Business Bloggers Put things Readers Care About in Jeopardy

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Freelance blog content writers can find a wealth of business blogging assistance in Writer’s Digest, so this week I’ve been sharing some favorite parts of the Digest with Say It For You readers.
 

Author Steven James teaches budding novelists to maintain suspense in their writing. “Thriller? Mystery? Literary fiction? It’s all the same,” he says.  “Building apprehension in the minds of your readers is one of the most effective keys to engaging them early in your novel and keeping them flipping pages late into the night.”

Of the six techniques James suggests writers use to create suspense, the one that appealed to me most as a corporate blogging trainer was this:

“Put characters that readers care about in jeopardy.”

“We create reader empathy by giving the character a desire, wound, or internal struggle that readers can identify with.  The more they empathize, the closer their connection with the story will be.”

Chris Baggott of Compendium Blogware  stresses that people want to do business with people they like and trust. Readers need to see how much you care even more than how much you know. If readers empathize with the business owner of practitioner, that creates empathy. And blog writing, more personal than traditional website content, is ideal for showing how much you believe – in your industry, your cause, your products – and the way you believe a business or practice should serve clients and customers/

While Indianapolis blog content writers may not be able to put characters readers care about in jeopardy, we can show how certain things readers care about can be put in jeopardy –  our health, our self-confidence, our safety, our careers, our appearance, our property, the proper education of our children. “The threat,” James remarks, may involve the character’s physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, or relational well-being.”

On the other hand, I’ve found, in too many SEO marketing blogs, the content is meant to scare consumers, with the message geared towards creating enough fear about a particular problem that readers will be moved to do something about that fear – now!

As a professional ghost blogger, I advise taking a middle ground. Go ahead and identify ways in which something customers value could be in jeopardy.  Assure searchers they’re not alone in this dilemma or need.  In fact, as you hasten to assure them, you've solved these precise problems for customers and clients many times before.
 

In blogging for business, go ahead and build up the suspense, but   quickly follow with enough information so that the solution is more compelling than they ever bargained for!

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In Corporate Blog Content Writing, When You’re Finished, It’s Business

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Writer’s Digest’s N.M. Kelby offers advice for novelists that Indianapolis blog content writers can certainly use. “When you write a book, it’s art,” says Kelby. “When you’re finished, it’s business.  Never confuse the two,” he adds.

In training newbie bloggers, I like to say that business blogging uses both science and art. Proper use of keyword phrases to enhance Search Engine Optimization is the "science" part the equation; writing interesting and relevant content for the blog post themselves is where the "art" comes in. In fact, the reason ghost blog writing is so fascinating a profession for me is that very combination of art and science.

After having offered business blogging assistance to hundreds of different businesses and practices, I’ve found that, in the most effective blog posts, the science and art are intertwined. In great posts, keyword phrases have been incorporated in the text in an unobtrusive and natural way, readers’ attention is focused only on the message.

When it comes to the business of blogging, Watch This. Listen Up. Click Here
authors David Verklin and Bernice Kanner explain how the business side of blogging works:

Advertisers choose and bid for keyword terms that bring up their ads
 next to search results, paying Google only when a web surfer clicks
 on their ad. Since both the advertisers and Google are making money,
the system continues. The true drivers of its (Google’s) ad bounty are
AdWords and AdSense,” the authors explain. 

Meanwhile, we business bloggers provide the smorgasbord of content that keeps those visitors coming, all the while driving traffic to our respective business web sites.
 

“Business is about sales, sales, and sales, and it makes you jumpy. You’ll never tame your beast,” Kelby cautions, “if you write wondering how many books you can sell.” In a way, that warning applies to us blog content writers as well.  To engage readers, we need to focus on conveying the passion we have for our business or profession (or, in the case of professional ghost bloggers, focus on conveying what energizes our clients). Once that’s accomplished, though, we need to stay keenly aware that the bottom line of business blogging is reached when the cash register rings with an online buyer at the other end of the transaction!

Being effective online using SEO marketing blogs can be tricky, because doing business means a whole lot more than just getting found. When you write a book, it’s art, Kelby says.  When you write a blog, it’s art and science.  In the case of either novels or business blog writing, when you’re finished, it had better be business!

 

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From Idea to Page in Corporate Blogging for Business

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“Nothing is more exciting than the promise of a story in your head, but in order to get it on the page you need to figure out exactly what you need to make it work,” says N.M. Kerby in Writer’s Digest.  Beginning with the protagonist is one of those steps (see Monday’s Say It For You blog), but another is “announcing the stakes.”

Kerby’s article was targeted towards aspiring novelists, but, as a corporate blogging trainer, I found a lot that applies to SEO marketing blog writing.

“Great prose will go a long way – about 2,500 words, more or less,” he observes.  “After that, even the most literary readers want to know why they’re reading.”

When I’m offering corporate blogging training sessions to business owners and their employees, or talking to freelance blog content writers, I’m telling them the same thing. Needless to say, there’s no 2,500-word “window” of time to “get indicative” and capture readers’ attention – 25 seconds is more like it!

And, just as novel readers have selected that particular book after having read the blurb and perhaps a bio of the author, online readers who arrive at your business blog are there because they’re interested in your topic. Your task is to keep them engaged with valuable, personal, and relevant information, beginning with the “downbeat”, (which is my term for the first sentence of each post).

“If where you’re going (with your book) doesn’t match where you were going when you set out, focus on better defining those areas before you go any further.”

With business blog content being so much shorter than novels, planning and focus become even more important – and, to some extent, trickier to accomplish. Before ever sitting down at their computers, freelance blog content writers have lots to do in terms of planning. The general themes, or “leitmotifs” have (ideally) been chosen when the blog was first created; now a single focus within one of those themes should be singled out for today’s post.

Great blog posts will go a long way – about 400 words, more or less.  Long before that, however, even the most dedicated online readers want to know why they’re reading!

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Beginning With the Protagonist in Blogging for Business

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“Always begin with your protagonist,” advises N.M. Kelby in Writer’s Digest Novel Writing. “The readers need to discover who the hero is and why they should root for him….Introduce your protagonist, either directly or indirectly, within the first 300 words.”

With business blog content “servings” typically not much larger than 300-500 words apiece, SEO marketing blog writers need to move that piece of advice up a few notches, to the first sentence or two of each post.

According to humor speaker and coach Bill Stainton, the first five minutes of any talk must be indicative of what the audience can expect. The audience will go along with any number of different approaches, he explains, but they want to know “the deal”.

Translated into blog writing for business, what this means to me is that when readers arrive at your business blog, it’s because they already have an interest in your topic and are ready to receive the information, the services, and the products you have to offer. But, from the get-go, it’s up to you to assure them that they’ve come to precisely the right place to get what they’re after.

From an indexing standpoint, of course, by using keyword phrases in the title and in the very first sentence of a blog post, you’re providing clues to the search engines to help them “match” your material with online searchers’ queries.

Aside from that compelling technical motivation for introducing the focus of each blog post early on, we Indianapolis business bloggers can learn a lot from what Writer’s Digest has to say about readers, online or off. “Your readers should know exactly where they are… Establish time and place.  They have to trust that you are in control of the story.”

The tight focus on one, and only one, aspect of your business or profession, one service, one product type or feature, begins with the writer.  Posing the question, “Who will be the protagonist today?” is the perfect prelude to writing sharp, engaging, reader-compelling blog posts.

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Jargon as Jump-Starter in Corporate Blogging for Business

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“Jargon is here, and it’s not going anywhere,” observe four professors at the University of North Carolina, adding that, in its most positive light, jargon can be seen as professional, efficient shorthand.

But what about using jargon in blog writing for business? One thought I have from the point of view of a corporate blogging trainer is that commonly used phrases and terms can be used as a way of establishing common ground with a select audience of readers, an important goal in SEO blog marketing..

Jargon, though, is a handle-with-care writing technique.  In face-to-face conversation, as Roundpeg points out, rather than admit they don’t know what you mean, people might just nod knowingly.  To avoid this effect, blogger Lorraine Ball suggests, introduce jargon by saying “You probably already know this, but….”.Of course, in corporate blogging, online readers won’t be doing any nodding – they are far more likely to click away, impatient to find the information they need without any navigational or terminology hassle.

In corporate blogging training sessions, once you’ve established that common ground, reinforcing to readers that they’ve come to the right place, I stress how important it is to add lesser-known bits of information on your subject. This serves several purposes:

  • positioning the business owner or professional practitioner as an expert in the field
  • adding value to this “visit” for the reader
  • increasing readers’ sense of being part of a group of like-minded customers

For example, here’s a piece of lesser-known information that I can share with Say It For You readers:

The word “jargon” itself comes from a 14th century word for “twittering of birds”. Jargonauts, who like to study jargon, argue that no deceit is intended – jargon simply makes communication easier within a group of people.

Then, towards the end of the post, the blog content writer can allude to the jargon term again, giving the impression of “collusion” with the reader because they share this tidbit of knowledge. That, in turn, needs to lead to some call to action on the part of the blog visitor.  In other words, the jargon needs to be a jump-starter for the next step!

 

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