Ghost Blogger

Seasoned professional speaker Michael A Podolinsky, CSP, says to speakers, "Stick to your knitting.  In an attempt to impress the audience when you do a big presentation, don't change what you have been doing…", he says.

CVTips.com comes at the issue from the other end, advising job seekers to learn about the corporate culture of a prospective employer, getting a glimpse of some of the organization's core values.  "The more aware one is about the corporate culture of a particular organization, the more the possibility to strike the right chord with that organization."

Corporate culture? Isn't that something that's been done, way done? Well, says Inc. Magazine, "it's back. (It never left!) Your employees crave it.  Your customers will love it. And the one who needs it most is you."

I think the "two C's" (Corporate culture) relate to two of the "Four P's of Businss Blogging": Passion and Personality.  That's because, in business blog posts, as compared to brochures, ads, or even the website, it's easier to communicate the unique personality and core beliefs of the business owners.  Over time, in fact a business blog becomes the "voice" of the corporate culture, whether the "corporation" (or partnership or LLC) consists of one person or many.

The concept of revealing the corporate culture through blog posts doesn't have to mean you stick to one narrow topic, with each post offering the sort of detailed information you'd find in a catalogue or product manual. In fact, when I'm "meeting" a business through its blog, I like to get a sense that the owners are tuned in to the bigger picture of what's going on in their industry and to what's happening the everyday world around them. I want to know what they "make of it all" from their little corner.

Yes, I expect a business blogger to focus on what's relevant (that's the "expectation" of the search engines, as well!). But, the more revealing the blog is of the owner's slant on what's going on - and what should be going on and how - the more engaging and interesting I'm likely to find that business' blog posts.

You might say that sticking to one's knitting while still managing to knit something with a little personality to it is the real challenge in blogging for business!

 

Mature businesses face challenges different from the ones new businesses need to overcome. 

In the course of my work as a professional ghost blogger and coach for business blogging, I've found it's the same with new bloggers versus seasoned business bloggers.  Keeping content relevant and fresh is an ongoing challenge in marketing of any kind, of course, but today I want to deal with a particularly interesting issue:

• Someone posted a comment that contradicted what you said, and, upon looking into the matter, you discover you'd been mistaken.  
• You've learned there's some better way to solve a problem, a solution you didn't know about then, or perhaps one that didn't even exist at the time you wrote that old blog post.
• The "regs" have changed in your industry, and the old information is simply outdated.

What's the best way to handle that situation in your blog?

According to Gardner and Birley, authors of Blogging For Dummies (they solved the problem of bringing their material up to date by issuing a second edition!), bloggers should avoid editing posts after they've been published, in keeping with the "transparency" principle. Many bloggers, they explain, make corrections by using strikethrough text on the original entry, followed with the correct version, while others use italics, bolding, or notes at the top or bottom of the original post.

Here's what I think: Since blogs are more conversational and less formal than websites or books, admitting mistakes can actually add to the "human" side of business blogging.  Your being a lifelong learner who keeps up with new thinking and with ongoing developments in your field can't help but add notches in the "plus" column for you and your business.

My idea is in keeping with something Blogging For Business authors Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulis are saying, which is that one of the characteristics bloggers should have is "the ability to write in a natural, authentic, human voice."

The solution I like best for expanding on and correcting old blog posts is the one suggested by Garner and Birley for"when you really mess things up": Start a new post.

Armed with your new understanding of the information or of a better solution to a problem, share what you now know with your readers.  Explain what you used to think (linking back to the old blog post), then share the new, better information you have today.

So, here is my new version of an old saying:

To err is human; to update your blog posts is divine!

Customer service expert Sheldon Goldstein teaches companies how to get the most actionable information out of customer surveys.

There are two clincher questions that ABC Company can use to take its own customer service "temperature":
 

• How likely are you to purchase from ABC again?
• How likely are you to recommend ABC to friends and family?

Loyalty, explains Goldberg, is a behavior with satisfaction as its foundation, adding that the right survey can measure that behavior (or its absence!) in new clients, repeat clients, lost clients, and even competitors' clients.

Blogging for business is targeted to a fifth group - potential clients. Blog posts are your "elevator speeches", the perfect venue to showcase your products, the services you offer, and your unique approach to delivering those to clients.  But no matter which of the five groups of clients you're targeting, always remember the Radio WIIFM principle. One thing is for sure: those clients (no matter whether they're new clients, repeat customers, other companies' clients, or potential customers or clients) are all thinking, always thinking, and will continue to be thinking…

                                    "So what?  So what's in it for me?"

Given that you're using your blog to attract online searchers with "pull marketing", can surveys work in business blogs?  There are actually two different yes answers to that question:

Asking qualitative survey questions (questions that can't be answered with a simple "yes" or "no") in a blog post is about engaging the reader through interaction. 
Answering the questions allows you to showcase your knowledge of the subject, and, even more important, your company's deep sensitivity to customers' needs.

No, it wouldn't make sense to ask potential clients how likely they are to purchase again, nor if they'd recommend you to family and friends. But, with your opening blog encounter, you're setting the stage for positive customer survey responses to those two questions later on.

Nowadays, apparently, it's OK (or at least legal) to knock a competitor by name.  "Tropicana imports some of its orange juice," the Florida's Natural announcer hastens to inform TV audiences in no uncertain terms.  Leaving nothing to implication, he follows up with a question, "So why would you ever choose anything but Florida's Natural?"

Blogs for business bear little resemblance to TV commercials, being closer to advertorials than straight-up ads, but there's a lesson to be learned here.  Although one possible approach in a business blog is to compare your products and services to others', demonstrating how your company is different in a positive way, as a professional ghost blogger and blog content development trainer, I recommend steering clear of Florida Natural's Tropicana-knocking tactic.

On its website, Florida Natural takes a better approach, using the provocatively simple question "Where does your juice come from?" to lead into a discussion of buying USA-grown fruit products. 

Your company blog posts can get the job done with similar subtlety, using the "Power of We".  Try sentences beginning with "At _____(your company name), WE offer…………….  WE believe that……..    WE value.  Rather than starting with a negative in mind, devaluing other companies' products and services, stress the positives about you and yours.

Do THEY do a poor job at cosmetic dentistry? Use dangerous chemicals in their cleansers? Understaff customer service lines? Import ingredients? Maybe.  But leave all that to implication, why don't you?

Online searchers found YOU!  Reassure them they've come to a place where "nice guys and gals" live, people who play nice with competitors and customers alike.

Whatever you import - don't export negativity, is my advice!

If tomato sauce turned one of your food containers orange, you're not alone, Good Housekeeping assures readers.  The solution?  "Add Cascade Plastic Booster to your dishwasher to bring your plasticware back to its original hue."

In similar vein, theGood Housekeeping "You Mean It's Not Just Me?" offers solutions to all manner of predicaments, from silverware losing its luster, reeking gymbags, or the lice your kids brought home from school.

What a perfect template that "Not Just Me" template could be, I can't help thinking, when it comes to creating business blog posts!

1. Assure searchers they're not alone in their dilemma or need.  Au contraire - their situation is common and eminently fixable! Most important, hasten to assure searchers, you've solved these precise problems for customers and clients many times before - piece of cake!
2. Tell readers how the fix is to be accomplished, liberally sprinkling the advice with hints of how your products and services play into the solution.
3. Mix "we-can-do-that" with "it's-not-just-you".
4. Simmer over low heat.

Voila! You've got yourself an extremely effective "advertorial" business blog!

 

Tucked inside the Murphy Building in Indianapolis is a vintage clothing store called IndySwank, and tucked inside the Indianapolis Star account of an interview with IndySwank’s owner are some great content ideas for business blogs.

Business bloggers often confide they have trouble continually coming up with fresh ideas for their blog posts and finding news ways to talk about the products and services they offer. The IndySunday Interviews Someone You Should Know article poses eight questions answered by Jennifer Rice Von Deylen, owner of IndySwank.  As a professional ghost blogger and business blogging trainer, I realized that answering those very questions could make for terrific blog content for any business.


HOW DO YOU GET THE STOCK FOR YOUR STORE?
If your business sells products, where do those products originate?  Do you create them? What sources have you chosen and why? Talking about your product allows you to showcase your own expertise in your field, your own outlook, and the ways in which your product is unique in the marketplace.

HOW DID YOU NAME THE STORE?
Rice Von Deylen explains that “swank” means really, really cool, adding her opinion that “We don’t take enough pride in who we are.” What does the name of your product and of your business say about the outcomes you hope to bring to customers?

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE?
In what facet of your industry have you chosen to focus your business efforts? Why?  How does the way you run the business make you different from your competitors?  In other words, what’s your style?  Rice Von Deylen’s answer to the question: “Urban.  I still try to be sexy and attractive, but not like Britany Spears.” Use your blog posts to help readers get the feeling they know the “you” in your business!

HOW CAN PEOPLE DISCOVER THEIR OWN STYLE?
Offer information in your blog posts that helps readers gain knowledge.  Customers who feel well-informed feel empowered to make buying decisions! Don’t for a moment be afraid of making your blogsite the “go to” place for information in your field.

Jennifer Rice Von Deylen's advice is perfect for business owners trying to promote their products and services through blog marketing: “For direction, take what you’re comfortable with and try to exaggerate it.”

I find it hard to imagine any better way to arrive at your own “signature style” for your business blog posts!

 

I almost didn’t go to see the movie “Nine”. The Indianapolis Star gave the film only two stars, quoting Roger Moore’s review in the Orlando Sentinel: “How can a movie starring six Academy Award-winning actors be such a bore?”  

Thank goodness, I caught that interview of the “Nine” cast on “Larry King Live”.  King said the film was wonderful, and, after hearing the actors share their experiences, I knew this was going to be a very special film I absolutely needed to see. (It was – I’d see it again!)

No need to worry - I’m not about to change the topic of this Say It For You blog from creating content for successful blog marketing into movie reviews!  What I am trying to express is that readers can be influenced in favor of or against something with relative ease.  It’s important that you know what is being said by other bloggers on your business topic, or even what might be posted about your business in particular.

I’m really talking about something bigger than just finding and controlling any negative reviews about your company’s product or service., Consistently combing the blogosphere to see what’s being said that relates to you is a great idea, no doubt, and your business blog posts are tools that allow you to put your own “spin” on any messages the public might be receiving from competitors or critics.

I’m talking about more than using analytics to track your blogs most popular posts and who’s reading your blog, although tracking and measuring results is a terrific tool to help you keep making the blog more and more effective as a marketing tactic for your business.

I just don’t want you, or anybody, to miss your “movie” the way I almost missed seeing “Nine”. I want you to go beyond the question I always pose to new Say It For You business blogging clients “Would you find you?” to become the in-depth interviewer Larry King was for me.

Once searchers have read your blog post, no matter what any other blogger or newspaper columnist was saying on your subject, they’re going to know your company is one they absolutely need to get to know!

Parents may be reassured by finding a video game rate “E” (for everyone), but that’s certainly not the best rating for business blogs. In order for blog posts to be effective as part of a business marketing plan, the content of the blog must be targeted towards a specific audience.

Web searchers are on a fact-finding mission, looking for information about what you do, what you sell, and what you know about.  The specific key words and phrases in the title and in the body of the blog post help the search engine direct those searchers to your blog.

Since blogging for business is a “pull marketing” tactic, the more targeted the content and the title can be, the narrower the “rating”, and the better chance your blog has of “getting found”.

The entire process of online search is based on bringing searchers to the right place to find the precise kinds of information they need.

According to Chris Baggott of Compendium Blogware, there are four qualities or variables that make blogs more successful than traditional websites in targeting and attracting the right kind of visitors: 

• Content-rich
• Specific
• Relevant
• Personal 

You’re writing a blog (or perhaps turning to a professional ghost writer like me for help) in hopes that searchers will not only read what you’ve written, but react favorably by becoming clients or customers. To achieve that outcome, advises blog consultant Mark White, “your knowledge  (of your target audience) needs to influence every aspect of your blog, including:

• What your blog looks like
• The content of the blog
• The style of writing
• The length and frequency of posts
•  How you elicit comments and feedback

In short, your business blog should not be rated “E” because they were never intended for everyone.  “S” for SOMEONE is the best rating for business blogs!

Each year, Speakers Platform recognizes five top speakers.  These Top 5 awards are for excellence, which is measured several ways:

• Expertise
• Professionalism
• Innovation
• Client testimonials
• Presentation skills

These same five quality "measuring sticks", it occurs to me, might be used in creating top-notch content for business blog posts.

1.  Expertise:
Corporate training company owner David Markowitz uses his blog to provide timely and useful information to people working in FDA-related industries.  By making his blog a "go-to" site for his target market, he provides proof he understands the needs of his target clients. Your blog is your way to showcase your own expertise, but also to showcase your website as the link to information from many authoritative sources.

2.  Professionalism:
Providing valuable information to readers in generous portions without being too "sales-ey" is one facet of acting professionally in business blogging. The way you link your blog to other websites is important to the way you are perceived as well.  While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery and all, always provide a link to the writer or source you're quoting, or whose idea you're using as a jumping off point for your own comments.

3.  Innovation:
Online searchers will undoubtedly have heard some of the information you're providing before.  It's your unique slant or innovative approach that's likely to elicit that all-important "Never thought of it that way!" response.  Your blog post is a way to show readers that this is no cookie-cutter company they're about to meet. I always advise clients to use their blog to provide information - particularly new information - related to their field.

4. Client testimonials:
Client success stories and testimonials can be turned into a success story for your blog.  Showing how you solved problems for clients in the past boosts your credibility with prospects.  Real life tales add interest to any piece of writing.

5.  Presentation skills:
The meat of the matter is always the content readers find in your blog post, but, just as presentation matters in a restaurant, an important part of the blog post is its presentation. The way you use language to make the text interesting, different, conversational, yet right "on point" will go a long way in engaging readers and assuring them they've come to exactly the right place to find what they need.

I remember one of my high school teachers posting a sign on our classroom wall, saying "Autograph your work with excellence!"

Before putting it out on the blogosphere, measure each of your blog posts by at least one of the Speakers Platform Top 5!

Talk about an "in a nutshell" summary of a big topic in a few words!

Randy Kaipaniolo, commenting on David Meerman Scott's explanation of social media marketing, brings it all together by naming four ways for businesses to gain attention:

You can BUY it (advertising)
You can BEG for it (media PR)
You can BUG people (sales)

or….(drumroll)

You can EARN it by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free!

(Kaipaniolo includes YouTube videos, research reports, photos, Twitter streams, Facebook pages, and ebooks in the "earn" category, but lets talk about creating and publishing something valuable through business blogs.)

You wouldn't believe how many businesses are venturing into the blogosphere, with millions of people putting ideas and information out on the World Wide Web.  Some just want to share knowledge and give others the benefit of their opinions, but, if you're a business owner, you're using blogging as part of an ongoing marketing strategy.

Of course, a blog post is not an ad.  You're providing valuable information, with a particular slant that showcases your expertise in your field, the special qualities of your products or services, and your core beliefs about how - and with whom - you aim to do business.

The furthest thing from "begging" or "bugging", your blog functions through "pull marketing".  Only those online searchers who already have an interest in what you sell, what you do, and what you know about will ever see your blog posts, and those are exactly the customers you want.

By offering a "content-tasting" on your blog, and doing that regularly and frequently, you'll be earning the right to convert at least some "tasters" into buyers!

I don't make a practice of forwarding any of the joke-list email messages that, after circulating around the globe, spreading from distribution list to distribution list, seem to want to set up housekeeping in my inbox.  (Enough with the jokes and puns, already!)

Over the holiday weekend, however, I received a message which, while undeniably corny, I think carries an important lesson for us business bloggers.  The email, which came all the way from Israel, is titled "An Exercise Program For Everyone".  Here's a program, the introductory paragraph assured me, that does not require all that much strenuous activity:

• Beating around the bush
• Jumping to conclusions
• Climbing the walls
• Swallowing your pride
• Hitting the nail on the head
• Pushing your luck
• Bending over backwards
• Jumping on the band wagon
• Climbing the ladder of success
• Picking up the pieces
• Starting the ball rolling
• Wading through paperwork
• Passing the buck
• Throwing your weight around

"Whew! That was some workout!", the message concluded, encouraging me to "Sit down, rest, and exercise caution." (Told 'ya it was corny!)

But, just think about our English language and what a rich patchwork of expressions it is, with folklore from our own history and from other cultures and languages built into quaint expressions such as the ones on this list.  English offers a near-endless variety of ways to convey our message in our business blog posts.

True, as a professional ghost blogger, I've built an entire business based on the fact that most entrepreneurs (as they readily admit) lack the time and discipline to keep posting enough content to be successful at marketing their business through blogging.

Some business owners and employees, however, want to do their own writing. They ask for my help in the form of coaching on how to create engaging blog content that can drive home their message without being too sales-y. One challenge they - and all of us bloggers - face actually increases as time goes on:  How can we keep our content as fresh in blog post #213 as it was in post #Two?

That's precisely where the lesson of the "Exercise Program For Everyone" lies. Worried about repeating yourself in talking about what you sell, what you do, and what you know about? To keep it fresh, exercise your own English language Capture a point you've made often before by using a new expression that "hits the nail on the head."

Before readers "jump to conclusions", debunk their myths.  "Start the ball rolling" with startling statisticsa, and "throw your weight around" by sharing your experience and expertise in your field.

For a business blog exercise program, there's no need to circle the globe or even the gym. After all, you've got the ever-changing English language as your content-freshening appliance!

 

Hard to believe, but my little professional ghost-blogging company, Say It For You, is celebrating its third New Year's today!

The company’s work product, some 2,000 unique writing selections, can be found in clients’ corporate brochures, on client website pages, in press releases and even letters to the editor. Primarily, though, our pieces populate the blogosphere.

2009 was certainly a year of learning for me, and “text” material was everywhere.  I continued to follow big, nationally-known gurus such as Seth Godin and Ted Demopoulos, along with the many local marketing and social media mavens who’ve become my friends and blogging colleagues.

Ideas for content were sparked by magazine and newspaper articles, radio and TV broadcasts, and even billboards and print ads. I paid close attention to how I was treated as a customer by businesses I patronize and by the different charities to which I direct dollars. I devoured books on marketing, SEO, web design, and the vagaries of Google and friends. Networking groups were my classrooms.  Mostly, Say It For You clients were my best teachers.

2009 was also the year in which an informal “Say It For You Manifesto” took form, clarifying a business model that reflects the way I want to do business.

Say It For You is a premium ghost-blogging and blog marketing service that provides your business with enhanced potential for improved standing in search engine results but also highest-quality marketing content for a wide variety of uses. Our blog posts are more than just a collection of keywords; they are strong, thoughtful messages about your business
by writers with extensive business experience.

When you use Say It For You, you receive the following benefits in addition to impeccably written posts:

• A single writer dedicated to understanding your business and keeping abreast
• of topics in your industry. That writer is ready to interface with your SEO expert,     marketing consultant, or web designer.
• Say It For You works with only one client in each field of business, so that all research and promotional efforts are devoted towards benefiting you and your business.
• You will have personal contact with your writer, including regular in-person meetings or phone conferences. Your writer is always available to discuss content and strategy.
• The ideas and input of writers with strong background in business. Our writers have expertise in finance, marketing, operations, event planning, autos, seniors, international commerce, and more.

True, for Say It For You, this is only the third time to celebrate New Year’s.  But it seems that every day there’s something new to celebrate and to BLOG about!

Sometimes we role play, my career mentees and I.  At Butler University College of Business, where I serve as an Executive Career Mentor, one of my functions is helping students prepare resumes and train for job interviews.

One favorite technique I use is to instruct students to imagine me as a rather hard-boiled Human Resources manager at XXZ Corporation.  I've just scanned dozens upon dozens of resumes; this is my ninth interview of the day - I've seen and heard it all!  Then imagine, I tell the students, that my reaction to every statement on your resume, every statement you make in your interview, is “So I should care about this  WHY?”

Be sure the things you choose to say, I caution career mentees, whether on your resume or in your interview, aren't about what you've done or about what you want, but about what they need. Don't just tell me you spent the summer of '08 working in a local store. Tell me how you saved your employer money, time, and hassle. Tell me how you streamlined procedures, how you raised more money for a charity, how you promoted the cause or addressed a long-standing problem for your employer. In other words, tell me why I should care about what you're telling me!

As an “Executive Blogging Mentor”, I would have precisely the same advice to offer business owners and professionals launching a business blogging tactic as part of their overall business marketing strategy. Offer information about what you sell, what you do, and what you know about, of course.  That's one thing business blog posts are all about.

Bottom line, though, it's about them, the readers, and their needs. Share how you solved problems for customers or clients in the past.  Share special insights searchers might not have heard anyone else express in just that way.

For your blog to function as an effective marketing tool, imagine searchers who've clicked on your blog post asking themselves the question: “So I should care about this WHY?”

“Damaged furniture needn't mean one-way trip to junkyard,” is Angie's advice in the Indianapollis Star.  Photos accompanying the article demonstrate key steps in upholstering a chair. Side by side with the Angie's Advice piece featuring interviews with two local upholstering professionals is one from Consumer Reports Money Advisor on fixing furniture – or anything else, for that matter – by yourself. “To save money, it might be a good idea to learn how to handle some repair tasks without calling in a professional.”
 

• Reveal the logic behind a system of selecting which stocks to put in a portfolio? The client won”t need my guidance!
• List spine-strengthening exercise routines? They won't need to come to my gym!
• Print recipes and menus? They won't need my catering services!

The reason these concerns are unfounded, I explain, has to do with the way the Internet functions. The only people who are going to notice your blog are those who are searching for the kinds of information, products, or services that relate to what you do!

In other words, you'll engage the attention of those online searchers who are in the market for what you sell or who need your particular type of expert advice or service. Giving advice and sharing “recipes” serve to showcase your experience and expertise.  Consumers who feel fairly informed might actually prove more willing to make buying decisions.

It appears Angie Hicks agrees with my reassurances to business owners and professional practitioners: “Many things can go wrong when restoring wood furniture yourself,” she warns. “It's worth investing in the services of a professional for items with significant material or sentimental value.” Consumer Reports Money Advisor concurs: “Don't be shy about turning to a pro if you find yourself in over your head.”

Sharing the intricacies of what you do is a way of showing how passionate you are about your work. Ironically, “giveaways” sell!

So go ahead – show 'em how to.  More often than not, it turns out, they'll see you as the one who knows how to  - do it for them!

Every holiday is a marker, however you look at it, and it's hard to resist tallying along with the toasts.

In my introductory blog post, "How Say It For You Was Born", I posed a question: "What qualities make for a great ghost blogger?" I put "drill sergeant discipline" near the top of the list, explaining that web rankings are based at least partially on frequency of posting new content, and that blogging must be kept up faithfully if "winning search" is one of the business' goals.

I think it's fair to give myself an "A" in the discipline department.  I, together with my contract writers, turned out close to 1,000 different original blog posts this calendar year without ever missing a deadline. In addition, Say It For You produced copy for a couple hundred web pages, press releases, brochures, letters to the editor, and newsletter articles.

This year, blog content development training was added to  the Say It For You menu of services, for business owners who, along with their employees, want to create their own blog content. During 2009, I gave six talks on "Blogging For Business" where the audience at each numbered more than one hundred.

This has been a year made rich through meeting so many new friends in the social media community. Special thanks go to continuing mentors Chris Baggott (Compendium Blogware), Ryan Cox (Schindigs), Ken Zweigel (Drive), Tony Fannin (Be Branded),  Mike Semon (Spartan Technologies), Damon Richards (Port to Port Consulting), and Kathleen Haley (KSH Marketing). I could never have come this far as a professional ghost blogger and blog trainer. without your support and expertise.

Another quality that makes for a great ghost blogger is a "third ear".  A ghost, I explained, needs not only to hear what clients want to say, but to pick up on their unique style of expression.  "The goal," I wrote, "is to speak your message, in your '"voice', to your customers..  A good ghost blogger should, her/himself, be neither seen nor heard."

To all our wonderful clients, thanks, each of you, for "letting us in" to the dreams and hopes you hold for your business or professional practice.  Thanks for devoting careful thought to the question I pose to each new blogging client:

If you had only 8-10 words to describe why you're passionate about what you what you have, what you do, and what you know about, what would those words be?

2009 tallies and toasts - it's been a privilege and it's been "real"!

Indianapolis Business Journal technology columnist Tim Altom isn't a fan of "Power Point fashionistas" who use all the animation trickery the program can provide.  "Too much, too fast, too self-conscious" is how he describes many of the presentations he's had to sit through.

I couldn't agree more, as I brought out in "Blogs, Like PowerPoint Presentations, Can Be Boons or Banes". I suggested thinking of each blog post as one slide in a PowerPoint.

Even Robert Gaskins, co-creator of PowerPoint, explains that the technology was never intended for showing an entire proposal - just a quick summary, and that relationship is precisely applicable to a business' blog posts relative to the corporate website.

Business bloggers would do well to pay heed to several of Altom's suggestions about effective use of Power Point slides:

1.   Slides should be used to set the stage for a conversation…Slides.work fine if they're meant only to cue and remind.
Blog posts can cue and remind as well, with each post focused on just one new piece of information, a unique approach to a subject, an anecdote, a myth busted or a problem solved.

2.   Altom put together charts from a client's own data, but in ways the client had not thought of, revealing things the customer hadn't seen before.
One excellent use of a business blog post is to do the same, presenting a new approach to familiar information.

3.   Most speeches can do just fine without slides. But there are occasions when you're not able to dialogue…
In fact, blogging for business is exactly such an "occasion". Pull marketing is all about attracting attention from the right kind of strangers, those unaware of the name of your business, who arrive at your blog because they are searching for something that relates to what you do. The dialogue cannot begin until those strangers find you online. 
 

• Too much: (keep blog posts short and focused on one idea)
• Too fast: (keep posts conversational and informal in tone)
• Too self-conscious: (keep it about them and their needs, yet don't be reluctant       to include calls to action in your blog posts)

Social media consultant Jason Falls is a self-proclaimed purist-turned-realist when it comes to blogging for business.

Falls admits he may be falling from social media "grace" (which consists of engaging readers in "conversation", but never outright asking for the order), because, when he's discussing with business owners why they want to use social media, the answers come down to one thing - selling more stuff. "I've got news for you", says the born-again realist Falls: "Conversations do not ring the cash register."

So now what? "Make your company blog drive search results to the keywords you want to win," says Falls.  "Present calls to action for purchase."

Purchase? Selling with blogs? Not so long ago, wryly remarks internet marketing consultant Chris Garrett, he might have gotten himself lynched for merely suggesting such a thing.  "Slowly, though, the blogosphere is coming around to the idea that commerce is not necessarily evil, that in fact businesses need to make money and they do that by selling stuff."

So where does Rhoda Israelov of Say It For You stand on the issue? No social media purist I, when I'm meeting with business owners to discuss their corporate blogging strategy, the conversation's all about their "getting found online" and  ringing the dickens out of their cash register! 

In fact, some business owners (professional practitioners are particularly prone to voice this concern) are so revenue-conscious, they express fear that, if they share too much information about their field in the blog posts, clients won't pay them to provide expertise. At the other extreme, I find business owners who express to me that they don't want to come off boastful and self-serving in their blog.

There are, I think, no wrong answers here, but Steve Wamsley's sales training book, Stop Selling and Do Something Valuable, which was reviewed on the Financial Planning Association website, has something to say that should resonate with reluctant social media realists.

"We have to sell ourselves to potential clients so that they choose to work with us rather than the competition… Wamsley's next words are directed to financial planners, but this is the  part I think is so germane to the social media debate:  "In our role as advocates, we need to persuade people to act."

As a professional ghost blogger, being an advocate for my client's business sounds like exactly the role I want to play!

Nothing speaks quite as loud as numbers.

Career Rookie Magazine says using numbers may be one of the most underutilized strategies in cover letter writing. As a professional ghost blogger who teaches business owners how to create content for blog posts, I think numbers tend to be underutilized in blogs as well.

Like myth-busting in blog posts, which I talked about in my last post, opening your post with a startling statistic can be a way to grab visitors’ attention. Statistics can actually serve as myth-busters in themselves.  If there’s some false impression people seem to have relating to your industry, or to a product or service you provide, you can bring in statistics to show how things really are. Statistics can also serve to demonstrate the extent of a problem.  Once readers realize the problem, the door is open for you to show how you help solve that very type of problem for your customers!

Here are a few examples:

• CNNMoney offered fascinating tidbits about the 2009 MTV music awards.  If you’re an event planner in Omaha, sharing the fact that MTV crew members needed to arrange for 600 tables, 2,000 chairs, 550 walkie-talkies, and 32 copiers brings out the importance of having a professional (like you) handle event details.

• “An average woman, over sixty years, can absorb into her bloodstream thirty pounds of ingredients in moisturizers.  She can also consume four tubes of lipstick in a lifetime.” (You’re blogging about the importance of using only all-natural skin care products).

• “A recent study found that raisins and grapes can lead to kidney failure in pets” (for veterinarian or pet supply store blog).

• “Around 200 B.C., the Chinese were able to make recycled paper by processing old fishing nets (for recycling company blog).

Statistics add power and focus to your blog posts, giving you the chance to showcase your knowledge and expertise. Skillful use of startling statistics can keep your blog from being just a number!

Myth-busting is a great use for corporate blogs, I firmly believe.  Not only are blogs wonderful for dispensing information, they’re great for addressing misinformation.  In other words, blogs can help searchers by clearing up stuff.

In the process of debunking myths, bloggers for business can:

• Offer little-known information on their industry
• Season that information with their own unique slant
• Demonstrate their knowledge and expertise.

For newbie bloggers in particular, myths are an easy source of content ideas. In the normal course of doing business, every business owner and professional practitioner has come up against common misunderstandings people have about the products and services they offer. Here are just a couple of examples:

Myth:   Brain cells can’t regenerate – if you kill a brain cell, it’s never replaced.
Bust:    In 1998, scientists at the Salk Institute discovered that brain cells can regenerate.
Use:     Blog post by charity raising funds for Alzheimer’s research. 
    

     Myth:  If a pregnant mother’s carrying the baby down low, it will be a boy.
     Bust:   This comes from old English folklore, and is completely unfounded.
     Use:    Blog post for baby clothing store.

        Myth:   Reading in a dark room will ruin your eyes.
        Bust:    Reading in dim light will not, in itself, negatively affect your eyes.
        Use:     Blog post for optometry outlet.

        Shel Holtz and Ted Demopolis, authors of Blogging for Business, debunk a myth about the future of blogging itself: “Many pundits have decreed that blogs signal the end of the mainstream media, press releases, or any number of established communications. Quite simply, they are wrong!  Blogs are complementary to the pre-existing communications channels available.”

When I, as a professional ghost blogger, teach business owners and professional practitioners how to create compelling content for blogs, one of the tried and true techniques we practice is busting myths!