Marketing Strategy and Tactics Development

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!

A favorite lunch spot for me is the Illinois Street Food Emporium in Indianapolis. Well, the other day, besides a very tasty salad and soup lunch, I got something extra in the form of ideas about ways to use blogs to drive business.

Here's how it happened: Waiting for my number to be called, I noticed something.  Fastened low on the wall near the door of the restaurant was a metal thing-a-ma-gig with coloring sheet handouts for kids to color.  That day's handout had an outlined picture of a snowman talking with some penguins.  There was space on the paper to fill in the child artist's name, age, and phone number, and a pocket in which to deposit the finished work.

My first thought was how simple, yet ingenious a tactic those coloring sheets were - keep the kids occupied while Mom or Dad finish up a conversation. (As a professional ghost blogger, I'm always alert for ways business bloggers can engage readers.) Then I realized there was even more to it than that - some kid was going to win the contest and get his picture posted up there and want to keep coming back to the restaurant, perhaps bringing Auntie or Grandma to see the beautiful job he'd done on the penguins! (One benefit of engaging blog post readers is they want to come back to your site, or bring your site to them in the form of an RSS.)

There was one thing missing about those coloring sheets, I realized. As so often happens, even the best of business ideas falls short in some detail when it comes to execution.  I saw snowmen and penguins, but nowhere on those coloring pages did I see the name, address, or phone number, or email of Illinois Street Food Emporium!  Coloring's a great way to keep the kids happy while they're in the restaurant (maybe they come back to show off their winning entry or claim their prize). But at least a third of the page was white space that might have been used for advertising.  Uh-oh - a business blog page with no Calls to Action! 

FutureNow's  Brendan Regan teaches business owners to "optimize a marketing outreach from the driving point to the landing page and on through to conversion." In other words, for any business blog to enjoy bottom-line success, there needs to be a smooth process, a navigation path,  that begins when a customer first becomes conscious of your existence to when you're closing a deal.  The CTA's, or Calls To Action on your blog page, even sometimes in the text of the blog post itself - need to be there and be square!

In Monday's Say It For You blog post, I talked about Goodwill Industries' TV commercial on organizing clothes closets. Then I discovered I wasn't the only one finding valuable lessons in Goodwill ads. Personal finance site GetRichSlowly.org teaches how to "accomplish that European knack for owning less and looking better" (I can't think of a more apropos goal for business blogs!)  Get Rich Slowly writer April Dykman claims she's become a more skilled and targeted wardrobe shopper through gathering tips from fashion gurus, designers, and style bloggers.

"Shopping" Dykman's article "How To Stop Buying Clothes You'll Never Wear", I've handpicked 3 tips for selecting business blog post topics.  I did that remembering that the goal of your business blog is to bring in customers "of the right kind". These are customers who have a need for and who will appreciate your services and products.

Remember, just as the goal in clothes shopping is not to fill closet space or to own more outfits just for the sake of having them, business blogging is part of an overall business "pull marketing" strategy to attract exactly the right online searchers from your target market. In other words, fewer might well prove better when it comes to the numbers of searchers who find your blog, then click through to your website to become customers.


 1. Think meat and potatoes.
"70% of the clothes you own should be 'meat and potatoes', with 30% being icing and fluff".

When I'm training business owners and their employees to create effective blog content, I advise finding 2-5 core "themes" that relate to the business. Some basics include explaining what problems can be solved using that business' products and services, defining basic terminology, and basic statistics showing that many others have faced the same issue as the one concerning this reader. 

30% of the blog posts can include interesting tidbits of information, news or feature stories in that indirectly relate to the business, or an anecdote that illustrates the core values of the business.

2.  Identify your personal style.
Before buying any garment, ask if it fits your personality. "Only buy items that make you feel like a million bucks."

Your business blog need to reflect your style.  In fact, as a professional ghost blogger, my mission has to be to pick up not only what message you want to convey to customers, but your unique way of saying it.  A "ghost writer" must speak your message, in your "voice", to your customers. As I'm fond of repeating, a good ghost blogger should not, herself, be seen or heard!

3.  Price doesn't dictate style.
"If the perfect pants in the perfect color are $30, they are a better buy than the trendy, designer pants that cost $200 and work with nothing else in your closet." 

Successful blog marketing does not depend on using the most expensive technology, but upon the most relevant and engaging content. In much the same way as you're advised to put together outfits that make you feel good, the secret of effective blog marketing is to put together relevant, engaging content that makes online searchers feel they've come to exactly the right place for what they need.

"What about you?" asks Dykman. "Do you have clothes you never wear?"  Don't keep buying more of those, she advises. In that same vein, when it comes to your business blog, stop focusing on "number of hits", or building the biggest community of followers.  Start writing blog posts for customers of the right kind.  After all, they're the ones who need what you've got to offer.  And, you know, when it comes right down to it, that's the only thing that matters!

 

“A (business) blog is a form of web communication allowing companies of all sizes to reach new audiences…, says Darrell Zhorsky. But, “allowing” and actually “reaching” are two different things, as many a new business owner discovers to his/her dismay. The reality, as ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse points out, is that “many blogs produce quality content that doesn’t get read.”

Once you taken the big step of getting consistent about posting content on your business blog (or hiring a professional ghost blogger like me to do it for you), the necessary next step is promoting your blog so people know it’s there.

One obvious, but often overlooked tactic, is simply letting your clients and customers know about the “Birth of the Blog”. The blog’s URL should occupy a place of honor on your business cards, flyers, ads, brochures, and website.  And, if there’s one particular post where you really “nailed” the message you want to convey about your business – print that one up on postcards or little laminated handouts to have handy at networking meetings, trade shows, letters or invoices.

Just created a new post? Tweet it, Facebook It, “Link it in”.  Or, capture one essential idea from your blog in a Tweet, linking back to the blog itself. As Jason Falls points out in The Beginners Guide To Promoting Your Blog “Twitter is a place to have conversations with people”, (not an advertising billboard).  That means you need to provide links to other interesting and informative sites, so that your blog becomes the “go-to” spot for information in your field.

In using social media to promote your blog, don’t forget to “stay on brand”, is a reminder offered by Entrepreneur. “Go ahead and announce sales and specials, but also give your fans, friends, and followers something more.”

Blogging is an incredible way to connect with customers  who are searching for exactly what you sell, what you do, and what you know about.  But they have to find you first.  Bottom line is:  you can’t just blog there – you have to promote your blog!

If anybody's got a keen sense of what an audience wants, it has to be singer/actor Mel Tillis, who's been onstage for the past fifty two years.  Now age 77, Tillis is still going strong, performing 100 or so live shows each year, according to a recent article in Speaker Magazine.

Today Tillis performs at the speaker's lectern, giving motivational talks about how humor helped him through his career. In fact, I'm going to hear Mel Tillis speak at the National Speakers' Association Winter Conference in Nashville, Tennessee next month.

There are two points Tillis emphasized in his interview with Speaker Magazine's contributing writer Jake Poinier that I believe are worth sharing with all my Say It For You readers and clients, in fact with anyone using blogging to market a business:

         1.  Talking about the twenty different performances he'd done last November alone in the Branson theatre he used to own, the singer/comedian remarked "I'm always coming up with new anecdotes and stories, so it seems to work."  
   
This lesson is one bloggers need to learn, for sure.  Since maintaining consistently high rankings on search engines means maintaining the discipline of posting blog material by putting content on the Web over and over again over long periods of time, what makes the tactic work is finding new anecdotes and stories to keep the material fresh.

        2.  Tillis, Jake Pointer stresses, empathizes with one of the main challenges facing 
professional speakers.  "Sure, I get tired, like if I have to sing 'Coca Cola Cowboy' one more time, I think I'm gonna die. But what you need to do is act like it's the first time you've ever done it."

Whether composing blog post #17 or #577 for that business, the blogger needs to write as if it were #1. In fact, since blogging is a form of "pull marketing", attracting only searchers who have a need relating to what you do, what you sell, or what you know about, for most of those searchers, it will be the first.time they've ever read your blog posts!

"Every time I walk out there, it's a different audience," says Mel Tillis. 

Every time you step up to the blog "lectern" (or hire a professional ghost blogger like me to do it for you), that Tillis mantra can serve as the inspiration to deliver your blog message - in every single post - with gusto and panache!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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?”

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"!

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!