Archive for category: the Say It For You blog

Having a good title such as “duke” or “baron” meant everything in 18th century England.  According to Jacob Appel of Writer’s Digest, for fiction writers, choosing the right title for a book is just as crucial.

As part of corporate blogging training, I teach business blog content writers they have to address both readers and search engines in their choice of title for each blog post.

One day each week, I tutor in the Writing Lab at Ivy Tech Community College. I find my students have difficulty, when planning an essay, knowing the difference between the topic of a paper and its thesis. Suppose they were instructed to write about graduation cap tassels.  That’s the topic.  But what about tassels?  Are they silly? Important? Should we hold on to that tradition? (The answer is the thesis, or the “slant” the paper will take.) The title of their essay, I explain, needs to convey both the topic and the thesis.

What if the headline for a blog post were “Blog Titles”, posits brickmarketing.com.  That headline doesn’t sound interesting and also doesn’t really convey what the post will be about. (It has no thesis.)  Blog post titles might include “Learn How To… “, “Best practices for…” , or “Two Reasons Why Blog Writing Works,” brickmarketing advises, so the readers can be assured of gaining some benefit by reading the post.

Writer’s Digest’s Jacob Appel offers three tips to writers to help them craft strong titles that are “distinctive, yet not distracting”. Each of these can be applied to the efforts of Indianapolis freelance blog content writers:

Google it.  To ensure you have an original title, simple Google it, says Appel.
In business blogs, keyword research is one important part of the “prep” for optimizing the blog title.

Don’t forget voice and point of view. “If you’re writing a story in third person, don’t call it “My Summer Vacation”.
Translated into business blogging terms, this means setting the tone for each blog post in its title – readers should be able to discern if this post will be humorous, sarcastic, informative, or emotional – “What will I find if I click?”

Craft Two Meanings. “Most readers consider your title twice – once before they read your work, again after they finish…Successful titles gain hidden meanings after the book is read.”
In blog content writing, that new insight effect can be amplified with a “tie-back” last sentence that recaps the main theme of the post. (See the following paragraph for an example of a tie-back.)
 

Having a good title such as “duke” or “baron” was important in 18th century England, Today, for blog content writers, choosing the right title for each post can be just as crucial!

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! is NPR's popular weekly quiz program, in which contestants test their knowledge by figuring out what's real news and what's made up.  

In corporate blogging training sessions, I’m sometimes asked whether quizzes are a good strategy in business blogging. The answer is yes, and for several different reasons. ASTD, the world’s largest training and development association, thinks quizzes are an extremely valuable training tool.  Why?  Quizzes “help get participants enthused and curious about what they will learn.”

Blog readers tend to be curious creatures and, as a longtime Indianapolis blog content writer, I’ve found that “self-tests” tend to engage readers and help them relate in a more personal way to information presented in a blog.

A second way to look at the Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me! show from the point of view of business blogging, is that we blog content writers are, in fact, telling them.  What’s more, often we’re telling ‘em the same information we’re already told ‘em in earlier posts! One concern I hear a lot from business owners or professional practitioners is that sooner or later, they’ll run out of things to say in their marketing blog posts.  “I’ve already covered my products and services on my website – what else is left to say?” is the question. In other words, if we content writers make a habit of repeating ourselves, won’t we run the risk of being bo-o-o-ring?

Paradoxically, effective business blogging is centered around the repeated use of keyword phrases and key themes. One of the challenges in blogging for business over long periods of time is keeping the content fresh. Quizzes and surveys are just two ways to vary the menu.

The main goal of training, says the ASTD, is “to ensure that learning is applied to work.” Quizzes can serve as a good start, is the idea ASTD professionals point out. With marketing blogs for businesses or for professional practices, learning is certainly one goal. But a second goal is to invite readers to take the next step by following one of your Calls to Action. In other words, the goal is to move those potential clients and customers down the “sales funnel”.

For me as a corporate blogging trainer, the significance of the radio show name “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” lies in the fact that listeners (and similarly, blog readers) often can’t remember what they once knew about a subject. And while the quiz or the show lets them have a chance to try to recall the answers, readers and listeners what us to tell them the answers and put those answers in perspective.

By telling readers, “Hey, you can do this… let me show you” and then showing them, we create a sense of confidence in prospects,” is Jeff Molander’s idea in “Making Social Media Sell”. Wait-wait-don’t-tell-me blogging for business is great way to empower readers while becoming their go-to source as they prepare to turn that knowledge into action.