No Joke – The More You Know About, The More You Can Blog About!

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While being Interviewed for the cover story of the Chicago Reader, Robert Smigel was asked how good of an education he’d needed to become a humor writer. "You mean an academic education?",Smigel replied. "You don’t necessarily need one.  What’s just as important, I suppose, is to be self-educated – to read and soak in as much as you can from the world at large." Smigel ended by quoting comic Del Close: "The more you know about, the more you can joke about."
Whether you’re writing your own business blog or getting help from a professional ghost blogger like me, Del Close’s statement is on the money. One of the services offered by Say It For You is training for business owners and their employees on developing content for business blogs.  Of course, blog posts need to keep a sharp focus, in order for searchers to quickly confirm they’ve come to the right spot for the information, products, and solutions they need. At the same time, interesting, different, content is what keeps those searchers reading rather than "bouncing" away from your blog.

To be able to use some of the strategies for blog content development I outline in "Six In A Fix For Blogs", it’s going to take reading and learning. Preparing blog posts that capture online searchers’ interest by blending "ingredients" that don’t seem to match, by tying your content to the news, by relating your content to a celebrity or historical story,  or by debunking myths – that all takes curiosity and self education on a broad scale. Constant curiosity is the secret  – reading, clipping, bookmarking (think magazines, newspapers, websites, and other blogs)  listening (think radio, TV, concerts, lectures), and thinking and "processing" all the way.

Milestone Internet Marketing’s 2009 Online Marketing Predictions are extremely bullish on blogs in 2009 and beyond.  "If done correctly, blogs can help you to communicate with target audiences in a more personal, informal, online setting. Blogs will become essential for business owners who are committed to retaining their customer base and "providing compelling information and true value."

Comics Smigel and Close, and Milestone, you’ve all really hit the proverbial nail on the head.  Simply put, the more you know about, the more you can blog about!

 

 

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Just Watch Those Blogs Brachiate Through The Web!

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Morning Coach J.B. Glossinger’s "word of the day" a couple of weeks ago was "brachiate" (pronounced BRAY-kee-ayt). Brachiate means to progress by swinging from hold to hold by the arms.  Smaller members of the ape family, such as gibbons, get around this way.  Chimps, gorillas, and orangutans are less likely to use this method of travel, due to the heavier weight of their bodies.

That movement of gibbons swinging through the jungle by their arms is a perfect metaphor for the way blogs move around the Web.  Traditional websites are more like the heavier chimps and gorillas – they’re not flexible enough or small enough to swing from site to site, or to move with ease among online conversations the way smaller, constantly renewing, blog posts can.

In the few moments you spend on this blog post, for example, you can easily link to Morning Coach to learn more interesting vocabulary, take advantage of a mini-coaching session on corporate blogging, or learn that the word "pretzel" is related to the Latin "brachiatus", meaning "having branches like arms".

Blogs, by their very nature, are available not only for reading, but for acting and interacting. Inviting readers to post comments and then responding to those comments, encouraging RSS subscriptions to the blog so that individual readers can get back to earlier posts to read more about topics of special interest to the them, and linking readers to other sources of information – these are all ways blogs brachiate nimbly through the world wide web, taking readers along for an extremely exhilarating mental ride.

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Top Reasons Blogs Get Read And Speakers Get Hired

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According to meeting management expert Larissa Schultz, quoted in the latest issue of Speaker Magazine, two of the top three reasons planners hire one professional speaker over another are:

1. The speaker’s content matches the conference’s needs.
2. The speaker is an industry expert on a specific topic.

Reading this, it occurred to me that these are the exact factors that make one blog successful compared to others.

1. The blog’s content matches the searcher’s needs.
Of all advertising and marketing tactics, blogging’s way ahead of the pack because it attracts customers who want to be sold. In fact, it’s the close match between what the searcher Googled (or Yahoo’d or MSN’d or Binged), and what you do, what you know about, and what you sell that accounts for the online meeting of customer and company!

2.  The blog offers expert information and advice on a specific topic.
Your company blog offers the perfect platform for you to showcase your expertise in your field, while offering expert advice and information to readers who are looking for exactly that kind of advice and information!

Blogging for business, you remember, is “pull marketing”. Potential clients arrive at your blog because they’re seeking a product or a service, or knowledge about that kind of product or service, or advice on how to best use that product or service.  Your blog has just the kind of information they want.

And the third top reason professional speakers get hired and blogs get read? ROI – Return on Investment.

Meeting planners, Larissa Shultz points out, are looking to hire speakers who deliver great “takeaway value” that helps the audience (usually employees of a company or members of an association) put into practice what they’ve learned, resulting in enhanced performance and enhanced profits.

Blog readers will make their own ROI judgments – and swiftly. If the blog post isn’t a good match for their inquiry, they’ll “bounce” away and look elsewhere. To the extent their interest is engaged, readers will follow your “calls to action” – by phoning your business, faxing in a request or an order, signing up for a newsletter or RSS feed to the blog, or by proceeding to your shopping cart to buy your products or services. 

From the business owner’s standpoint, ROI is ultimately measured by the increase in the number of people who recommend the company to a friend or buy the product or service. Before either of those things can happen, though, the “top three reasons” need to be present, so blog posts can be found and read.

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What Has Your Blog Done For Me Lately?

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In a recent "Cathy" comic strip, Cathy’s mother is worried that her daughter’s two dogs, Electra and Vivian, won’t remember her after being spoiled by Irving’s mother (who’s been visiting from out of town).

"You’ve spent thousands more hours with the dogs.  They’ll never forget you," Cathy’s dad reassures his wife.  As they arrive and the dogs totally ignore them, Cathy’s mom ruefully remarks, "It’s the elephant that never forgets.  The dog recalls only the most recent salami stick."

Search engines are more like dogs than elephants, SEO experts tell us. According to blogging maven Ted Demopoulous, search engines favor sites with frequently updated, recently posted content. As I stressed in an earlier blog post (see "Fresh is Better for Blogs and Beer"), the key reason traditional websites can’t compete with corporate blogging is that online rankings reward recency.  Without maintaining a system of consistently posting new, fresh content to the blog, the tactic will not pull its weight as part of your business’ marketing strategy.

Truth be told, as Powell’s Books points out, "Blogs and blogging in business are relatively new, so new that there are simply no rules". According to Powell’s, the world of the internet changes so rapidly that one can comment only on what’s working today.  There seems to be little doubt that "spiders" or "web crawlers", special software programs search engines use to index and rank blogs, value "recency" of blog posting (combined with frequency of posting, relevance of the material to the key search terms, and longevity of the blog), so that recency becomes an important factor in "winning search". 

Despite the loving care Cathy’s mother has bestowed on Electra and Vivian in the past, it seems those dogs remember only the most recent salami stick. Even the most wonderfully informative blog posts won’t be enough to maintain high rankings if you don’t keep up the posting.  It seems search engines have a way of silently asking, "What have you done for us lately?"

 

 

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Is Your Blog More Batter Than Bird?

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Where better than a restaurant review for me to find one of those wonderful word tidbits that can so enrich a blog?  Indianapolis Business Journal reports that Maxine’s Chicken & Waffles at Ohio and East Streets has a decidedly down-home feel.  "And oh, those wings…..the breading was crispy and well-seasoned without overpowering the tender meat," (Psst!  Here comes the word tidbit:) Maxine’s wings are "..nothing like the fast-food varieties that are more batter than bird."

The visitor obviously liked Maxine’s for its natural, human, down-home feel. And, according to blog mavens Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos, one of the characteristics writers of business blogs need is "the ability to write in a natural, authentic, human voice."

Besides making for a tasty word tidbit, I think the IBJ reviewer’s remark about the batter/bird ratio is an important one for bloggers to remember.  As a professional ghost blogger, I’m always reading what other bloggers have to say and noting how the material is presented to the reader.

When we go to a restaurant, an important part of our enjoyment of the meal is the presentation – from the general atmosphere of the restaurant down to the way in which the food is arranged on the plate – it’s all important.  But when it comes right down to it, the food has to taste good.  There needs to be "meat", not just "batter".  

I think the "meat" for business blogs is information. After all, searchers arrive at your blog seeking information about what you do, what you sell, and what you know.  The "batter" might be the way the blog site is laid out, pictures, illustrations, and even cleverness in the writing. But, when it comes right down to it, the quality information needs to be there.  Part of providing that extra level of quality is researching sources where most people wouldn’t think to access, and linking to those in your blog post.

Remember me saying there’s a science and an art to business blogging? The fact is, search engines reward frequency and recency of posts (which is the science, and in a way, the "batter"), but what’s going to engage the reader is the quality of the "meat" – the information you provide in answer to their search or their query.
    

 

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