, they are a better buy than the trendy, designer pants that cost $200 and work with nothing else in your closet." 

Successful blog marketing does not depend on using the most expensive technology, but upon the most relevant and engaging content. In much the same way as you’re advised to put together outfits that make you feel good, the secret of effective blog marketing is to put together relevant, engaging content that makes online searchers feel they’ve come to exactly the right place for what they need.

"What about you?" asks Dykman. "Do you have clothes you never wear?"  Don’t keep buying more of those, she advises. In that same vein, when it comes to your business blog, stop focusing on "number of hits", or building the biggest community of followers.  Start writing blog posts for customers of the right kind.  After all, they’re the ones who need what you’ve got to offer.  And, you know, when it comes right down to it, that’s the only thing that matters!

 

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