Blog Content Writers Like Martha Washington’s Household Staff

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We business blog content writers are rather like First Lady Martha Washington’s household staff.

Of course, with dozens of kitchen and dining room servants, Mrs. Washington didn’t have to actually prepare the meals served in the first presidential White Houses (in Mt. Vernon and New York).  On the other hand, we’re told, she personally supervised the staff to be sure every dish was prepared precisely as called for her family heirloom cookbook.

So where’s the analogy? As Indianapolis freelance blog content writers, I and my Say It For You colleagues are part of a relatively small, elite group of specialty writers for hire. The reason modern business owners and professional practitioners use bloggers is that there’s not enough time, discipline, or writing skill for them to do it themselves. Still, as was the case with Mrs. Washington, it’s important for the business owner to provide some “supervision” and to set the tone and direction for the blog writing.

Actually, George Washington, like his wife, had writing help, using several very famous ghostwriters, including Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison to compose his political speeches and writings.

What I have found over the years of content marketing through blogs, social media, and PR pieces, is that each Say It For You business client has an important message to spread. The blog content writer needs to ‘buy into” business owners’ or professionals’ passion and special slant on their industry or profession and put a “voice” to those concepts.

Like Martha Washington’s household staff, we content writers actually prepare the food.  The recipe, though?  That needs to take inspiration from the owner or practitioner and from the employees!
 

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The AWAH Template for Writing a Blog

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Truth be told, I’m not crazy about slide presentations. But at the AWAH (Art With a Heart) fundraising breakfast a couple of weeks ago, there was one particular slide in Executive Director Andrew Lee’s Power Point that I liked.  I liked it a lot, as a matter of fact.  The slide was titled “What We Do”, and I found myself thinking what a great template it could be for business blog content writing.

The slide had four bullet sections, with an arrow pointing downward from each to the one below:

  •  WHEN people give us money…..
     
  •  WE send an experienced art teacher to a school
     
  • WHERE they give fun, high quality art classes to underserved kids
     
  • THAT educate, inspire, provide hope


What did I find to like about that message?

First, as a corporate blogging trainer, I teach new Indianapolis blog content writers to help readers follow their logic to a conclusion. Online searchers rarely read. Instead, they scan. With a minimum of effort on their part, those searchers need to be able to discern what it is you do and that they've come to the right place.

Second, there are many personal pronouns: “People give US money…WE send teachers…THEY give classes…  Blogs are more casual and conversational than other marketing pieces. Your readers want to meet the people behind the blog. The message is “WE will be taking care of YOU!"

That slide makes very clear what we can expect AWAH to do, and the “template” is one that freelance bloggers can easily use in marketing a business, a professional practice, or an organization:

WHEN YOU (the writer is telling readers)…hire a professional realtor/bankruptcy attorney/cleaning service/cosmetic surgeon/house painter/massage therapist….. like (name)
WE….take the following steps
WHERE….we….provide the following products and services
THAT….benefit you in the following ways……

It’s really quite a simple formula, that AWAH template.  Translated into my own business, it means that when we offer business blogging help to Say It For You clients, we’re helping them tell their prospects, “Here are the results you can expect when you give us money!”
 

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Blog Content Writers Need Spooks

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“Sometimes a planner needs a spook,” begins an article in Financial Planning Magazine.

It felt as if I were reading this feature story with “two pair of eyes”. Not only am I a CFP®  (now retired from practice), but  a professional ghost blogger and corporate blogging trainer.  I found the premise of the article very applicable to my work in providing business blogging assistance to Say It For You clients.

The Financial PlanningMagazine article began with a true tale.  One wealth manager, it seems, had saved his small business owner client from the costly mistake of taking on the wrong joint venture partner. That “save” happened because the wealth manager called on a professional investigator “spook” for help.

The moral of the story, according to columnist Ann Marsh, is that every business owner or professional needs a team of advisors. While the financial planner may help assemble that team, no one advisor can have specialized knowledge in all the necessary areas.

Why do I think that story applies to blog content writing in Indianapolis? Well, if you’re a business owner or professional practitioner, your blog is (at least it should be, in my opinion) just one piece of the general strategizing you do with your ‘team” – your web designer, marketing consultant, managers, and employees. And, while we freelance blog writers can often serve as “quarterbacks” and help our clients assemble the team of “spooks”, (Subject Matter Experts in various areas such as Search Engine Optimization, reputation management, public relations, graphic design, and web design, and CRM), our main focus needs to be on content marketing and on writing blogs!

FutureNow's Brendan Regan has something to say about online persuasion that business owners need to hear, at least if they want their business blogs to work. The way Regan puts it, we need to learn "how to optimize a marketing outreach from the driving point to the landing page, and on through to conversion."  

A lot of this involves getting the mechanics right, everything from initially selecting the right key words and phrases, setting up the widgets using the blog platform and website software, choosing the right url addresses and tags, having a clear navigation path from the blog to the website landing pages and shopping cart, all of that. (That's the part in which I, as a blog content provider and teacher am not directly involved, but my work becomes much more effective if a Say It For You business owner client has hired experts to get the setup right from the get-go.)

Yes, sometimes we Indianapolis blog writers need spooks!

 

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Yes-At-Your-Age Blogging for Business

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“Blogs are not ads” is a rule I reiterate at corporate blogging training sessions.  Often.

Still, as we’re all aware, the ultimate aim of SEO marketing blogs is to make the cash register ring.  Somewhere in the process of getting that to happen, blog content writers are going to need to deal with buyers’ misapprehensions and objections.

Just the other day, I noticed a six-word billboard advertisement for Indiana’s WGU online university:  “Earn a degree. Yes, at your age!”

I really liked that “take-the-bull-by-the-horns” approach, going right for the anticipated objection and countering it.

“Consumers are skeptics,” explained Bob Chenoweth in a guest post on my blog two years ago. “They have objections, conscious or unconscious, stated or unstated. As a solution provider, your primary goal must be to convert the skeptical prospect into a customer by overcoming these objections and gaining trust.”  Chenoweth adds that business blogging breaks down barriers, and minimizes and overcomes objections.

Debunking myths about your industry is a great place to begin when creating business blog content. Not only is addressing misinformation in your company blog interesting to readers, it highlights your own special expertise and knowledge. So, while blogs are definitely not ads, you can reassure readers’ doubts and make them more comfortable trying out your product or service.

  • Lasik eye surgery: Yes, even if you have astigmatism
     
  • Bankruptcy: Yes, even if you owe back taxes
     
  • Retail store return of product:  Yes, even if you’ve taken the tag off
     
  • Clothing company: Yes, even after Labor Day
     
  • Auto sales: Yes, even with less-than-perfect credit


What’s the “yes-at-your-age” for your business or practice?
 

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Business Blogs Figure in the Formula for Trust

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There’s a formula for trust.

That’s something I learned at Tim Roberts’ session on selling at the Revenue North conference a couple of weeks ago. Trust is a mightily important element in SEO marketing blogs. As a corporate blogging trainer, I felt I needed to hear what Roberts, a consummate sales professional, had to say about it.

First, though, since words are the tools we freelance blog content writers in Indianapolis use to engage prospects’ interest in what our Say It For You clients have to offer, I needed to know the three words Tim Roberts says to get rid of.

Those “no-no” words, Roberts stressed, are “quality”, “service”, and “expertise”. It’s not that my business owner and professional practitioner clients shouldn’t deliver those very three things to their clients and customers; it’s just that those words are so over-used as to have become empty promises in the eyes of prospects.

What’s more, Roberts added, salespeople need to “get rid of themselves so they can use all of themselves.” That’s not as cryptic a statement as first appears, and it’s definitely a statement that’s relevant in blog content writing.

Here’s my take on that statement: When readers are directed to your business’ or practice’s blog, there needs to be a sense that it’s all about them (meaning the readers), not about you.

So what’s the “trusted advisor” formula?  T=C+R+I.

Readers, after all, found your blog because what they needed corresponded with what you sell, what you know, and what you know how to do. Now that they’re “meeting” you, the blog content writing is the key to making clear your C, your R, and Your I.

Credibility – It becomes evident, through the content of the blog, that you’re the subject matter expert they’re seeking.

Reliability – You’ve helped clients and customers “just like them” many times before; you’re familiar with your readers’ needs and concerns.

Intimacy – Your blog presents you as “real people”, with a passion for serving in your field.

In a sense, Google (or other search engine) has “validated” you by matching the searcher with your particular recent and relevant blog. Now it’s up to you to validate those readers and become their Trusted Advisor!
 

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