Archive for category: Business writing tips

I’m sure the last thing on the WIBC newscaster Mike Corbin’s mind was business blog content writing – he wasn’t even aware I was listening to him on my drive home! Still, Corbin managed to give me the kind of gift I treasure – a word tidbit.

The topic of the moment was Republican House Majority Leader Cantor’s loss in the recent primary election. To introduce the discussion, Corbin used three words: “Let’s unpackage this”, he said.

“Unpackaging” – I’d never used the word to apply to our work as content writers, but, yes. That’s actually a perfect description of the way bloggers can help online readers connect with information presented in a blog post. Facts and statistics need to be “unpackaged” or put into perspective, so that readers realize there’s something important here for them.

It’s fascinating, what a big difference skillful use of language can make in every aspect of life and particularly in business. As business owners and professional practitioners, we can get so tied up in manufacturing a good, marketable product and in serving our customers’ needs, we forget how much help the right words can be.

Of course, for content writers, it’s all about words, so that the right word tidbit can be a true gift. When it comes to “unpackaging” information for our readers, we business bloggers are nothing if not interpreters. Effective blog posts, I teach, must go from information-dispensing to offering the business owner’s (or the professional’s, or the organizational executive’s) unique perspective on issues related to the search topic.

One form of un-packaging consists of putting your own “spin” on any messages the public might be receiving about your industry – or about you – from competitors or critics. Sometimes negative perceptions arise from inaccurate press statements, but often, accurate information, incompletely explained, causes negative perceptions.  Blogs are a way for business owners to exercise a degree of control over myths and misunderstandings.

Unpackaging, though, doesn’t need to be reactive.  In blogging for business, it’s important to proactively interpret information in ways that are not only understandable, but usable by readers, “unwrapping”and drilling down to the core of the message.

Just one of the 49 secrets and shortcuts Geoffrey James shares in his book Business Without the Bullsh*t is how to use the Pareto Principle to prioritize your to-do list. (You remember Pareto’s concept – 80% of your results come from 20% of your actions.)

Couldn’t help recalling the Say It For You video I’d recorded about time management for blogs. Allowing 120 minutes total per blog post, I’d allocate 40 for research and “reading around”, learning others’ opinions on your topic and gathering information.  50 minutes should be used, I advised, for the actual writing and editing of the business blog, with 10 minutes for finding photos, charts, and clip art for illustrating your points, and 20 minutes for the actual posting on the site.

The reason most time management systems don’t work, James points out, is that the less important actions are given the same priority as the more important ones when it comes to making a schedule or to-do list.  A more productive planning system would come from following these steps:

• Prioritize each item on your to-do list by the amount of effort required, numbering the item from #1 (least effort required) to #10 (most effort required).
• Then make a second list, numbering the items by expected positive results of each action.
• For each action, divide the effort number by the potential number. The result is “priority ranking”.
  Now, follow your list in order of priority ranking, doing the tasks with the highest priority rankings first.

So, how did my blog content writer’s allocation work out under the Geoffrey James system? Almost entirely on target:

Reading around:                                    #2 effort, #2 results.
Writing/editing content:                    #1 effort,,#1 results
Actual posting                                         #3 effort, #4 results
Illustrating                                                #4 effort, #3 results

Yes, it’s always nice when someone more famous than you confirms what you’ve been saying for a long time. Distilling your own experiences in your business and profession and gathering wisdom to share with your business blog readers are the two tasks that take the most effort and, over time, the ones that make for long-term blogging success.