“Huh?” and “Oh!” Business Blog Post Titles

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There are two types of titles, I realized, working my way through the latest copy of the Saturday Evening Post. The “Huh?s” need subtitles to make clear what the article is about; “Oh!’s” titles are self-explanatory.

Since an important purpose of SEO marketing blogs is attracting online shoppers, blog post titles are a crucial element in the process. Catchy and engaging as a title might be, it won’t serve the purpose if the words in it don’t match up with those searchers used.
 

 

 

What I call “Huh?s” are titles that startle and arouse curiosity.  The subtitle then clarifies what the focus of the piece will be.  Here are some Saturday Evening Post examples:

1.  “Notes from Scrooge
Why gift giving is a lousy way to demonstrate love – at least according to economists.”

2.  “Cookies For Good!
How three caring businesswomen baked up an idea to help with their town’s homeless”

3.   “Destination Nowhere
The cruise ship industry is booming.  But beneath the seemingly carefree luxury-hotel-on-the-water experience, lurk some very real dangers.”

We blog content writers, of course, don’t have the luxury of using such long subtitles.  Still, the beauty of the “Huh?” is that it’s a grabber.  Some of the explanatory material may have to go into the opening lines of the post itself.  Meanwhile, though, I advise blog writers to include category-based keyword phrases early in the subtitle.

If “Notes From Scrooge”, for example, were the title of a post promoting a mutual fund company, the subtitle might read “Gift-giving demonstrates love IF it’s to a child’s college fund account” (keyword phrase “child’s college fund”).

With “Oh!” titles, by contrast, the intent of the post is apparent.  The title makes a direct appeal to the “right people”, those already interested in what you have to sell or what you know how to do.  Readers self-select their way to your content.

Some Saturday Evening Post “Oh!” titles included:

  1. "Dodging Diabetes"
  2. "Top-Rated Holiday Gifts"
  3. "The Healing Power of Peppermint"


With “Oh!’s”, as I instruct freelance blog writers, the trick is to insert the names of products or services:

The Power of Peppermint Prominent at Paul’s Pastry Shop
Hoosier Harry’s List of Top-Rated Holiday Gifts in Indiana
Dodging Diabetes Fun at Indiana Exercise Facility

Both “Huh?s” and “Oh!’s” can have a place in business blog post titles!

 

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For Blog Content Writers, Pernickitiness Pays

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“If you think proper punctuation is persnicketiness personified,” business humorist Todd Hunt is here to tell you why it’s not.

And, whether we Indianapolis blog content writers look back on our junior high English classes fondly or with horror, Hunt’s example of the power of punctuation packs a powerful punch. Hunt presents two versions of a “Dear John” letter. Both versions contain precisely the same word and in the same order. Only the punctuation has been changed to protect bloggers from making the mistake of becoming careless about our P’s and Q’s.

Letter version #1:

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior.  You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart.  I can be forever happy – will you let me be yours?

Gloria

Letter version #2:

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior.  You have ruined me. For other men I yearn. For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours.

Gloria

In today’s competitive business world, corporate blogging for business represents an ideal tool for “getting personal” and earning trust. As writers, we need to help our business owners express who and what they are, so that they come across as “real”. Being real, though, doesn’t mean being sloppy.  Most important, readers need to understand our message.

Hunt’s Dear John letters are a great reminder that, when it comes to punctuation, it’s worth being persnickety!

 

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Blog Readers, Like Letterman, Like Lists

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David Letterman’s Top Ten Lists were such an effective way of organizing content that NBC tried to claim ownership of the idea when Letterman moved to CBS. (The talk show host still finds lists make for good content strategy, and they’re now called the Late Show Top Ten; Stupid Pet Tricks is the name of another list series on the Late Show.)

That lists and bullet points in general are a good fit for blogs is actually something I stress in corporate blogging training sessions.  By most accounts, search engines like lists and bullet points.  Even more important, I’ve found over the years, lists help keep readers – and writers – on track (especially the writers).

Fellow blog content writer Brian Clark advises keeping bullet points symmetrical.  He means keeping all the points in a group approximately the same length, and also using the same grammatical form throughout the group.

“People love lists, and just about any kind of list is bound to attract traffic,” says Susan Gunelius in her “20 Ideas for Writing a Blog Post”. She suggests starting with a number, then taking it from there, with. Top 10 lists, 5 things not to do, 3 reasons I love something, etc.

Continually creating new content can pose quite a challenge for busy business owners and professionals, and, I’m sure, for talk show producers as well. One type of re-purposed content that can be very helpful to blog writers and extremely valuable to readers is “best of breed” resource lists. Using material from former blog posts, newsletters, and even email, collate references on different topics.  The idea is that your blog can become the “go-to” when readers want more complete information on any topic you’ve discussed.

Blog readers, like Letterman fans, like lists!
 

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Mistakes Matter in Canes and Blogs

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During my tour of the Benjamin Harrison presidential mansion a week ago, our wonderfully knowledgeable volunteer guide Bob Trimpl  pointed out the beautiful hand-carved walking cane displayed on the library desk. Unfortunately, he explained, several of the faces of the different presidents look exactly alike (the carver lacked the skill to differentiate, apparently). What’s more, Trimpl added, several of the presidential names were misspelled!

Did my guide’s pointing out those mistakes add to my enjoyment of the tour?  Definitely.  Still, “unfortunate” is the operative word here, I couldn’t help thinking. The artist’s gift to his president was diminished by his neglecting to clean up the details.
When it comes to blogging for business, I teach content writers, high quality includes using proper grammar and spelling. And when business owners and professional practitioners serve as their own editors, I definitely urge no-error erring on the side of caution. Who knows? I ask. That improperly used “loose” may be what “loses” your blog visitor. Why take a chance?

When it comes to the faces on the cane being “too similar” there’s a lesson for business blog content writers as well. It's more than OK to quote another person's blog post if you take only parts of it and don't take the credit for creating it.  The way to avoid plagiarism (duplicate content in Google-speak) is to properly attribute statements to their authors.

Can talking about past mistakes add interest to blog content?  Well, yes. In fact, I teach freelance blog writers in Indianapolis that including stories of their clients’ past mistakes and failures has a humanizing effect, engaging readers and creating feelings of empathy and admiration for the business owners or professional practitioners who overcame adversity and improved their skills.

Still, I’d conclude, avoiding distracting spelling and grammar mistakes in the blog content itself is what great authors might call “the better part of wisdom”.

 

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For Business Blogs, Take Tried-and-True, Add an Approach

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The health brochures on display in my doctor’s office called to mind the way different writers had taken different approaches in presenting the information to readers. In the same way, we blog content writers can sustain writing over long periods of time by varying our approach.

A humor piece in the Readers Digest reinforces that very idea. Reddit.com asked workers what the most important rule was for people in their profession.

  • Plumbers answered “Don’t chew your fingernails.”
  • Camp counselors answered “Don’t lose the kid.”
  • Scuba divers said “If it moves, it wants to kill you.”
  • Photographers’ advice: “Take the lens cap off”.


(I was reminded of an anecdote I heard at a sales meeting, about hotelier Conrad Hilton.  When asked what the secret of success in life was, he quipped “Put the shower curtain inside the tub!”

Remember that readers are different and they have different “rules” and needs. Smart blog marketing takes into account that there are many subsets of every target market group, and that not every message will work on every person. At Say It For You, we teach blog content writers that online searchers want to be thought of as individuals. . We blog content writers need to keep on telling the story in its infinite variations, knowing that, to a certain extent, the blog content readers who end up as clients and customers action have self-selected.

After all, to some of your readers, it’s not going to be important if they chew their fingernails or forget to take the lens cap off. What IS going to be important is you sustaining your blog writing by gathering ideas from everything you see, read, and hear and then relating that material to your own business brand. The other thing that IS going to be important is sharing what YOUR important rules are.

Business blog posts need to include stories about how you solved client problems, and what lessons you’ve learned through your experiences, wisdom you’ll be applying in your dealings with them should they choose to become your customers.

 

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