Supercharge, Simplify, and Curate in Your Business Blog

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This week’s Say It For You blog posts, including this one, have been inspired by an exercise book. I must confess that “Inches Off Your Tummy” has done double duty in the inspiration department, encouraging me to try all of the Jorge Cruise at-home exercises detailed in the book, but at the same time suggesting wonderful ways of organizing blog content writing.

Each chapter of Cruise’s book begins with an inspirational quote. I encourage freelance blog content writers and business owners alike to curate, meaning to gather OPW (Other People’s Wisdom) and share that with their readers, commenting on that material and relating it to their own topic. Cruise is trying to motivate his readers to develop a healthier lifestyle, and he increases the momentum by bringing in quotes from famous people. Some examples:

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.” (J.P. Morgan)

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” (Andy Warhol)

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” (C.S. Lewis)

A second “formatting convention” that I liked in the “Inches Off Your Tummy” book is that, for each exercise, Cruise explains two different ways to modify that exercise:  You can super-charge it, making it more challenging, or simplify it, (going slower or bending or stretching just halfway).

Not all of your blog visitors will share the same learning style, and not every blog post is going to hit the spot with every reader. Sharing with readers different ways your products and services can be used to solve their unique problems, you can can write with one audience in mind today, and appeal to another tomorrow or next week.

Show online searchers how they can supercharge or simplify what you have to offer to suit their own needs!
 

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Top Beliefs for Exercise and Business Blogging

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Do you think business owners’ top beliefs should be on their prospective customers’ need-to-know list? I certainly do!

So, apparently, does exercise trainer and best-selling author Jorge Cruise.  As part of the introductory section in his book “Inches Off Your Tummy”, Cruise lists his top 10 beliefs about health and fitness.

That Top Beliefs list, by the way, is one of the reasons I’ve chosen to devote this week’s Say It For You blog posts to ideas I gleaned from Cruise’s exercise book. As a corporate blogging trainer, it’s long been my own belief that, when online searchers arrive at your website, they need to find a lot more than product and service descriptions, price lists, and testimonials. Blog readers, I’m convinced, are mostly what Barbra Strieisand calls “people who need people”; they want to meet the people behind the page.

I especially loved these three of Cruise’s passionate statements:

  1. “I believe the human body is designed for movement, not sofas.”
     
  2. “I believe that yesterday is history – no matter what happened – and today is an opportunity.”
     
  3. “I believe anyone can sculpt the body he or she wants.”


What I believe is that in blogging for business, compelling personal belief statements like these powerful. I often begin by questioning the blogging client: "If you had only 8-10 words to describe why you're passionate about what you do, what you know, and what you sell, what would those words be?"

For business blogs to be truly effective, I believe, they need to be the "voice" of the company or professional practice. That "voice" can change over time, and a blog, of course, is no one-time effort, but something that develops over months and years. And what I'm finding is this: the very process of creating content to "put out there" in your blog forces you, over and over again, to answer the question of "What-do-I-want-my- business/practice-to-be-as-it-grows-up?"

It’s healthy, in both exercise and blog content writing, to examine – and express to readers –  your top beliefs!
 

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Inches Off Your Tummy Puts Content on Your Business Blog

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You wouldn't normally think of looking for blog content writing tips in a book on exercise, but, hey – "Reading around" means being alert for ideas wherever you can find them.  Okay, okay, so I didn't buy best-selling author Jorge Cruise's book "Inches Off Your Tummy" for pure business blogging purposes, and I hope that even a week from now, it'll be a leaner, trimmer me offering corporate blog writing training.  Still, there's so much about the content and organization of this book that's relevant to blog writing, I've decided to "curate" the insights in this week's Say It For You blog posts.

One thing I train business owners and professional practitioners to do when they're just beginning to blog is to start with a "Why a Blog About…" post.  Jorge Cruise does the same thing in the book, which he introduces by saying "I know what it's like to struggle with excess weight – I've lived it…Many people don't realize it, but I spent my formative years as the heavy kid in school."

Once the blog is up and going, of course, not every reader will be steered to that opening post, and in every post, the first two tasks of the content writer are to a) assure readers they've come to the right place to find the products, services, and guidance they were looking for, and b) show that the business owner is passionate about her field and that she care about them.

The opening post, though, needs to be there to introduce the subject.  In promoting the new blog to existing customers, the owners can send an email, including a link to that opening blog post.

Jorge Cruise ends his intro to the book by inviting readers to "share your story".  "I want to hear," he says encouragingly, "why you've decided to take proactive steps to change your life." I like that statement a lot. 

First, I recommend allowing reader comments on a business blog.  Worried about spam attacks? Set up the platform to require administrative approval before comments "go live".  Worried about negative comments? Think of those as a blessing.  In fact, business blogging is the ideal tool for you to respond quickly to complaints.  Many business owners report that solving a customer's problem resulted in those customers becoming loyal fans.

From the very first pages, we know why Cruise is writing his book. Telling readers shy you're starting a blog is a great way to make friends and create customers!

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A Witty, Wise Dinner Guide in Blogging for Business

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Remember Grandma’s advice about packing for a trip (take half the clothes and twice the money)? The Readers Digest “Witty, Wise Dinner Guide” has three tips that are just that practical and memorable:

  • When you taste a dish and wonder what’s missing, the answer is usually acid.
  • Always cook more spinach than you think you’ll need.
  • The juiciest limes are the small ones with the smooth skin.

No, the words don’t rhyme here, but the words to the old song apply nevertheless: Tips and business blog posts go together like….a horse and carriage. In fact, usable information in well-organized format, is the stuff effective blogging for business is made of.

A realtor’s blog might offer tips for buying a house. A restaurant’s blog might offer tips on tipping etiquette or the temperature of “rare”, “medium”, and “well-done” steaks. Whatever the product or service, readers will be hungry for information that helps them gain maximum advantage for buying and using it.

What about wise, witty tips for writing itself, especially for blogs or web copy? Treehouse.com offers one:  Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”.  Your editor will delete the “damns” and your writing will be just the way it should be.

“Vary the length of your sentences.”  “Use active verbs.”  “Use specific nouns.” are three tips offered by Richard Nordquest in About.com.

Another way to achieve greater “pow”, according to James Smith, is to cut down on the adverbs. “Use stronger verbs,” he explains, “and you’ll find you don’t need the help of adverbs.

Whatever the topic, it makes sense to offer a witty, wise “dinner guide” in blogging for business!

 

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Failure Can Be the Secret to Success in Blogging for Business

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Whoa, was I glad to see Robby Slaughter’s “Failure: the Secret to Success” newsletter come back from the dead!  I love the book, and the blog about the book is a great monthly treat.  

One post I particularly want to share with my own Say It For You blog readers is “The Failure of Anxiety Affects Celebrities, Too,” because it brings out a point every business owner, professional, and freelance business blogger ought to keep in mind: Writing about past failures is an important factor in the success of any business or professional practice’s blog.

Blogger Alyssa Puglise uses actor Harrison Ford as an example.  While the characters Ford portrays in movies are smooth talking and charismatic, she explains,Ford himself is actually afraid of public speaking!  Because he has embraced this failure, though, speaking around the world to benefit various charitable causes, he turned his weakness into an enhancing factor for his career, vastly increasing his popularity.

When it comes to blogging for business, true stories about mistakes and failures are very humanizing, adding to the trust readers place in the people behind the business. What tends to happen is the stories of failure create feelings of empathy and admiration for the entrepreneurs or professional practitioners who overcame the effects of their own errors.

As a business blogging trainer, I stress that, in addition to providing information, blogs have a damage control function.  When customer complaints and concerns are recognized and dealt with publicly (there’s nothing more public than the Internet!), that gives the “apology” – and the remediation – a lot more weight in the eyes of readers.

Yes, in business blogs, failure really can serve as the secret to successful content writing!

 

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