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In Blogging – the Devil is in the Details

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“Whether you’re measuring engagement in terms of blog comments, social media interaction, or a combination of metrics,” James Parson opines in contentpowered.com, “ there’s one universal constant. You want more engagement.”

Engagement facts, Parson thinks, are some of the most interesting, because analytics reveal that details as seemingly insignificant as the placement of a punctuation mark can make a big difference.

“Devilish details” include these:

  • Including a hyphen or a colon in the middle of a blog post title can increase search engine click-through by as much as 9%. (Notice what I did in the title of this post?)
  • 54% of blog posts that rank well include an image or video.
  • Best time of week to bring a blog post “live”? Tuesdays and Wednesdays (What day is it today, again?). What time? 9:30-10AM Eastern.
  • “Listicles” beginning with an odd number outperform lists beginning with an even number by 20% (Who knew?)
  • Blog headlines with only 8 words do better than those with a different word count. (Words in my title – count them!).

Entertaining and, to an extent, enlightening info, to be sure. Can’t help thinking about what Neil Patel had to say about “over-optimizing” a website or blog, which is “Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.”

Main thing is, as we teach at Say It For You, content is meant to be written for people. Sure, you want good ranking so more people see your blog link, but first and foremost, you’re writing blog content to solve problems and appeal to customers, clients, and prospects. So, yes to the listicles, the short headlines, and the images, and certainly yes to providing “snippets” to give web searchers snippets a preview of your content.

With those “devilish” details in mind, still it pays to never lose sight of the essence of content marketing: creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content.

 

 

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Blog the Half Empty Along With the Half Full

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Is the glass half empty or half full?”

That’s a common expression, a proverbial phrase, generally used to indicate that a particular situation could be a cause for pessimism or optimism. Dr Lillian Zarzar, MA. CSP, international speaker, author, and coach, views the “glass” a different way – it’s always both, she says – full and empty. Science doesn’t lie, Zarzar tells her executive coaching clients. In every situation, there is some ratio of negative and positive. We each have the power to make choices, finding our own compromise between the positives and negatives that co-exist in every situation.

In blogging for business, it pays to embrace the “empty” part of the glass along with the full as well. True stories about mistakes and struggles (those of the business owners as well as those of their customers and clients) are actually quite humanizing, adding to the trust readers place in the information and advice being offered. What tends to happen, I explain to content writers, is that stories of failure create feelings of empathy and admiration for the entrepreneurs or professional practitioners who overcame the effects of those “negatives”.

“Is your brand real enough for the next wave of consumers?” Jamie Gutfreund asks in Forbes, describing today’s consumers, who prefer reality to perfection, and who consider taking risks an important part of life. In blog marketing, therefore, real life issues and challenges are riches to be mined. Often a new Say It For You client has been so swept up in their own attempt to keep their glass “full”, they can’t see how valuable finding – and sharing – the “empty” part of the glass can prove to be. That’s precisely where the “outside eye” of a professional blog writer can help shape a message that is compelling because it is “real”. I call it “telling how you tripped at the Academy Awards.”

In business in general, a cost-benefit analysis is a glass-half-empty-half-full process. An individual or a company evaluates a decision about a product or a project, comparing the enjoyment and benefit to the “give-ups” required – the dollars that will need to be spent, the time and effort it will take, etc. When it comes to blog marketing, while it’s undoubtedly true that blogging drives web traffic and helps promote an entrepreneur or profession practitioner’s products and services, a significant commitment of time and effort is certain to be needed. So, what happens? Socialtriggers.com notes that most people who start blogs quit within the first three months, leaving their blog marketing “glass” totally empty!

Another interesting application to blog marketing of the glass analogy is that marketing content typically represents the point of view of the seller, with the blog readers representing potential buyers. In creating content for blogs, we need to keep in mind that people are online searching for answers to questions they have and for solutions for dilemmas they’re facing. But searchers haven’t always formulated their questions, and so what I suggest is that we do that for them, anticipating blog readers’ negative assumption questions. If we can go right to the heart of any possible customer fears or concerns by addressing negative assumption questions before they’ve been asked, we have the potential to breed understanding and trust.

Blog the half-empty along with the half-full!

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Slogans and Blogs – Sisters Under the Skin?

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While logos are visual representations of a brand, slogans are audible representations, Lindsay Kolowich Cox explains in a Hubspot piece. The idea, in both cases, is grab consumers’ attention and leave a key message in consumers’ minds. Earlier this week in this Say It For You blog, I highlighted the 1-800-Got-Junk slogan as an example of emphasizing convenience and ease-of-use.

Several of the ingredients which Kolowich-Cox thinks make for great slogans can contribute to the success of blog posts:

A great slogan includes a key benefit. The emphasis needs to be on key benefits of the product or service, not its features. Proctor & Gamble’s Bounty paper towels are “the quicker picker upper.”
Focus a blog post on painting either a “more” (glamour, time saved, comfort, money, miles per gallon) or “less” (pain, cost, waste, hassle) picture.

A great slogan differentiates the brand. How can one piece of chocolate truly stand out from another? M&M’s “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands” differentiates with an implied comparison with every other chocolate brand.
It’s almost axiomatic that, in writing for business, we want to clarify the ways we are better than the competition. But, rather than saying negative things about other companies or practitioners, explain the reasons you have chosen to do things the way you do.

A great slogan imparts positive feelings, possibly through nostalgia. MasterCard’s “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.”
True stories about the mistakes and struggles that ultimately led to your success are very humanizing, adding to the trust readers place in the people behind a business or practice. 

A great slogan reflects the values held by the organization.
Whether business owners or professional practitioners are doing their own blog posting or hiring professional content writers to help, the blog is conveying the values and beliefs of the owners.  In fact, the content is an invitation to readers to become part of the process of bringing those values to life.

A great slogan conveys consistency. Kolowich-Cox cites Verizon’s “Can you hear me now? Good.” (Competitors may have better texting options or fancier phones, the implication is, but with Verizon you can always rely on service.
Consistency is the very backbone of business blogging success. high-quality stuff.  To satisfy a search engine, your blog material must be updated frequently. Most important, consistent posting of content shows readers that you are “present” and involved.

Blog posts, of course, are much longer than slogans. Still, the idea in both cases is to grab consumers’ attention and leave a key message in their minds, built around an unmet consumer need.

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In Blogging, Clarity Depends on Contrasts

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blog selling
The following true story, shared in Daniel Pink’s book To Sell is Human, involves a blind man sitting on a bench in Central Park with a can for contributions labeled “I’m blind”. With the addition of only 4 words, an ad exec realized, the sign would move more people to put money in the can. When the sign stated “It is springtime, but I am blind”, people were able to feel pity – here they were, enjoying the gorgeous spring day, while this poor blind man was totally unable to savor its beauty….

“One aspect of contemporary society is that people are stimulus-rich and context-poor,” Pink explains. They don’t know what the information means. By contrasting the experience of the passersby with that of the blind man asking for change, viewers saw the man’s situation in perspective.

In the book Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely talks about the importance of comparing one thing with another. People want to make their own decisions and own them, Ariely believes. For that reason, he advises, if you want to sell Product A, you must create an Option B, so that customers feel they are choosing A because it contrasts favorably with B.

In blog content writing, with the goal being engaging online visitors’ interest, we can create contrast between analytical content and emotional content, toggling back and forth among It helps to remember that most people are only interested if what you do fits with what they need or want; otherwise they are not interested. You must tell readers, not only how your product or service can benefit them, but how you can do it better or differently than others who do what you do.

The blind man in Daniel Pink’s story needed help creating a Unique Selling Proposition. In carving out your own USP, make sure your message tells visitors not only who you are and what you do, but why you’re different from other providers – and why that difference should matter to them.

In other words, in begging or blogging,  clarity depends on contrasts!

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Send Yourself a Rejection Blog

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“Nobody likes receiving rejection letters. But one way to reduce their sting, and perhaps even avoid one altogether, is to pre-empt the rejector by writing the letter yourself,” Daniel Pink suggests in the book To Sell is Human. In the letter, list the reasons your prospect is turning you down. “When you read your letter, you’ll probably laugh,” the author says, but more important, “the letter might reveal soft spots in what you’re presenting, which you can then work to strengthen”.

Because our team at Say It For You is involved in blog marketing, I was especially interested in what Daniel Pink had to say about “non-sales selling”. That consists of convincing others to exchange their resources (their expertise, time, effort, and attention) for something they want. Today, he explains, instead of product pushing, we must move people into action“. That’s because, whereas in the “old days”, sellers had more information than buyers; today’s buyers have almost equal access to information. Effective selling today, therefore, is no longer about being persistent and aggressive, but about being transparent and empathetic, helping buyers make sense of available facts and options.

So, in your rejection blog post to yourself, what reasons will you give for not sticking around to enjoy your content?

  • Your blog was very slow to load and then, to make matters worse, you annoyed me with pop up ads.
  • Your blog posts have “a wall of text” with long paragraphs – they appear to be a pain to get through.
  • Despite the fact that your title was a match for my search, I quickly realized you were not addressing me – just providing the same information I’d heard many times before. In short, you quickly managed to bore me with same-old, same-old.
  • You didn’t show me who you are – your reason for being in your business and your strong beliefs about how what’s going on could be make better.

After closing your self-rejection blog with the classic line – “After careful consideration, I did not select you for further consideration,” stop selling. Instead, get to work on helping buyers make sense of their available options.

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