Marketing Strategy and Tactics Development

The true stories of injured construction worker Ralph Orlando and fever-delirious middle-aged railroad dispatcher John O'Connor capture the history of Mass General hospital, along with the role that teaching hospital has played in the development of medical technology, better than any textbook ever could.

In his book Five Patients, best-selling author Michael Crichton uses a teaching technique that bloggers with a business message to convey would do well to imitate. Good business blogs, of course, offer valuable information to online readers. But, the technique Crichton used in his book can be bloggers' ace in the hole:

People want to do business with people.

People relate to stories about people, not to facts and statistics.  As a professional ghost blogger for business and business blogging trainer, I realize that's one lesson we bloggers all need to tape to our computer screens: Let stories about people tell the story of your company, your products, and of the services you provide.

And who are the "people" to tell those stories? 
 

• Your workers and service providers:  
  In blog posts, feature individual boots-on-the ground employees of your company who deal with the customers and solve their problems. 
  
• Your customers:
  Use customer stories to show (rather than tell) exactly how problems and challenges were overcome step by step, using your expert advice or with adapting the products you sell to unique situations. 
  
• You:
  Tell stories to illustrate how you came to choose this line of work, why you care so deeply about serving customers in this particular way, and showing some of the obstacles you've needed to overcome.
  
  Whether it's politics or business, there's no denying the power of storytelling. In Tips & Traps for Marketing Your Business, authors Scott and Birk Cooper and Fritz Gruntzner confirm: "Customers don't want to feel like they are being told a brand story.  They want to tell themselves the story.  They want to be part of the story."

Michael Crichton offers valuable information about the ongoing progress of medical research, including the fact that surgical advance has been in great part dependent on increasing the effectiveness of pre-operative and post-operative procedures.  But he shows us that with people stories, like that of 22-year old Peter Luchesi with the nearly severed hand.

So go ahead - in your blog posts, tell stories people to people.  Get down and human!

Reading fellow blogger Michel Fortin’s post “Does Your Copy Have Personality?”, I was reminded that personality self-assessment tests have been around for years. I personally remember the Xerox version (back from insurance sales training days), while today as a college career mentor, I discuss Meyers-Briggs results and DISC profiles with my student mentees.

Different types of assessments tests have been popular at various times over the years, and there have been different names for the four different “quadrants” on the diagrams. The general idea is that understanding and relating to people with styles different from one’s own is a skill well worth perfecting.

• Drivers  (aka “directors “) are concerned with results.
  To appeal to drivers, blog about how your products and services helped solve problems, how long that took, and how much it costs to get there. In short (literally), give ‘em the bottom line!
  
• Expressives (aka “relators”) care most about how they’re perceived and about feelings.
  To appeal to blog readers in this category, emphasize the prestige that comes with using your products or services, and how customers can use those to express their own creativity.
  
• Analyticals (AKA “thinkers”) are preoccupied with details.
  To appeal to this audience in blog posts, offer lots of statistics, measurement, steps in a process, and lists of product ingredients.
  
• Amiables (aka “sociables”) are interested in relationships and in pleasing others.
  To appeal to blog readers who are in this category, blog about how your product helps others and helps build and strengthen personal relationships.
  

Now, not all of your blog visitors will fall neatly into one of these categories, and not every blog post is going to hit the spot with every reader. As Fortin puts it, you can’t be all things to all people. In fact, when it comes to ads, he says, writing copy that’s bland and “vanilla” in order to avoid offending anyone is a strategy that will, more often than not, prove appealing to no one.

As a business blogging trainer, though, I can offer reassurance. In blogging for business, there’s more “wiggle room” available.  You can write with one audience in mind today, and appeal to another tomorrow or next week. The trick, of course, is learning, over time, what works best for your business.

That’s not a lesson any business owner can learn by skipping over the trial-and-error part of the course!

• Understand the different markets that are available on the various social networking sites.
   
• Understand the varieties of tactics that can be employed to best communicate with your target audience on those social sites.
   
• Create content to publish on the social sites.
   
• Set up and develop your blogging strategy. We can even write expert content for you as ghost bloggers.
   
• Establish an email marketing campaign as part of your social networking.

• While existing newsletter strategies already in place for existing customers is still important to a degree, the ability to develop new social networking strategies is equally important.
   
• Don't forget, the percentage of the population that regularly visits Facebook is the same as the percentage of your customers that are on Facebook, as well.
   
• If your customers are on Facebook, you need to reach them there.

• Nearly 2700 websites were viewed, with an average visit of 57 seconds per site.
   
• One hour and 53 minutes is spent on Google
   
• Two hours and 40 minutes on AOL (which could be considered the first social networking venue)
   
• Three hours and 8 minutes on Yahoo (including their popular email service)
   
• And a whopping five hours and 25 minutes on Facebook, an 82% increase over the same time a year earlier. And their popularity just keeps growing.
  • As of February 2010, the average time spent on Facebook was up to more than seven hours per month.
  • The average user spent more time on Facebook than on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia and Amazon combined.
     

• You need to stay abreast of the ever-changing landscape of the segmented target markets that are using, or not using any longer, particular social networking sites.
   
• You should include your social networking site information on your offline marketing materials, including TV, radio, and especially print advertising. The mere presence of those Facebook and Twitter logos on your website says something about you to your audience.
   
• Create content to publish on the social sites.
   
• Set up and develop your blogging strategy. We can even write expert content for you as ghost bloggers.
   
• Establish an email marketing campaign as part of your social networking.

• Alter text size, print the page
• Send a page as an email
• Create a bookmark
• Post directly to news and social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace

• A full-function Content Management System (CMS) that creates static non-product pages as easily as product pages with a WYSIWYG text editor.
• Events Calendar
• Polling Capability
• Media Manager
• Flash Video Manager
• Customized RSS news and/or blog feeds to web pages.

A tiny chapter in the Book of General Ignorance illustrates a big idea for business bloggers - posting content with an eye for "getting found" by online searchers. Answering the question "How did Nome, Alaska get its name?", authors John Lloyd and John Michenson explain it was by mistake!

As a professional ghost blogger and blogging trainer, I found the first thing that resonated with me about that little chapter is that it's a myth-buster.  Myth-busting is a great way to generate content for your business blog - it's fun, it's informational, it's engaging, and it gives you a chance to showcase your own expertise in your field.

As with any other business strategy, myth-busting works best when done with a certain degree of finesse.  Remember, the idea is never to showcase the readers' ignorance or to "make them wrong" (so that they'll know they need your expert services).  Quite the contrary - you want a reader that feels "in the know", armed and ready to make intelligent choices.

There's a second reason, though, that I love the Nome story - it's a prime example of what I've nicknamed an "accidental organic donor". See, the story of Nome goes back to the 1850's, when an officer on a British ship noted the existence of a prominent point of land in Alaska.  In his notes on the manuscript map, the officer scribbled "Name?" (a reminder to look up the name later).  But when the document was being copied and the map of Alaska was being updated, a cartographer misread the note and wrote it in as Cape Nome (instead of "name"), and Nome it's been ever since!

In other words, sometimes there's a disconnect between what the online searcher originally  wanted and what he or she accidentally finds.  When that "accident" turns out to bring a new reader to your blog, (and if your content engages that reader's interest, the mistake can result in your converting a mistake into a customer!


 

Fnu Lnu, a term used by authorities to identify unknown suspects, is actually an acronym for First Name Unknown, Last Name Unknown, a John Doe, as it were. When you're selecting keyword phrases to use in your website and blog content, it's useful to remember that you are the fnu lnu in the equation.  Online searchers don't know your name - or the name of your business!

In fact, unless your business name is precisely the service or product you provide ("St. Louis Cosmetic Dentistry" or "Cincinnati Heating Services Specialists" or perhaps "Best Doggie Care in Des Moines"), at Stage #1 of their search, what the majority of consumers are likely to have typed into the search bar are words describing:

• Their need
• Their problem
• Their idea of the solution to their problem
• A question

Blogging for business, then, means introducing yourself to strangers.  Not that it isn't a good idea to email links to your blog posts to existing customers and clients, but, for developing new relationships, your blog will be your central prospecting tool.

To convert those "strangers" to friends and customers, then, address your blog posts to them, and write about them.  Fact is, they're going to care about your name only if and when they know you care about their problems and needs, and that you have just the means to take care of them.

Because of the relevant, recent, and frequently posted content you've been delivering to the blogosphere, search engines have delivered prospects to your fnu lnu door.  Now that they've arrived, introducing what you sell, what you do, and what you know about - with your business name attached! - is what you get to do as the reward for all that diligence.

This is the stage when "Aha!-I've-Come-To-Just-The-Right-Place", readable, engaging blog content counts most. Getting from fnu lnu to Joey's Body Shop, Maggie's Hair Salon, or Hendricks Bankruptcy Law Office - that's the getting-to-know-you business blogging goal!

Talent advisor Jason Davis defines voiceover as "the art of using the voice to sell, inform, or entertain on radio and TV, narrations, and cartoons." While my own voice, I fear, is far too nasal to make for great listening, I've developed an interest in the art ever since someone dubbed me the "voiceover lady" in describing my work as a professional ghost blogger.

On second thought, Davis might not rule me out as a voiceover trainee. In answer to a wannabe's question, he explains that while clear speech is essential, it takes much more than a great-sounding voice to succeed in voiceovers. In fact, he adds, the skill lies in "the ability to take someone else's words (the script) and make them sound believable and sincere".

What really resonated with me was what Jason Davis added next in explaining voiceover:  It takes "a strong desire to do this and the ability to persist".  " Bingo!" I thought. "That's exactly true of business blogging, where, I've always said, one of the requisite qualities is "drill sergeant discipline". Since frequency of posting new content is important in achieving web rankings, perseverance comes very much into play.

Back to Davis' basic definition of voiceover as using the voice to sell, inform, or entertain, he might have been referring to business blogs. Blogs, in many ways, represent the "voice" of the business. In blogging for business, providing visitors with valuable information takes the lead, with any "selling" happening as a result. The more engaging and informative the content in the blog, the more likely it is for "click" - to the shopping cart or contact page - to happen.

I admit I was startled when an acquaintance labeled me "the voice-over lady".  The more I think about it, though, the more appropriate a label that seems for a professional ghost blogger!

"White noise", produced by combining different frequencies, can be used to drown out or mask distracting sounds. Students use white noise machines with headphones to help them concentrate on homework; hotels provide white noise machines to help guests fall asleep. White noise devices are used in psychiatrists' waiting rooms to protect patents' privacy.

Bloggers for business need help drowning out all the "noise" created by their competitors. Sleep Well Baby white noise machines, for example, needed to "drown out" the "noise" of 1,599,000 competitive websites made in order to appear on Page 1 of Google (Sleepwellbaby.com ranked #1 on Page 1 the day this post was composed).

In fact, business blogs are favorably positioned to eclipse noise made by both traditional websites and pay-per-click online advertising.

Website "noise":

• Frequency:
  Since search engine algorithms appear to assign "value" (what I like to call "indexing Brownie points") to pages that are frequently updated, traditional websites simply can't compete with the much more frequently changing content of blogs.
   
• Keyword phrase use:
  A well-designed website page might be very keyword-rich.  Still, there's no way a website can complete with the cumulative use of keyword phrases in blog posts over weeks, months, and years.

Pay-Per-Click Ads:

The third way (besides blogging and websites) to use search as an acquisition tool is buying "AdWords" in the hopes of ranking among the top results for a percentage of words purchased. (Every time a searcher clicks on your listing, you pay a fee, hence the Pay-per-click name.)  According to the Marketing Sherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Study, PPC users typically target as many as a thousand keywords as compared to the couple of dozen bloggers use to win search.


White noise is never noise for its own sake. The real goal in using a white noise machine might be better concentration on homework, better sleep, greater privacy. In much the same way, when bloggers for business use white noise tactics, it's never for SEO's own sake.  Drowning out competitors' "white noise" can help business owners and online searchers focus on the conversation at hand, matching up the products and services with precisely the people who need them! 

Blog posts tend to be more effective when they focus on just one idea, I've found.  That idea might be:

• Busting one myth common among consumers                  
   
• One testimonial from a user of your product or service
   
• On special application for your product
   
• One common problem your service helps solve
   
• One new development in your industry

Focus is what helps blog posts stay smaller and lighter in scale, and much more flexible than the more permanent content on the typical corporate website.

What helps the separate posts fit together into an ongoing business blog marketing strategy are the blog "leitmotifs".

Leitmotif means "leading theme" in German.  In music, "the leitmotif is heard whenever the composer wants the idea of a certain character, place, or concept to come across," explains Chloe Rhodes in A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi",

Whenever I'm sitting down with business owners as they're preparing to launch a blog for their company, I find that one important step is to select 1-5 recurring themes that will appear and reappear over time in their blog posts.  The themes may be reflected in the keyword phrases they use to help drive search, but themes are broader in scope than just key words.

A residential air conditioning firm, for example, might blog using keywords such as "air conditioning", "air conditioning repair", "air conditioning service in Peoria".  A theme for that company's blog, by contrast, might be "Room comfort".

What leitmotifs will unify your blog posts?

 

Develop Indy expects its rebranding effort to offer real results, says CEO Scott Miller.  Under the old name, Indianapolis Economic Development Corporation, he explains, the organization was often confused with the state's IEDC, frustrating staffers and customers alike.

Freshbooks CEO Michael McDerment lists five characteristics he thinks good company names need:

 

1. It's easy to remember
2. It's easy to spell and requires no explanation
3. Its describes your business category
4. It describes your benefit
5. It describes your difference

• PayPal
• BestBuy
• QuickBooks

McDerment's own company name, Freshbooks, is intended to convey a fresh approach to "something as tired as accounting", he says.

As a professional ghost blogger and business blogging trainer, I think McDerment's rules apply to blogs in at least two ways:

Blog post titles:  The title needs to be a pretty good indication of what the post will be about, serving as a strong clue to what the reader can expect to find.

URLs:  "If your business is online, you don't want to have to explain how to get to your domain," says McDerment.  Your domain name should reinforce what you do.

Develop Indy aims to develop company expansion and attraction to Indianapolis.  What does your company blog aim to do?  Give it a name that says so!

 

Just the other day, a business owner prospect, B. posed a question I'd heard many times before:

 If my website is already showing up at or near the top of Page One on Google
and Bing, what value would having a blog add to the mix?

This question of what value a blog might bring to a business is the sort to which stock answers rarely apply. As I've mentioned often in earlier Say It For You blog posts, business blogging must be considered a single tactic in an overall marketing strategy. At the same time, it's just the sort of question to kick off a discussion of the role a business blog might play in converting "clickers" to customers.

My friend Damon Richards, owner of Port to Port Consulting, would say B. has won the first set of a three-set match, in that he's "won search". In fact, B. has "won search" without blogging.  B. performs a specialty service in a niche market, and his business name describes the service he provides. It stands to reason online searchers looking for that service will find B.!

Is B. winning the set and losing the match? Apparently so.  "Why am I not getting more business out of my website?" he asks, frustration creeping into his voice.

The second "win" B. needs is to have searchers click on the link to his website, so they can learn more about his business and how he solves problems for his clients. In fact, B. doesn't know to what extent the second "click" is happening, because he has not set up analytics to give him that information.

Setting aside any judgment on the quality of B's website itself in terms of content or graphics, adding a blog would keep the material current, offering readers a sense that they're getting "the latest scoop". It's much less cumbersome and much less expensive to add new, up-to-date content on blogs than on most traditional websites.

"What Have You Done For Me Lately?" is the title of an article about the Small Business Administration, about new services the SBA provides in addition to business loans. Bloggers for business, take heed. Your loyal customers may know what your core services are, but you can use your blog posts to tell online searchers what your business has been doing lately and what you can do for them!

If you're job hunting today, says The Savvy Networker's Liz Ryan, you can't afford to let done-to-death, boilerplate language sink your resume like a boat anchor.  Ryan advises "killing" timeworn, massively overused resume phrases such as:

• Results-oriented professional
• Excellent team player
• Superior communication skills
• Savvy business professional

Ryan recommends replacing those with individualized, specific narratives about ways you solved problems creatively in the past.
 
Since, according to Compendium Blogware CEO Chris Baggott, "Blogging is the hub of all your social media activities," it stands to reason you can't afford to use done-to-death, boilerplate, overused advertising copy in your blog content, the likes of:

• Devoted to customer service
• Skilled technicians
• Competitive pricing
• Convenient location.

Instead, my advice as a trainer for business blogging would be to adapt Ryan's resume advice to blogging, "killing" those canned phrases, specifically highlighting how your business is unique, and giving examples of ways you helped customers and clients solve problems.

Blog posts can engage readers by debunking myths and offering information designed to elicit a "What do you know!" response. Humorous speaker Todd Hunt's newsletter taught me something I hadn't known:

A CD from a stage show is not a sound track.  It's a cast album.
 (Soundtracks are from movies.)

How does providing this tidbit help Hunt promote his speaking and book-writing business?  Hunt's topic for corporate presentations is improved communications using precise, correct English.
     
A second tactic for positioning yourself as a go-to guy or gal in your field is to "teach" in your blog posts, comparing unfamiliar, industry-specific information with something the average online reader knows and understands. Igloo Books uses that technique in teaching children about animals:

      The saltwater crocodile grows up to 20 feet long. That's about twice as long as a speedboat.

Business blog posts need to be more - much, much more - than mere online directories, providing "competitive advantage and helpful information for consumers", says Compendium. Business bloggers need to replace "boilerplate" with "concrete, visual stories that bring your power to life."

After hearing Max Siegel's motivational speech at Ron Sukenick's "At the Top" networking event, I just had to have my autographed copy of Siegel's book Know What Makes Them Tick.

I loved the whole book, but the chapter called "Balance Your Past Self and Your Future Self" really resonated with me. That's because, when I'm in the planning stages of a business blog for a Say It For You client, as I meet with the business owner or professional practitioner, what I'm doing is trying to draw out that individual's "self".

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 a company or of a professional practice. And, you know, that "voice" can change over time; it tends to become richer and deeper. It doesn't seem to matter whether I or one of my Say It For You writers is actually composing the blog posts, or whether the entrepreneur's doing the writing and I'm just playing the role of coach and editor. 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?"

The thing Siegel stresses in his book is that, while "the secret to reaching success is to see where you want to be, the secret to keeping success… is to stay grounded in where you came from."

I've always thought Toys 'R Us was a genius choice of corporate name, and I guess what I'm trying to express here about business blogs is that your blog 'r you, but not a static "you".  A successful business blog showcases your past - all that experience and knowhow you've acquired - and at the same time hints of your hopes and plans for the future. You might say your blog helps your online readers know what makes you tick!

We humans are a funny bunch, remarks Mark Juddery in Overrated! The 50 Most Overhyped Things in History.  People seem to "find comfort in that which has been passed down as accepted knowledge."

I think perhaps there's some over-hyping going on when it comes to blogging for business. I can think of at least three aspects of business blogging that tend to be over-emphasized (sometimes at the expense of the things that really do matter for building business through blogging):

1.   Number of RSS subscribers (or repeat visitors):
You certainly want to use your blog to boost your credibility so that you're seen as the "go-to" source for information in your field. So in theory, at least, having lots of RSS subscribers is what Martha Stewart might call "a good thing".

The reality that I've found, though, is that many who RSS a blog are pure information-seekers not ready to act.  I'm not saying RSS is a bad thing, not at all.  What I am saying is that, while you're busy accumulating numbers of RSS subscribers and Facebook fans, keep in mind that the majority are probably not your prospects.  The bottom line of business blogging is reached when the cash register rings with an online buyer at the other end of the transaction.

2.   The above-the-fold rule:
Going back to an old newspaper term, where the important news was placed  where it could be readily seen by buyers passing news stands, the version of the "above-the-fold" rule that's been hyped for websites and blogs is that visitors shouldn't need to scroll down - or across - to read the information on the blog page.  While it makes sense to have the most important content on each page be the most visible, the above-the fold rule has been a bit over-hyped. Bloggers become preoccupied with finding the "ideal length" for a post.  The rule I've arrived at is "Make your blog posts as short as possible, but not shorter!" If developing an idea means going below the "fold", I say, go ahead and do it.

3. High-tech visual effects:
I love the advice Robert Bly offers in 5 Ways to Stretch Your Marketing Budget: "Don't over-present yourself!" "Your prospects will look at your overdone literature and wonder whether you really understand your market and its needs."

The blog site equivalent of what Bly's describing is overdone blog pages, complete with "flash", scrolling icons, too many videos, colors, elaborate type - anything but plain and to the point.  Too much garnish, too little meal. The star of a blog is the content.  Period. All the rest is the accompaniment, and what you don't want is the band drowning out the singer….

Ig Nobel Prizes honor bad ideas, or more correctly, achievements "that make people laugh, and then make them think." (Ig Nobel winners are invited to a gala at Harvard U., then have the chance to lecture at MIT.)

One of my favorite reads, Mental Floss Magazine, highlights some of these "Not-So-Bright-Ideas in Science". I couldn't help thinking that business bloggers can take some to-to-do tips from the not-so-mad Ig Nobel scientists.

Ig Nobel Medicine Prize:
Warned as a child that cracking his knuckles would cause arthritis, Donald Unger embarked on a sixty-year experiment to prove his mother wrong.  After cracking the knuckles of only his left hand twice a day, he discovered that his two hands remained physically the same, calling into question whether other parental beliefs are flawed.

Any business blogging tactic had better be able to justify the effort and expense in a much shorter time than sixty years! Through studying the analytics and making adjustments to website landing pages, calls to action, and overall marketing strategy, business blogging "experiments" need to make a beeline -  to your business' bottom line!

Ig Nobel Mathematics Prize:
In response to the hyperinflation plaguing his country, Zimbabwe Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono printed currency ranging from one cent to one hundred trillion dollars. While the bank notes had absolutely no measurable effect on inflation, Gono's tactic was awarded a prize for "giving people a simple, everyday way to cope with a wide range of numbers".

While good blog posts can and should be entertaining, most online searchers are not pursuing a recreational activity, but instead on on a fact-finding mission, looking for information on products, services, and specialized know-how. The material you serve up in your posts needs to be not only valuable, but and actionable.

(At this point I'm going to follow my own bright idea about "pushing away from the table" and saving some the material for another day and a Part Two post on Not-So-Bright Ideas… )

(Can you see what happened here?  Now you're focused on the word "negative".  Had I titled this blog post "Being Positive in Blogs", I would have focused your thoughts on ways to make a positive impact.

Business blogging, of course, is all about "up".  To be found on a search engine by more potential customers and clients, your blog needs to move "up" in search engine rankings and appear on Page One of Google (and Bing and Yahoo). Even more important, blog titles and content need to focus on the positive results customers can expect from selecting your products and services.

Copywriter and consultant Michael Fortin says that most of the copy he critiques disobey the cardinal rule of selling, by failing to use "upwords", Fortin's acronym for:
 

• Universal
• Picture
• Words
• Or
• Relatable
• Descriptive
• Sentences

To "up" sales, "up" words, Fortin says. Words need to paint vivid pictures in readers' minds, rather like icons on a computer desktop. In order for our minds to translate words and phrases into something we can refer back to, we need a visual equivalent in words.

Leave out the "buts", advises Fortin, and substitute "ands".  Rather than saying "It's a great concept for a website, but it's going to take at least a month to put together" (a negative in the customer's eyes), say "It’s a great concept for a website and it will take only thirty days (imagine getting that whole wonderful job accomplished in only thirty days!) to get it up and running."

When I train business owners and their employees how to develop content for their blog posts, I try emphasizing the positive in a different sense as well. Although one approach in a business blog is to compare your products and services to others', it's important to emphasize the positive rather than "knocking" a competitor. Rather than starting with what "they" (the competition) is doing wrong, devaluing other company's products and services, use the power of WE to demonstrate what you value, and the way you like to deliver your services.

To "up" online rankings, blog "up"!

 

I'm no car buff, but that TV commercial really caught my ear.  "What do you get when you pit a Ford Escape against a Lexus?" the announcer asked. The answer, unexpected as it was arresting: "Bragging rights."

So I'll give you one better:  What do you get when you pit business blogging against pay-per-click advertising?  Bragging rights again. According to Chris Baggott of Compendium Blogware, "There are two basic ways to use search as an acquisition tool" (referring to acquisition of new customers): Pay-Per-Click and Search Engine Optimization."

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is a form of paid advertising on the Web. (You the business owner bid on keyword phrases.  Every time an online searcher clicks on your listing, you pay a fee.) According to the Marketing Sherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Study, marketers using PPC typically target more than 1,000 of these keyword phrases in an attempt to rank among the top results for a dozen out of the 1,000 they've selected.

By contrast, blogs need to target only 1-2 dozen total keyword phrases (with the blogging company paying no fee when the sties get "found" and clicked on) to achieve comparable search results.

What if the "Lexus" isn't a PPC but a website?  How do blogs stack up against traditional websites?  Since search engines assign value to pages that are frequently updated, traditional website pages simply can't compete with more frequently changing content on blog pages. While a website page might be very keyword-rich, the cumulative use of keyword phrases over months and years , and over pages and pages of relevant content builds up the kind of "equity" that leaves traditional web pages in the dust.  Again, bragging rights for blogs.

As with any tool, blogging for business works only when - and if - it's used.  Good corporate blog posts may earn bragging rights when compared with other marketing tactics, but only if business owners actually keep up the pace.  The fact is, few entrepreneurs, even given the help of talented and passionate employees, can spare the time to post relevant, new material with enough consistency and frequency to improve search engine rankings.  Often a professional ghost blogger can help those owners earn bragging rights and convert online searchers to new clients and customers!

"Links are the lifeline of blogging," says homeschoolblogger.com.  Inbound links to your blog are tracked by "web crawlers" and help your blog move higher on search engine pages, SEO mavens explain.

Today, though, let's talk about different kinds of outbound links, and the different ways those can in fact serve as lifelines to your blog.

Internal links:
a) From your blog post to one of your own website "landing pages".
(You're using the link to guide the reader along a smooth navigation path, hoping to convert that "looker" into a buyer.)

b) From the present blog post to one you posted at some point in the past.
(If the reader wants more information and you've already provided further details on the subject in an earlier post, the link makes it easy for the reader to find.)

External links:
a) From your blog post to a news source or magazine article.
(In your post, you're showing how some current happenings relate to your product or service, or you're expressing your company's point of view about a news development relating to your industry. Linking to news sources lend credibility to your blog and positions you as the "go to" place to find out what's happening.)

b) To someone else's blog post on your subject.
(This type of link shows you're staying in touch with others in your industry and that you're confident you have special value to offer within a competitive environment. In fact, visiting others' blogs can help you improve not only your blog posts, but your products and services!)

c) To a website or blog you've quoted to illustrate a point.
(Linking to others is a form of networking.  I like to shoot an email to business owners whom I've quoted or mentioned.  They're usually flattered and quite often begin to follow my blog and post a comment or two on my site.)

When homeschoolblogger.com mentions that blog links should be readable as well as clickable, they're talking about hyperlinking the text.  In other words, rather than writing something like "click here" (which interrupts the flow of thought), you write in conversational tone and simply create a link that the reader can choose to ignore or follow by clicking.

There's a reason we call the internet a World Wide Web. It's all about connections and links!

Five times as many people read headlines as read the body copy, "Father of Advertising" David Ogilby taught.  Blogger and book reviewer Brad Shaw tests headlines against three Ogilby to-do's:

• The headline promises the reader a benefit
• The headline contains news
• The headline is conversational

Business bloggers can take all three of these tips from the Master to heart.  In fact, headlines may prove even more important for blogs than for ads.  Blog headlines help capture the interest not only of online searchers, but of internet "web crawlers" as well (a compelling reason to make blog headlines key-word rich).

Here are some ways I can think of for using the three Ogilby to-do's in blog post titles:

CONVERSATIONAL

a) Asking a question:  "Do you…?"   "Have you ever……?"  "Where can you……?"  "Why would you……?"
b) Reassurances:  "It's OK to……"  "Everyone likes……….."

In talking about advertising great David Ogilby in one of my earlier Say It For You blog posts, I mentioned his five-point acid tests for ads.  When it comes to blogging for business, headline acid test #4 is the one I think is paramount:  Does it fit the strategy to perfection?

While of course headlines have to make searchers want to learn more of what you have to say, we business bloggers must remember: a blog is only one tactic in an overall marketing strategy, and everything about each blog post, including the headline, needs to be consistent with the "voice" you want your company to project.

Composed with that broader context in mind, that times-five effect of blog headlines will bring benefits not only to the readers, but to the business' bottom line!