Kosciusko National Memorial: A Blog Of A National Park

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A week or so ago, on National Public Radio, I caught a broadcast about the smallest national park in the nation, the Kosciuszko National Memorial Park.  This park is so small, it’s actually inside a house in Philadelphia; you can see the entire place in ten minutes.  For those who need a memory jog, Thaddeus Kosciuszko was a Polish-born American Revolutionary War hero, an engineer who traveled from fort to fort.  While petitioning Congress for back pay, he stayed in the very house that is now the Memorial.  The “park” is now complete with its own on-duty National Park Ranger.


Listening to this short but fascinating program, I was struck by the thought that the Kosciuszko National Memorial can serve as an apt metaphor for a blog.  A good business blog is short and sweet, containing one or two fascinating items for visitors to read about.  At the Kosciuszko Memorial, those whose interest is piqued can take home a brochure about the American Revolution in order to learn more about the history of the period. Similarly, those web browsers whose interest is piqued by the items in your blog can move on to you company website to Learn more about your products and services.


As one of the Park Rangers described the Kosciuszko Memorial experience, “Maybe we can look at it as more quality visitation than quantity.”  How apropos for blogging!  Quality, not quantity, is the experience you want to offer visitors to your blog.  (Excuse me, when does your next blog tour start?)

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For Songs Or Blogs, Success Proves The Best Silencer Of Critics

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sheet musicThe award-winning ballad “You’re Beautiful”, sung by James Blunt, topped the 2005 charts in Britain, the U.S., and Canada, becoming the first song by a British artist ever to top the Latin American Top 40 list.  When word leaked that the song had been composed by a ghostwriter (coincidentally but oh-so-aptly named Amanda Ghost), Blunt fans were – at least temporarily –  horrified.  Massive debate ensued about the ethical considerations of ghostwriting.  Amanda, far from retreating into the mists, went on to write an even bigger blockbuster song for Beyonce and Shakira called “Beautiful Liar” that captured top billing in 32 countries.


Critics-turned-fans began bombarding Ghost with requests for songs. The formerly haunted Ghost is busy producing material for Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and other super-stars of the music world.  “An Amanda Ghost song is honest”, explains the ghost songwriter. “I think that’s why they do well.”


Since I’m part of a small, elite group of specialty writers for hire, I’m also part of the debate about using ghostwriters. In an earlier blog, Ghost Writers In The Sky?, I mentioned how accustomed we are to today’s celebrities, CEO’s, and public figures hiring ghostwriters because they can’t spare the time to write their own speeches or books.  Songwriting or ghost-blogging – same idea.  A ghost blogger becomes part of each client’s’ marketing team, performing a very practical and important service: helping customers find the business through SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  As with any promotional materials created for a business by outside professionals, your blog must be in harmony with your style, your approach to your customers and your niche within your industry or field of expertise. 


Just as songs composed by Amanda Ghost “worked” for the likes of Blunt and Beyonce, consistent, targeted blogging can lead to honestly earned, long-term success for a business. If your blogs honestly speak your corporate message, whether written word-for-word by you or in cooperation with a ghost blogger, it’s quite possible you’ll find yourself listening to sweet sounds of success.
 

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The Bottom Line For E-mail Is Blogging

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In a “white paper” about the future of business blogging, Compendium Blogware Inc. co-founder Chris Baggott explains that, back in the year 2000, there was still a lot of skepticism on the part of business owners about using email as a business communications tool.  Since then, of course, email has been adopted by just about every business and organization to stay in touch with customers and constituents.  Now, some of that same reluctance is evident when it comes to corporate blogs.


Since I work as a ghost blogger, serving as “the voice” of many small businesses and professional practices, Baggott’s explanation of the difference between email marketing and marketing through blogging is really the crux of the matter for me and my clients. Here’s the essence of what he says in the “white paper”:


“Blogging provides the same benefits as email in an easy-to-use and inexpensive way.  It’s the perfect complement to email as a marketing tool for the beginning of the relationship.”


The bottom line is, you can’t email people without their permission.  And you can’t ask for their permission if you don’t know who they are.  That’s where corporate blogging comes in.  Email can’t help your business or practice acquire customers, but blogging can.  Since so many professionals and business owners lack the time or the inclination to compose blogs, that’s where a ghost blogger comes into, or rather behind, the picture!

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Who Really Writes The Songs That Make The Young Girls Cry?

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Country Music picture As a business ghost blogger for hire, I take an interest, not only in the work of colleagues in that small but growing profession, but also in the doings of “ghosts” in other fields.  Take country music, for example (being a square dancer these many years has bred in me a love for country tunes). The relative importance of lyrics versus melodies in songs of any type can be debated, but you’ll have to admit that, with country songs, storytelling and “plays on words” constitute a big part of almost all the best-loved country songs’ special appeal.

Leafing through Southwest Airlines’ Spirit magazine on a recent trip, I came upon an entire feature story about Nashville, Tennessee country music stars and the songs that made them famous.  Writer Elaine Glusac comments, “The truth in this town and a secret to most music fans is that songwriters, not performers, are largely responsible for those storytelling songs about love, Grandma, whiskey, and divorce.”   Unlike on the coasts, where soloists write their own material, she explains, “in Nashville it’s the writers who feed the stars”.

Writing, adds Glusac, is generally acknowledged to be an individual sport.  But, in Nashville’s culture, they work as a team. “It’s called co-writing”, she explains.  Now, isn’t that exactly true, I thought, about the way in which a business uses a ghost writer to bring its message and tell its story to as many customers and clients as possible using the power of the Internet?  When I think about it, it’s uncanny how similar a good blog is to a good song.  The best country songs, explains the Spirit article, are short and powerful.  “When you’ve got so few words to deliver the emotional punch, each word must be laden with meaning.” Ditto and then some for blogs!

For those who can’t get to Nashville to hear lyrics sung to steel guitars, more than two thousand U.S. radio stations bring country music to 56 million listeners per week.  The amazing thing is, the World Wide Web can put your business in touch with an audience even bigger than that.  You gotta know when to blog ’em, is all!

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But A Ghost Blogger Can PLAY One!

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Alan Alda, as he’d be the first to admit, never went to medical school (although he did address the 1979 commencement at Harvard Medical School).  But as Hawkeye on M.A.S.H., Alda helped millions of viewers understand the crucially important role medics play in wartime.  Pat Dempsey, playing Grey’s Anatomy’s Doctor Derek Shepherd, at least has four sisters who are real-life doctors.   Perhaps that explains why, without any medical training himself, Demsey is able to very effectively convey to viewers the realities of hospital medicine. Andy Griffith, through his role on Matlock, offered a glimpse into the legal world without ever having attended law school.  All three actors, like many of their colleagues in the acting profession, successfully helped viewers identify in a favorable way, not with themselves and their own profession, but with the character they’d adopted, and with that character’s profession.

While the doctors or lawyers who have credentials for real-life practice bring healing and legal recourse to hundreds, even thousands of patients and clients, few have the potential for their message to reach millions.  In a sense, the actors are their “ghost” portrayers, reaching out to viewers on their behalf, offering valuable information and breeding respect for the professions of law and medicine.

As a ghost writer and ghost blogger, I’m sometimes asked how we do it.  How can we ghost bloggers write for business owners and professional clients without being trained in those fields ourselves?  It takes two things:  research and good hearing.  A ghost blogger uses a ‘third ear” to understand what the client wants to say and to pick up on the client’s unique slant on his/her business or profession. 

In these days of Internet commerce, marketing is more and more about search engine optimization driving business to websites than about billboards and advertising.  Blogging can be an absolutely indispensable tool.  But, since web rankings are based on frequency of posting new content, often business owners and professionals, even if they enjoy writing blogs, lack the time to keep up enough frequency and recency to win the Internet search.

So, while I may not be a doctor, a lawyer, an auto mechanic, a telephone technology expert, a travel guide, a gourmet chef, or a  tax expert, as a ghost blogger, I can still play one! 

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