The Two Lists Indianapolis Blog Content Writers Need

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Zipping points, according to witty public radio host Michael Feldman, are over-used phrases he believes should be kept inside our heads and never allowed to escape our lips – or pens!

Feldman’s warning certainly applies to business blog content writing.  Sure, in Say It For You corporate blogging training sessions, I urge freelance blog content writers to use a less formal and more conversational tone.  But, pu-leeze, I’ll now add, make the Feldman “no-no” list your own, avoiding once-popular expressions such as “going forward’, “operationalizing”, and “low-hanging fruit”.

(Readers, you're invited to comment by sharing your own 'no-no" list of trite expressions!)

Lists have always been basics in SEO marketing bloggers’ tool kit, but they’ve been lists of keyword phrases and of categories. Now, having laughed my way through Feldman’s bathroom reader “What D’Ya Know?”, I plan to refer to two lists in my work as a professional ghost blogger: 

  1. Keyword Phrases
  2. Zipping Points


What that means is that never again, in my writing for business owners or professional practitioners, will I refer to “ramping up”, “outsourcing”, “getting your game on”, or “knowledge acquisition”, much less “manage expectations”, or “prioritize”.  No longer will I describe any Say It For You client’s product or service as a “game-changer”.

Mr. Feldman, I can tell you your list is going to be of great business blogging help. My professional ghost blogger mouth and pen (keyboard?) are “zipped up”, you will be happy to know!

 

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Objectivity is an Object in Blogging for Business

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“Viable, changing content becomes the engine that powers your website,” cautions friend and fellow blogger Phil Steele. A professional blog content writer like myself, Steele urges business owners who lose enthusiasm at any point to recruit someone “who can keep things afloat for you.”

One very useful pointer in the Steele blog post “A Ferrari Without an Engine” concerns objectivity.  “Too many business blogs serve as extended advertisements,” he warns, suggesting business blog writing would be better aimed at taking a bird’s-eye view of one’s industry, and only then relating back to one’s own business.

I find that advice particularly appropriate for my Say It For You clients who are professional practitioners.  Offering an industry bird’s-eye view is a good idea in all blogging for business, of course, but it’s especially important for doctors, accountants, lawyers, life coaches, and others offering personal services to use blog content writing to make three things very clear:

  • their specialty or niche within their field
  • their special “philosophy” about their area of practice
  • their unique approach to providing client services

In marketing lingo, “dripping” means sending out a series of small messages, usually through email, to customers or prospects over time. Radio advertising, in which the idea is to hit as many people as possible, as many times as possible, is a form of drip marketing, because most listeners need to hear something several times before they act.  Freelance blog writers can help business owners and professional practitioners employ a similar technique through their inbound marketing campaigns in the form of blogging.

The industry overview Steele talks about, you know, taking a bird’s eye view of one’s professional field or industry, then relating back to one’s own business? That can be one tall order to fill on a single web page – or ten web pages, for that matter. Corporate blog writing is a much better tool for the job.

Viable, changing content is what’s needed to convey objectivity.  And, remember, objectivity is an object in blogging for business!

 

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Peripheral Vision in Blogging for Business

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My Say It For You corporate blogging training company, I discovered, has a sort of counterpart in Australia – Dental Web Strategies, whose motto is “helping Australian dentists become visible online.”

Like me, Dental Web Strategies subscribes to the Hubspot blog, and in this post it’s calling attention to a recent Hubspot discussion on a topic I’ve touched on many times: how very hard it is for business owners to find time to blog on a regular basis.
 
While everyone seems to be in agreement that business blogging content needs to be posted frequently, there’s room for disagreement on just what kind of frequency is called for. Hubspot had pointed out that the schedule for an SEO marketing blog should be determined by the particular business’ “competitive needs”.

“Let’s be straight about this,” Dental Web offers, pointing out that most Australian dental websites don’t even have a blog! So, they conclude, “to decide the best schedule for your blogging efforts, it behooves you to look at the dental websites in your local area and see what the schedule for posting is for your competitors. If no one is blogging in your area, a fortnightly or monthly post would probably be all you need to stand out from your competitors.”

In other words, the recommendation is to develop “peripheral vision”, being aware of what competitors are doing “around” your area, and working to stay just one step ahead of them.

Remember that old joke about two men hiking who come upon a bear?  The first man immediately takes off his boots and starts putting on running shoes.  “What are you doing?” his buddy asks.  “You can’t outrun a bear!”  “I don’t have to,” replied the first guy.  “I just have to outrun YOU!”

In terms of getting “indexed” by search engines, blogging for business means building a type of equity, ”saving your spot” online. Your blog content writing doesn’t have to outrun “the bear” (the entire universe of providers in your field), only your own competitors.
 

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Business Blogs for the Thinking Reader

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“Companies have to be willing to share their points of view in their digital content,” explains Marketing News, adding that “Your point of view needs to be relevant enough to be part of a conversation that’s taking place, but differentiated enough to stand out.”

So how do we do that? is the question blog content writers in Indianapolis ask.  Think about the problem you’re solving, says Marketing News, and where that problem might take us over the next five to ten years.

To me as a corporate blogging trainer, that translates into business bloggers realizing that blogging is first about thinking, and only secondarily about putting those thoughts into words.  Maybe even more important in the case of SEO marketing blogs is getting readers to think about the issues and problems on which you’re offering information and expertise.

In blogging for business, of course, the content needs to be based on solid research into the needs and interests of the target customer.  In offering business blogging assistance to business owners, though, I explain that market research is not enough to infuse true life into the blog. Customers, I explain, want to know what you think and where you’re “coming from”; they want to know your unique slant on your industry. In short, they want to get to know you.

The first part is relatively simple. Online searchers have found your blog, and they’ve stayed long enough to assure themselves that the information they find there is a good match for their needs (you offer the products and/or services they came for). But now, those prospects still need to choose whether to become your client/buyer/patient/customer.

The questions I ask Indianapolis blog writers, then, include:

  • Is your point of view clear? 
  • Is that viewpoint relevant to a current need or conversation or trend? 
  • Is your point of view differentiated enough to stand out? 

You might say readers need to “hear” you think!

 

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Blog Genres for Blog Writers in Indianapolis

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Financial planners are into blogging these days, and the FPA Practice Management Solutions Magazine offers “20 Tips for Becoming a Successful Blogger.”

As a longtime Indiana blog content writer myself, I thought one of Gary DeAsi’s and Evan Stone’s tips was “spot on”:

“Don’t be afraid to write in tried-and-true blog genres,” they urge, listing eight types of blogs they say are proven attention-getters”.

  1. Advice
  2. Collections and top lists
  3. Reviews
  4. Predictions
  5. Motivation
  6. Trouble-shooting
  7. Interviews
  8. Editorial/ Personal reflection

Every one of these techniques can be used effectively for SEO marketing blogs. As a matter of fact, I’m inspired to challenge each of you Say It For You blog readers to come up with blog titles for as many of these categories as you can.  If you submit your best titles, I’ll publish them here, along with some tips on fleshing out those ideas to suit your own business.

Here are a few of my own title ideas for future for blog posts.  (These are designed to arouse curiosity while incorporating a Say It For You keyword phrase in each title.)
:

  • (Advice)  Best Ways for Indianapolis Blog Writers to Curate OPB’s (Other People’s Blogs)
     
  • (Lists) Six Smaller-Than-a-Breadbox Items to Trigger Blog Content Writing Ideas
     
  • (Prediction) Why You’ll Beat the Blog Content Writing Odds in Just Three Short Months
     
  • (Personal reflection)  Bolero Dancing and Blog Writing Bring Out My  Personal Best
     
  • (Motivation)  Blogging for Business – You can Do It, But You Gotta have Heart!


Financial planners are in the advice-giving business; I sure hope they take this excellent advice they’ve been given about getting creative around tried-and-true blog writing genres!

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