Look-Ahead Words of Wisdom for Blog Content Writers – Part B

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

This week, with an eye to the year to come, I’m sharing more words of wisdom from ”my bookshelves”, along with the links to the authors and book descriptions…

Sketch out an outline of events leading to a typical client needing you.
Choose a client from a typical demographic you serve, suggests Paul Smith in The Ten Stories Great Leaders Tell. Your sales story, Smith explains, relates what you did for one of your customers that is so impressive, other people will want to buy what you’re selling as well.

Build a blog post or two around a customer success story. Say you’re a realtor, and today you’re blogging about how important “curb appeal” can be when you’re marketing a client’s home to potential buyers. Rather than just offering advice, you can tell the story of how you guided Sam and Susie towards a successful sale by encouraging them to plant colorful flowers and painting their front door an attractive red. As a final touch for your blog, you can link back to the full version of Sam and Susie’s testimonial which is already part of your website. Customer success stories boost your credibility with new prospects, helping them decide to do business with you.

Our core values are… We pride ourselves on… We commit to… We encourage and reward…
The right phrases have the power to engage and develop employees, Laura Poole explains in Perfect Phrases for Coaching Employee Performance. Language has the power to establish personal connections, develop and reinforce strengths, provide constructive feedback, and encourage commitment to the company’s goals.

The best website content and the best blogs give readers insight into a company’s core beliefs in addition to information about products and services that company offers, I teach at Say it For You. Just as it’s important to tell readers what you have, what you know, and what you know how to do, it’s even more important to explain what you believe. Why have you chose to pursue this field or industry? Why do you choose to do business or conduct your practice in certain ways?

Customers want personalized solutions for their unique needs and preferences.
Driven by tighter budgets and dwindling natural resources, companies are now seeking new ways to appeal to their customers, Navi Radjou, author of Frugal Innovation posits. Products and services can be “co-created”, he says, with empowered consumers and external partners.

Try this highly useful exercise – make a list of ways your business individualizes and personalizes services to customers and clients. Drill down, I’d say to everyone offering blog writing services, to actual cases of clients’ personalized customer service, recalling times when unusual problems got solved, and when standard procedures were put aside to get the job done for that one customer..

By now you should have become a convert to the “reading around” habit. Over the past two weeks we’ve sampled a dozen precious gems that can motivate content writers and infuse blog posts with sparkle and meaning. But these represent just a sampling – blogging gems are all around, just waiting for each of us to add our own unique twist!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Triggering Trivia in Business Blogs

/0 Comments/in , /by


Modern technology has made it possible to find and share fascinating information, explains Alex Palmer in the delightful little book Alternative Facts. Of the 200 entries in the collection, about one-third are “true-ish” rather than true, and readers are invited to guess which those are, with answers found at the back of the book.

Trivia in general, I’ve long maintained, represent useful tools for blog content writers. In addition to adding some fun to the discussion of a topic, trivia can be used in business blogs in at least four different ways:

1. defining basic terminology
2. sparking curiosity about the subject
3. putting modern-day practices and beliefs into historical perspective
4. explaining why the business owner/practitioner chooses to operate in a certain way

Of course, stocking up on ideas for future blog posts isn’t all about trivia, as I explain to newbie blog content writers. The trivia tidbit is just the jump-off point for the message.

Here are eight facts, culled from Palmer’s book, that illustrate the value of “triggering” the discussion of a subject using a piece of trivia and relating it to the sponsor of the blog:

Who might use each of these tidbits in their blog?

1. Chewing your food longer can help you lose weight.
(weight loss advisor, spa, health provider, health food store) ,:

2. Of all creatures, moths have the strongest sense of hearing.
(audiologist, hearing aid company)

3. Americans are the only people who label pencils No. 2.
(private school, tutoring center, office supply store)

4. Warner Music Group owns the rights to the lyrics of “Happy Birthday”, and earns royalties on every use of the song on film, on TV, or in a public performance.
(patent attorney, birthday party organizer, party favor store, child care center)

5. William Shakespeare wore one gold earring.
(jeweler, fashion advisor, salon)

6. The bathroom scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” was the first time a toilet was flushed on screen.
(plumbing supply store, plumber, home builder, realtor)

7. The oldest preserved human body in the world was covered in tattoos.
(tattoo parlor, salon, spa)

8. Being double-jointed is something a person is born with.

(dance studio, exercise coach, dance equipment or exercise equipment provider)

For blog content writers, adding fun and interest to blog posts might be a “trivial” matter!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Use First-Person Power in Business Blogs

/0 Comments/in /by

 

Popular magazines, I find, are a great source of ideas for blog marketing. The publication needn’t be recent, I found, browsing through the Cook’s Illustrated 2016 Annual that I happened upon at a local café, thinking to get some new meal ideas.

One thing that really stood out about the intro to each recipe was the “we”:

  • “We thought the classic American dinner roll couldn’t get any better. Then we tried a cutting-edge Asian baking technique….”
  • “Sticky buns look inviting, but most are dry and over-sweet. We wanted a version that fulfilled its promise….”
  • “Unless you’re a skilled pastry chef, wrapping delicate dough around a wet filling is a recipe for disaster. We wanted a strudel recipe for the rest of us…”

“The voice of a writer is usually easier to hear in first person,” says William Cane in Writer’s Digest, expressing the thought that third person narratives mimic the “beige voice” of a reporter. First person blog content writing (using the pronouns “I” and “we”) allows the writer to be intimate, unique, and conversational..

Different blog posts, of course, serve different purposes. Second person (“you”, “your”) is a good fit for how-to blog posts, while third person (“he”, “she”, “they”) may be a choice for news items.

Admittedly, nobody likes people who speak of nothing but themselves. Still, in corporate blogging, I stress first person business blog writing because of its one enormous advantage – it shows the people behind the posts, revealing the personality of the business owner, practitioner, or the team standing ready to serve customers.

Still, it’s important to remember that all content writing in blogs is actually “second person” in that every piece of information offered has to be about the readers. Generally speaking, I prefer first and second person writing in business blog posts over third person “reporting”. I think people tend to buy when they see themselves in the picture and when can they relate emotionally to the person bringing them the message.

Use first-person power in business blogs!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Eating the Blog Frog

/0 Comments/in /by

 

A saying attributed to Mark Twain is a good rule for blog content writers:

“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

Productivity coaches Stefano & Sabine of Noisli.com explain the Twain saying as follows: “The frog is that one thing you have on your to-do list that you have absolutely no motivation to do and that you’re most likely to procrastinate on. Eating the frog means to just do it, otherwise the frog will eat you meaning that you’ll end up procrastinating it the whole day.”

Since the success of business blogging is so very dependent on the sheer discipline of continually posting new content, I was especially interested in some advice for writers I found in The Autobiographer’s Handbook. Author Anthony Swofford tells writers:  “Wake up.  Drink coffee. Write.  Ignore phone, ignore email, ignore world. Write.”

One of my own favorite marketing gurus, Seth Godin explains that “writing long-form content on popular topics in your niche will put your thinking on display and give your readers an opportunity to evaluate your expertise.”

The problem with that very good advice from both Swofford and Godin – maintaining a business blog requires what I call “drill-sergeant discipline.” From the very early years of Say It For You, it became clear that the key to business blogging success was going to be simply staying on task.

Psychology professor K. Anders Ericsson, who has spent twenty-five years analyzing high-flying professionals,says that elite performers in any field, he says, engage in deliberate practice, an “effortful activity designed to improve performance”. Momentum in the online rankings race comes from frequency of posting blogs and from building up longevity by consistently posting relevant content over long periods of time.

Content writers soon learn – successful blog marketing requires “eating the frog”!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Blog to Punctuate, Not Bewilder

/0 Comments/in /by

 

It’s not hard to find websites listing funny examples of misleading punctuation – or lack thereof.

  • A woman without her man is nothing.
    A woman: without her, man is nothing.
  • Let’s eat Grandma.
    Let’s eat, Grandma!
  • I have only twenty-five dollar bills.
    I have only twenty five-dollar bills.
  • I’m sorry I love you.
    I’m sorry; I love you.
  • The author finds inspiration in cooking her family and her dog.
    The author finds inspiration in cooking, her family, and her dog.

“Failing to use a punctuation mark, using it in the wrong place, or failing to proofread, vappingo.com points out, is one of the most effective methods of transforming a great piece of writing into something that sucks.”

From a practical point of view, Walsworth.com reminds writers, “Utilizing correct punctuation won’t help you make friends or boost your business, but using punctuation incorrectly will make your book, magazine or catalog copy stand out like a sore thumb.”

As a content writer and business blogging trainer, I cannot tell you how often I hear the argument about blogs being more informal and more conversational in tone than websites.  The conclusion drawn is that punctuation and spelling don’t matter in blogging. Big mistake – anything that puzzles readers interferes with their interest and engagement, defeating the purpose of the blog content.

A business writer’s basic tools, Tony Rossiter says in Effective Business Writing in Easy Steps, include:

  • Plain English
  • Vocabulary
  • Spelling
  • Punctuation
  • Grammar
  • Preparing and checking the presentation

    Punctuation helps your blog do what it was meant to do, namely tell readers what you do and what you’d like them to “do about it”. Blog to punctuate, not bewilder!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail