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FutureNow's Brendan Regan has something to say about online persuasion that business owners need to hear, at least if they want their business blogs to work. The way Regan puts it, we need to learn "how to optimize a marketing outreach from the driving point to the landing page, and on through to conversion." 

I think a good metaphor for the points Regan makes is giving your blog readers a treasure map. Readers find their way to your blog, remember, because the products and services they need or the kind of information they're seeking matches up with what you have, what you do, and what you know.

Some of this "treasure map" thing is getting the mechanics right, meaning everything from initially selecting the right key words and phrases, setting up the widgets using the blog platform and website software, choosing the right url addresses and tags, having a clear navigation path from the blog to the website landing pages and shopping cart, all of that. (That's the part in which I, as a blog content provider and teacher am not directly involved, but my work becomes much more effective if a Say It For You business owner client has hired experts to get the setup right from the get-go.) Regan's real clear about readers losing patience if the process isn't smooth, showing how glitches call the security and credibility of the site into question in searchers' minds. "The hardcore interruption in the purchase flow is very risky," he points out.

As a ghost blogger, however, I'm far from off the hook when it comes to responsibility for making the treasure map for online readers effective. If the blogger doesn't tend to certain crucial mapping details, the results can be disappointing for all concerned.  As Regan puts it, a persuasive scenario can break down, and customers' money will be left on the table.

Three practical tips he offers have to do with the primary call to action of your blog:

• Make sure it's "above the fold" (so readers don't need to scroll down to see it on the page)
• Make it's in high contrast (either because it's a link they click on or through the graphics)
• Clearly label the call to action (no question about what the reader is to do and what readers can expect to find or accomplish)

According to Pew Internet Research Project, more than 40 million people use the Internet each day, with close to half of them performing a search of some kind. Your business, your products, your knowhow, and the services you offer might be exactly the treasure they're seeking - but they have to find you first! 
 

Iron Chef Jose Garces shares his top five tips for getting kids interested in cooking, and every one of those tips, I realized, can be used to spice up business blogs!

1.     Play a game. "Pick an ingredient and see who can come up with the best dish.  Make it interactive and fun."

In a blog post, you can invite readers to share the most unusual use they've found for your product or service (perhaps offering some kind of prize for the best entries). Ask readers to share a pet phrase they use relating to what you do.

2.     Take advantage of technology.  Garces recommends the new Wii game "Cook or Be Cooked", or watching a cooking show and then trying to make the dishes.

Different blogging software programs have different features and benefits.  Three popular free platforms are Blogger, WordPress, and TypePad.  My own Say It For You blog uses a paid platform, Compendium Blogware.  The main idea is to use existing technology to streamline the process of getting your content published on the web.

3,     Go shopping together.  "As parents, sometimes we just want to go in and get the shopping done quickly.  Instead, try to make grocery shopping with your kids a priority."

In your business blog, rather than just "sending" online visitors to your shopping cart or catalogue, use your blog posts to highlight specific products or services and show how each can be applied to a specific task or situation.  "Walk" your potential customers down your "grocery aisle" with the specific information you offer.

4.     Strike a deal.   Says Garces, "I struck a deal with Gloria - she has to try one new vegetable a week.  We make them together.  This is a great way to connect with your kid."

Online printable coupons can serve as an incentive to readers to try a new product or service.  Susan Gunelius of About.com suggests writing blog posts about upcoming product releases or sales your business is running.

5.     Aim to inspire.  "If your children see you excited about trying new foods and cooking   
techniques, then you'll inspire them."

Your blog is your "voice" to potential clients.  For them to get excited, they need to sense
your excitement about what you're selling and about the services you provide.

It's amazing how many fresh ingredients are available in today's supermarket," exclaims the Iron Chef. 

Even more amazing, though, is the sheer volume of information available on the internet today on just about every subject, including yours. As the sales training book  Stop Selling and Do Something Valuable advises, "We have to sell ourselves to potential clients so that they choose to work with us rather than the competition. ..We need to persuade people to act."

According to meeting management expert Larissa Schultz, quoted in the latest issue of Speaker Magazine, two of the top three reasons planners hire one professional speaker over another are:

1. The speaker's content matches the conference's needs.
2. The speaker is an industry expert on a specific topic.

Reading this, it occurred to me that these are the exact factors that make one blog successful compared to others.

1. The blog's content matches the searcher's needs.
Of all advertising and marketing tactics, blogging's way ahead of the pack because it attracts customers who want to be sold. In fact, it's the close match between what the searcher Googled (or Yahoo'd or MSN'd or Binged), and what you do, what you know about, and what you sell that accounts for the online meeting of customer and company!

2.  The blog offers expert information and advice on a specific topic.
Your company blog offers the perfect platform for you to showcase your expertise in your field, while offering expert advice and information to readers who are looking for exactly that kind of advice and information!

Blogging for business, you remember, is "pull marketing". Potential clients arrive at your blog because they're seeking a product or a service, or knowledge about that kind of product or service, or advice on how to best use that product or service.  Your blog has just the kind of information they want.

And the third top reason professional speakers get hired and blogs get read? ROI - Return on Investment.

Meeting planners, Larissa Shultz points out, are looking to hire speakers who deliver great "takeaway value" that helps the audience (usually employees of a company or members of an association) put into practice what they've learned, resulting in enhanced performance and enhanced profits.

Blog readers will make their own ROI judgments - and swiftly. If the blog post isn't a good match for their inquiry, they'll "bounce" away and look elsewhere. To the extent their interest is engaged, readers will follow your "calls to action" - by phoning your business, faxing in a request or an order, signing up for a newsletter or RSS feed to the blog, or by proceeding to your shopping cart to buy your products or services. 

From the business owner's standpoint, ROI is ultimately measured by the increase in the number of people who recommend the company to a friend or buy the product or service. Before either of those things can happen, though, the "top three reasons" need to be present, so blog posts can be found and read.

Posting blogs is how businesses take advantage of the main reason people use
the Web - to find stuff.

The idea behind blogging is that, rather than running traditional ads for your brand of hats, or vitamins, or travel, you provide lots of information on the history of hats, on why vitamins are good for you, and about exciting places to go on safari.  Consumers interested in your subject, but who never even knew your name, come to see you as a resource. When blog readers follow your “calls to action” by phoning your business, faxing in a request or an order, signing up for your newsletter, subscribing to your blog through an RSS feed, or by proceeding to your shopping cart to buy your product or service, you know your blog marketing strategy is working.

But there are millions of other blogs out there for searchers to find, so what is it that can transform yours into a powerhouse?  Fellow blogger Michel Fortin answers that question in one word: PROOF!  Fortin believes that, while some blogs miss the mark because of poor customer targeting or shoddy copy, most blogs miss their goal due to lack of proof.

People are skeptical, he explains, today more so than ever before.  That’s why you need to prove your case, says Fortin, not just tell it or sell it – prove it! If there’s reasonable doubt, you’re going to lose the sale. Your blog is there to make ‘em believe.

There are several kinds of proof you can use:

One aspect of blogging on which Fortin never compromises is conversion. He’s alluding not to religion, but to converting blog readers into believers. 

Lesson for today: Only blog believers become website buyers.

Many years ago, I heard "First lady of financial planning" Venita Van Caspel lecture to a crowd in a Houston, Texas shopping center on how to develop a winning money attitude.  Van Caspel said something then that's stuck with me ever since. Asked by prospective clients how much she charged in financial planning fees, she'd reply, "Don't ask what financial planning costs.  Ask what it pays!"

Business owners contemplating starting a business blog often ask me about costs, and, since solid business decisions must consider expected return on investment, that question is perfectly in order, as far as I'm concerned. 

At the same time, every business owner must be prepared to consider the corollary question - How will I know blogging's paying off for my business?  Based on my experience with business blogging, as well as the insight I gained all those years ago from Venita, I'm convinced it's the answer to that second question that's most important for business owners to discuss.

For beginning business bloggers, you can use your own website and your own server to post your blog, or sign up for a blogging "platform" hosted by a blogging company.  Two popular free platforms are Blogger.com and, WordPress. TypePad offers a one free trial month free, and then charges a modest monthly fee. Blogware companies such as Compendium offer platforms with extra features to amplify business bloggers' influence and "reach".  Compendium helps answer the second question by providing weekly analytics on searchers who clicked on the corporation's blog. Depending on the budget and the goals for the blog, blog-it-yourselfer small business owners can expect "platform costs" that range from zero to several thousand dollars a year.

Adding a professional ghost blogger to the marketing team can boost the marketing tab by $3,000 to $8,000 a year.  In addition, business owners who want to reap maximum benefits from their long-term online marketing strategy may pay a professional to "optimize" their website in coordination with the blog, as well as to promote the blog in directories and even adword campaigns.

To put blogging costs in perspective, any entrepreneur should check out the list of advertising costs in David Verklin's book Watch This, Listen Up, Click Here. A 30-second national radio spot on, say Rush Limbaugh, costs almost $5000 (yes, for just one!), a healthclub panel ad in Chicago costs $18,000, and the price of a 30-second commercial on Desperate Housewives is more than $250,000. (Verklin breaks those numbers down to an average cost of $20 to reach a thousand TV viewers in one brief encounter.)

All these marketing and advertising dollars are spent to achieve the one thing blogging does best - giving companies customers who want to be sold!
   

Back to Question #2 - How do you know your blog marketing's working?   When blog readers follow your "calls to action" - by phoning your business, faxing in a request or an order, signing up for a newsletter, or proceeding to your shopping cart to buy your product or service, you must have systems in place to differentiate these contacts from others that came through word of mouth marketing, ads, billboards, or commercials.  Along with getting your content out there on the blogosphere, you must know precisely how much incremental business came as a direct result of the blog. 

So (begging your pardon, Venita!) do ask how much blogging costs, but remember the more important issue - What does it pay?