SEO Marketing Blog

"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!

Taped to the reception counter at the Tom O'Brien Chrysler dealer's showroom was a poster that immediately caught my eye: "125 Ways You Can't Tell the Difference", the headline read, referring to pre-owned autos versus new vehicles. Having just this month blogged about the power of using numbers in blog post titles to engage readers' interest, I thought this poster at the dealership a perfect example of the concept I'd tried to convey in my blog post. It was the number 125 on that poster that I found so arresting - could there really be that many ways?

Speaking of numbers, there are a number of ways that car poster can serve as 
a good tutorial for business blogging:       

Titles count (play on the word "count" intended)

A blog post title what draws an online searcher to progress to the content of the blog, because the title hopefully broadcasts two signals to the searcher:
 

1. They've come to the right spot to get the information/products/services they need
2. This blog post is going to be interesting reading.

The title counts with Google and friends from a Search Engine Optimization standpoint as well. In fact, that's why it's so important that you use the key search terms and phrases in the title of each blog post.

Focus counts.

Did I read through all of the 125 ways listed on that poster?  Of course not.  The title had already focused my mind on the concept of pre-owned cars. The very fact I was able to discern an actual list on the poster was enough for me.  Later, I thought, I might actually skim through the items, but the truth is, that poster had me at "hello".

Putting on my professional ghost blogger hat, I imagined how things might be if we were talking about a blog post, rather than a poster.  To engage online readers once they'd found the blog, I wouldn't go for the big numbers except in the title.  Instead, I'd:
 

• Focus on just a few of the pre-owned cars from the dealer's inventory, complete with photos (or even a video).
• Focus on just a couple of reasons you'd never know the difference between pre-owned and new without a Car-Fax report.
• Throw in some valuable hints on savvy car buying, showing readers how much the Tom O'Brien folks know and care about cars. 

Much more important, the blog post would need to convey how much the Tom O'Brien folks care about their customers' safety and comfort!

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

Many start out blogging for business, but the fact is, far fewer are keeping up with their blog - alas, they've succumbed to "blogger's block".  Even with the best of intentions, many business owners find themselves unable to keep up with regular blogging while also keeping up with the many demands of their own business.

Let's face it: even for the most skillful of writers, blogging for business takes work, a lot of it.  Tip Talks president Bob Chenoweth lists mistakes that can wreck business communications, including:
 

• Not knowing your audience
• Not charting your course
• Not using creativity
• Not using design elements

It's obvious avoiding these mistakes takes time, and time is at a premium with business owners.

In Business Blogging - Barrel Through Writer's Block, Tinu AbayomiPaul, has some helpful suggestions that bear revisiting when writer's block sets in:

1. Talk about what you've already talked about (give it a new spin).
2. Talk about what someone else is talking about (read other bloggers, magazine articles, etc., give that person credit and then add your own spin). In case you hadn't noticed, I'm doing some of those things in this very blog post, bringing in ideas from other writers and adding my own spin.
   
3. Have yourself a good rant. (AbayomiPaul warns against getting unfocused or unprofessional in tone.)
4. Feature someone, something, or somewhere in a blog post.

"The best way to win an argument is to avoid it," advises Reginald Adkins in his Elemental Truths blog, admitting that "you could be perceived as a pushover who won't stand up for his beliefs."  Barring avoidance, Adkins offers tips to increase your chances for winning battles in which you've chosen to take part. 

• Your product (as compared to those of your competitors)
• Your service (as compared to services offered by others)
• Your point of view relating to your industry (contrasted with opposing viewpoints) 

So, carrying the example one step further, thinking of individual business blog posts as "battles" in an ongoing "war", it's certainly worth remembering that your goal as business owner is to keep winning hearts and gaining customers over the long run, and not just winning points today.

Several of Reginald Adkins' tips are actually very appropriate for bloggers:

Never accuse a person of being wrong. 
Think about a competitor or perhaps an online reader who's left a negative comment on your blog. "You should express your disagreement subtly," advises Adkins, "making it clear that your opinion diverges from theirs."

Let them talk. 
When it comes to presenting your side of an argument in your business blog, be sure to present the other side as fairly and completely as possible before explaining why your point of view is different.

Back it up. 
"Bring in concrete examples and supporting numbers to illustrate your point", says Adkins. Not only do statistics in a blog grab online visitors' attention, serve to demonstrate the extent of a problem or issue, but the numbers strengthen the credibility of the points your trying to make in that blog post.

Chill Bill. 
"Arguments can be emotional.  Be calm and don't let your feelings take over." The most important thing you have to sell in your business blog is you. The tone of your blog reassures readers they've come to a place where "nice guys and gals" live, people who play nice with competitors and customers alike.

Business branding expert Tony Fannin defines your brand as "an emotional collection of impressions your customers have about you." In your business blog, then, it's not winning the argument, but the way in which you won that counts!


 

After the Chicago Sun Times had written a story about fish oil supplements being a mere fad with unproven benefits, many articles and blog posts appeared in defense of the "nature's wonder drug" Omega-3 fatty acid found in fish.

While, in the interests of full disclosure, I must admit to swallowing a fish oil capsule daily, as a professional ghost blogger and blogging coach and training, I was interested in the fish oil debate because of what it illustrates about blogging for business.

On the one hand, I noticed, the bloggers questioning the efficacy of fish oil compared it to the snake oil fad of an earlier time in America.  Then, writing in the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, John Clough titles his piece, "Fish Oil is No Snake Oil."  This month's edition of Discover Magazine devotes an entire page to recent reports on the health benefits of fish oil, using Dr. Clough's title. Referring to others' blog posts and then stating your own viewpoint is way to showcase your own viewpoints and approach to your business. 

Treehugger.com takes yet another approach to the fish oil controversy that can be effective in business blogs: a survey, posing the question to readers: "Would You take Fish Oil/Omega 3 Supplements?" Online visitors are given four possible answers from which to choose:

1. Yes, it is worth the environmental cost
2. No, supplements are unnecessary if you eat a balanced diet
3. I get my Omega 3 from fish-free sources like flax
4. Other (in comments)

Using a survey in a blog post is very effective.  Suddenly, it's all about the reader.  At the same time, it gives the business blogger a way to showcase his/her expertise on the subject. The survey works, because it turns the blog post into a discussion instead of a "lecture".

Compendium Blogware uses a slightly different approach to capture website visitors' attention and interest business owners in blogging: "Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you want to drive demand for your organization's product or service?
• Do you want to start personal relationships with prospective customers?
• Do you want to acquire more customers?

In addition to questions and surveys, statistics pack a real punch in blogs. Here are just three of the items from the rather impressive list of the advantages of blogging offered by Buildabetterblog.com:
 

• Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
• Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs.
• 51% of blog readers shop online.

It's pretty apparent - blog oil is no snake oil!

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!

 

My children have children of their own, all older than kindergarten age, so what made me feel compelled to read that Indianapolis Star article about teaching kindergarteners? It was the number that aroused my curiosity: "9 Problems We Must Overcome".
 
The O Magazine title this month is "100 Things That Are (Actually) Getting Better". Somehow
I doubt that, minus the number 100, the title would have been as much of a grabber.  I know it was the number 100 that made me pause (It's hard, these days, to avoid the perception that a lot of things are actually getting worse, not better, and I just had to know what 100 things I might be missing!)

To freshen up blog post content, start with one idea about your product or service. Then try putting a number to it:

• 2 Best Ways To Eliminate Unpleasant Room Odors…
• 3 Discipline Problem Fixes to Try First….
• 4 Simple Home Remedies for Headache…
• 5 Home Décor Tips…
• 6 Knottiest Financial Issues in a Marriage….

The point of the "lists", of course, is to demonstrate ways in which your product or service is different, and to provide valuable information that engages readers, helping them see you as a go-to guy or gal to solve their problem or fulfill their need.

Who's on your list? Ted Demopoulos suggests you ask yourself, referring to other blogs and online resources in your "space".  Listing different viewpoints or tips from others, then clarifying your own position is one way to make your blog be the go-to site. 
"4 Different Viewpoints on Rearing Money-wise Kids…" is somehow more enticing than just "Viewpoints on Rearing Money-wise Kids", wouldn't you agree?

To top off the positives of using numbers in blog post titles, at least some SEO experts believe bullet points and numbered lists earn "Brownie points" with search engines.

Just one more reason to count the ways…

 

The Goodwill TV commercial sums it all up: there are four kinds of clothes in your closet, and if you give three of those to Goodwill, there will be room for the only kind worth keeping, meaning clothes you wear - and should. The other three categories:

• Clothes you don't wear
• Clothes you shouldn't wear
• Clothes you can't wear

The Goodwill four categories of clothes closet contents might apply to creating content for your business blog posts as well.
 

• Telling how you skillfully solved a common problem for a consumer
• Describing an unusual use or application for your product or service
• What your business core values are and how your "corporate culture" reflects those
• Explaining what's special about your product or service and what you're trying to achieve

• Employee posts, composed by real people actually doing the work and talking to your customers
• Testimonials from customers and clients
• True tales and anecdotes of problems solved and successes
• Recognizing other bloggers and sources on your topic
  

• Topics too big and broad that are outside the scope of your expertise. Your business blog is there to win friends and do business, not convert the world.
• Information that is not "on brand". 

• Negatives against competitors - accentuate the positive about YOU.
• Posts that are too long and wordy
• Posts that are too technical for the average readers to relate to him/herself
• Posts that are too general, with nothing new to add that showcases your expertise and unique viewpoint

Even experienced business bloggers need to clean out and reorganize their content "closets" in order to continue earning the "good will" of online searchers!

 

“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!

The larger a pepper, the less “hot”, is just one of the interesting tidbits I learned from a Whole Foods representative at the Indiana Health Expo the other day.  Peppers, in fact, could serve as a metaphor for blogs and websites, with shorter, “spicier” blog posts packing more immediacy than their longer, more formal website cousins. The typical website offers more detail and a broader spectrum of information on a company’s products and services, while blog posts focus on one idea with more intensity.

The first three ingredients listed on a food container, I learned at the Health Expo, are the most important, because ingredients are listed in descending order of how much of each is in the product. When it comes to business blogs, it’s important to use key words and phrases in the title and early in the text of each blog post. Those key words indicate to the search engines what the main idea of the post is going to be.

I found the Whole Foods presentation particularly engaging because it offered information I’d never heard before.  Offering information that is new to the typical online reader is a key principle of business blogging. The Health Expo speaker captured my attention with information new to me. I learned about a food called Quinoa (pronounced “keen wa”), which is a rice substitute high in dietary fiber, and about Greek Yogurt. New information is a winner for business blogging.  If you can’t offer brand-new information, your unique approach or “slant” shows searchers you’re far from run-of-the mill.

One of Suzanne Gunelius’ six tips on turning a business blog into a sales tool is “Provide Exclusive Information and Tips.”  A great example of that is a blog I read called Breathe Easy, which talks about about dog food. The blogger warns that comparing ingredients can be tricky, because, although two labels may have the same ingredient name, there can be a world of difference between two brands.” The recommendation is for buyers to look for the words “human grade” on the dog food label.  That’s the kind of valuable and detailed advice that distinguishes “human grade” blogs from the pack!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Between Shakespeare's Juliet asking "What's in a name?" and father-of-advertising David Ogilby's emphasis on headlines, there's simply no contest when it comes to blogging for business - titles matter! There are two basic reasons titles matter so much in blogs:

• For search - key words and phrases, especially when used in blog post titles, help search engines make the match between online searchers' needs and what your business or professional practice has to offer.
• For reader engagement - after you've been "found", you've still gotta "get read".  

In my magazine reading this week, I came across titles that illustrate just two of the many ways to make titles "pop":

The title of an advertisement in USA Weekend asks the question: "Do You Have Constant Ringing In Your Ear?"

If ear ringing is, in fact, a problem for the searcher, there will be a "Bingo!" I've come to the right place" response. But even if I somehow arrived at this site looking for, say, hearing aids or even diamond earrings, the title has an immediacy that grabs my attention, perhaps causing me to reflect, " You know, sometimes I DO have a sort of ringing sensation…"

The concept of asking readers if they're grappling with an issue or a need that you not only know about, but which you're accustomed to helping solve - that's perfect for the headline of a business blog post.

One title on the cover of O Magazine is a "grabber" in a different way: "100 Things That Are (Actually) Getting Better".

This title passes Ogilby's "acid test" by making you wish you'd thought about many things actually getting better, because most people suffer from the perception that a lot of things are getting worse nowadays.  The title's not only refreshing - it arouses curiosity. (Are there really that many things getting better?  What have I missed?)

One thing Indianapolis small business consultant Lorraine Ball thinks is getting better is blog writing. Ball attributes the improvement to Twitter and other social media, which focus on titles short enough to "Tweet".

Truth is, no clever or even Tweet-able title can substitute for well-written, relevant content in the blog post itself, content that provides valuable information to your readers. But, in order for blog marketing to lead searchers to become buyers of your products and services, your stuff has got to get read!

Sorry, Juliet.  When it comes to business blog posts, the answer to the question "What's in a name?" is EVERYTHING!

There's something some still find scary about ghost-blogging.  Very much like the apparitions from which we professional ghost bloggers derive our name, doubts about the legitimacy of our pursuits return periodically to haunt online conversation spheres.

In One Ghost-Blogger's Manifesto, a piece which I composed a number of months ago as part of an online debate "moderated" by Jason Falls, I made several points about blog marketing for business using the help of professional writers.

1. Business blogging is a form of advertorial marketing, not a personal "op ed" forum meant to gain converts to a political, religious, or personal view of the world.  Blog marketing is meant to win search so that the client company can do more business. Understood in that context, hiring a professional writer is no less ethical than hiring an advertising copy writer.

2. Most sports figures, music stars, celebrities, and politicians don't write their own books.  As blog strategist Mikal Belicove remarks in the book What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting, it's not only books and songs that are composed by ghost writers, even most quotes from corporate CEOs represented in press releases are never actually uttered by the quoted officials.

3. In the close to three years since founding Say It For You to provide professional writing services to business clients, I have seen, again and again, blogs begun by business owners and then soon abandoned for lack of time, the owners' attention drawn to putting out fires, making sales, and dealing with personnel issues.

4. As a ghost blogger, I'm part of an elite group of specialty writers for hire, "new" in the sense that blog marketing itself is a new phenomenon.  Ghost writing, of course, has a very long and proud history, in our own country going back all the way to presidents Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton.

(After I and several other blogging professionals had weighed in on the issue, Jason Falls maintained his stance that the principle of social media transparency is being violated by ghost bloggers. Still, he concluded,"These professionals who work hard to deliver the company voice and value through their writing are nothing if not responsible, professional, first-class individuals who provide valuable service to their clients.")

• Provide information that is valuable to readers and which satisfies the need that brought them online to search for answers
• Demonstrate the particular expertise and history of that company or that professional, and how he/she/it differs from competitors in approach, product, expertise, or price point.
• Provide a clear navigation path through calls to action that bring the searcher closer to becoming a client or customer of that business.

Supernaturalists refer to "channeling".  The role of a "medium" or "channeler" is to facilitate communication with spirits who have messages to share with living people. It's the spirit doing the speaking, but the channeler who conveys the message in language recipients can understand. 
 
I cannot think of a more fitting metaphor to describe the services a professional ghost blogger provides!

A couple of Michigan justices learned a new word when law professor Richard D. Friedman, consultant to one of the judges, mentioned that a point was "entirely orthogonal" to the argument in front of the court. After being met with a "What?" response, Friedman explained the point in question was "at right angles, irrelevant, and unrelated" - in other words, off on a tangent from the main issue.

The judges reportedly got a kick out of the new word, and so did I. As a professional ghost blogger and blogging coach for business owners, I've found going off on "tangents" can serve a real purpose in business blog posts. The business blogging challenge is both simple and daunting: How can the content of a business blog stay relevant over long periods of time, without becoming repetitive and even tedious (to both writer and reader)?

On the one hand, blog posts need to stay on task and on topic.  After all, the search engines helped readers find your blog by indexing it high on page 1 or 2 (on Google, Bing, or Yahoo precisely because the needs of the searcher (based on the phrase or question they searched on appeared to match what you're talking about in your blog posts - what you sell, what you do, and what you know about!

But on the other hand, there are two crucial motivations for not being repetitive in blog posts:

• Technical reason:  avoiding "duplicate content".  Search engines tend to penalize rankings of sites that duplicate content that's already in the blogosphere.
• Common sense reason: avoiding staleness and continuing to engage readers.

So, how do you keep talking, several times per week over periods of months and years, about essentially the same thing, without becoming either duplicative or stale?

Professor Friedman used a "word tidbit" that captured the concept of a "right angle" that veered 90 degrees "off" the main point.  The anecdote made the papers precisely because it was about capturing attention with something unusual and unexpected.

My Say It For You blog is about business blogging.  So why, back in August of '08, did I blog about an advertisement for a piano? I was being orthogonal.  Why? To show that in your business blog, you can convey to readers different levels of involvement are welcome and that ultimate buying decisions don't need to be made the moment a customer "steps into" your website.

Blog posts need to capture readers' attention in precisely the same manner, by presenting examples and illustrations that don't at first glance appear to relate to the subject at hand.

Don't get stale - get orthogonal!

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!

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!