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Creating Great Business Blog Content

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If you didn’t know by now, a business blog is a great way for your business to reach out and capture the attention of prospective customers or clients.   Business blogs grab the attention of machines (the search engines) and people alike and business owners are sitting up and taking notice.

Recently, I began sharing about the mechanics of creating a great business blog post and the fact that a great business blog post begins with the title.  The title delivers the promise of what’s to come – but that brings us to the next step which is actually creating the business blog content.

This is where the way gets murky.  This is the point where the questions a professional is going to ask you will get tough.  This is where you have to KNOW your product or service inside and out.  You have to KNOW the who, what, when, where and why.

Who? – Who is your target audience?

What? – What need or desire is the product or service satisfying.

When? –  When does your target audience plan to make a purchase?  Are they researching before they buy?

Where? – Where will they complete their purchase?  Some products simply can’t be purchased online while others can.  Sometimes – prospective clients are simply trying to find information and will make their buying decision in the “real world” vs online.

Why? –  Why are they online?  Did they log on with the intention of buying or did they log on searching for the answer to a problem they’re having?

A ready answer to these questions is essential to creating great business blog content.

I recently got an email from a client – very excitedly telling me that her business blog just helped her to land 2 new clients.   When I look back at our initial conversation – I realize that she had the answers to all of these questions at the ready when she began blogging for her business.

If you were to ask her about business blogging – she would tell you how EASY it is – because she simply began composing blog posts with her target audience and their problems in mind.   To be honest, she created this content regularly for a few months and then quit blogging.  She ignored her blog for more than a year – and then – one day she checked her log file analysis  and saw that she was getting hundreds of views a day on a particular blog post.  She began writing blog posts again and VIOLA – she started to get potential clients leaving comments asking for her to contact them about her service.  Two of those initial conversations have resulted in long term client commitments.

So if you’re wanting to create great business blog content – begin by examining your target audience.  Answer the questions above – especially the “why”.  In my client’s case – she KNEW that her prospective client wasn’t logging on with the intent of hiring her.   She KNEW they were looking for a solution to a problem – but they didn’t know exactly what that solution was.  Because they weren’t searching for a solution – she simply wrote blog posts about those problems and then artfully wove how her service helped to solve those problems.

That’s where the power of business blogging lies.  Sure, you can optimize a blog post for specific keywords that YOU think are important – but if your customers aren’t using those words to find what you do then your efforts are wasted.  When you create a business blog post addressing the specific problems consumers are facing – problems your product or service “solves” – you may find as my client did that the web is FULL of people who need your products or service but don’t know it yet.

When you start blogging for your business – those people can not only find you – they can also get to know more by reading your other blog posts.

Anatomy of a great business blog post

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I’ll begin this post with a disclaimer.  Most blog posts of this nature are pure Pablum –  general enough in nature to be completely worthless to anyone who truly needs help in this area.   Such posts must be so general that they tend to be worthless because each business blog post is simply a single MARKETING TACTIC which is performing a role in your overall MARKETING STRATEGY.

Launching a business blog is not a marketing strategy – it’s a marketing tactic.  The business blog posts you write have a job to do – and that’s to carry your business’ marketing message.

The reality is that a great business blog post for one business is not a great business blog post for another.  Business blogs not only have to be different than “regular” blog posts – but they also differ amongst themselves.

That’s why it’s really hard for me to offer “quick and easy” one size fits all advice on how to create a great business blog post.

However, I can share one common element of every great business blog post.  The one thing ALL great business blog posts share is a great blog post title.

The business blog post title

The words you type into the title box of your blog post are the hardest working words on your site. Assuming you’ve tweaked your blog’s permalink settings, the words you choose to type into the title box above your blog post become part of your blog post DNA. Those words become part of the url – and that plays a huge role in how the search engines will “view” your blog post today and for years to come.

Pleasing the search engines isn’t the only reason to create a creative blog post title. Because while it plays a role in how your blog post is seen by the search engines, even more important is how that title affects the HUMAN visitors to your site.

The blog post title holds the promise of the content to come – it’s what entices human visitors to click and to read more. In the end, we must never forget that the only reason any of us CARES what the soulless programs that index the web do with our content is because those soulless programs can bring us the eyes of soulful human beings.

The blog post title is the first point of connection. Those words will often be used to spread your post to the social media network. Whether it’s through Twitter, Facebook or even through your RSS feed – your blog post title is often the foundation for the message which is spread.

Your business blog post title sets the reader’s expectations – and puts the content contained within the post into context for the reader. Without a great blog post title – the best blog post in the world will be overlooked and ignored.

So what makes a great blog post title?

It’s one that grabs the attention of your target audience.

“Rats” – you may think.  “There she goes again – prattling on about targeting your audience for effective marketing.”  (I thought writing a book –  Beyond the Niche – would help end my endless ranting  on the subject- but it hasn’t.)

You can’t create a great blog post title if you don’t know your target audience intimately!

Your great blog post title catches the attention of your target audience  and entices them to read more – the more being your compelling, tightly targeted content which was created as part of a sound marketing strategy.

Your business blog post title is the “headline” that will excite, entice and motivate your target audience to go further and read the post.

This past weekend – an email listserv of which I am a member “blew up” because of a well titled blog post.  The post title acted as a literal lightning rod – causing one member of the list to share the blog post title on the list which drove hundreds of other members to the blog post.

A well worded blog post title created a lot of traffic.

By the time I followed the link – the blog post in question had over 300 comments approved less than 72 hours after posting.   The blog post author’s most recent tweet was expressing delight at the traffic her blog was getting.

By choosing the right five words – the author was able to “push” an emotional button in her target audience. By simply knowing what makes her intended target audience “tick” – she was able to create a blog post title which motivated her audience to not only take action – but motivate others to action as well.

What’s happening on this listserv is probably happening other places as well – including Facebook and Twitter – where people are sharing her blog post by simply sharing the title of the post.

I call this kind of blog post a Pillar Blog Post in the 8 Week Power Blog Launch course and your blog should definitely strive to include this type of attention getting blog posts – but expecting to create such blog posts – or blog post titles – daily is not realistic.   Trying to achieve that can lead to business blog paralysis  – which is the worst business blogging affliction of all.

Business blog paralysis is where you fail to create ANY blog posts for your business blog because it’s not “good enough”.  The blogger I mention here as been blogging for several years – and has made several “stabs” at connecting with this audience in previous blog posts.  Because blogging is so easy – she’s been able to “tweak”her message over hundreds of blog posts until she finally created one which hit it’s mark and called people to action.

However, because while the mechanics of blogging are “easy” the ART of blogging isn’t – this blog post wasn’t the author’s her first attempt to “connect”with her target audience.

It wasn’t her first attempt – but it’s obviously the most successful and it all began with a great blog post title.

Feel free to share your most compelling business blog post title in the comments below.

Indecent Business Blogging Exposure and other forms of TMI

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a.k.a. yet another reason why your business blog shouldn’t act like other blogs.

Blogging is great.  It allows you to publish content quickly and easily to the world wide web.  That content will live on long after it’s dropped from the front page of your blog and will continue playing a significant role in shaping your online reputation for years to come.

Business blogging allows you to create a search engine friendly comprehensive information archive about your business.  You can share the answers to frequently asked questions and share testimonials quickly and easily.  You can also choose to share any other content via your business blog as well.  The 30 second television commercial you paid to produce can “air” any time and the digital copy of your brochure can be downloaded  instantly.

Business blogging is truly a marvel- but like any other powerful weapon – it has a dark side.

Business blogging provides ample opportunity to create TMI business blog posts.

For some mystical, magical reason – writing on a regular basis seems to have the ability to “reveal” more than what is displayed on the page.

It’s called a Freudian slip when someone says something which unintentionally reveals what they’re really thinking.   Austin Power’s movie Goldmember provides an exaggerated illustration of this concept:

Austin: “Now who has my father?”

Dr. Evil: “Uh oh! Someone has some daddy issues.”

Austin: “Nothing could be my father from the truth.”

Dr. Evil: “Oops! You said ‘my father’.”

Austin: “No I dadn’t.”

Dr. Evil: “Did too!”

Austin: “Didn’t! Did not!”

Dr. Evil: “Shebah!”

Austin: “For me, this is a dad issue.”

Dr. Evil: “Hooh!”

Austin: “Dead issue! Dead dad! Dead beat dad.”

It’s funny when Mike Meyers does it – but if you’re not careful, it’s very easy to commit such Freudian slips.

Business blogging is at its best when it is authentic.

Business blogging works best when it’s authentic.  As you blog, you’ll be writing in a distinct “voice” – just as when you speak, you speak in a distinct voice.  The way you write – the way you share stories – the tone of your writing all comes together to create your authentic blogging “voice”.  The more of you that you share, the more distinct this blogging voice will be.

Like every good thing –  authenticity can easily cross the line and become TMI which is a BAD thing. You must be aware of this “danger” and be careful, that personal turmoil doesn’t find it’s way into your blog posts.

Like most things I share here, this “lesson” is roote in personal experience. A few months ago, I was launching another business and asked a colleague to help with the branding and design elements.  She read the posts on that blog and assumed that I had hired a ghostwriter who failed to capture my “spark”.

OUCH!

I hadn’t hired a ghostwriter – but I was having serious reservations about launching that business.

Quick aside – Some businesses are like selling  encyclopedias door to door.  Back in the old days, prior to the internet, when someone purchased an encyclopedia set, it was a one time sale.  Few customers would be willing to buy a second set of encyclopedias no matter how happy they were with the original purchase.  These types of businesses don’t have repeat sales or repeat customers  and as a result, are tough to launch and then grow.

I hadn’t wanted to face the fact that the business I was preparing to launch was looking like it was definitely a “high tech” version of encyclopedia sales.  That internal conflict had come through loud and clear despite my refusal to acknowledge it.

Should you avoid transparency in your business blog?

I don’t think you can successfully blog without some element of transparency.  With that said, business blogging is too important to take a “I’ll wait to blog for my business as long as life is perfect” mentality.  It’s the most powerful social networking tool available and one that – like fine wine – improves with age.

If you’re waiting for the perfect time to launch a business blog – that time was five years ago.  You’re behind – get moving and get started.

However, if your business is in a state of turmoil – if your personal life is in a state of chaos – I would recommend that you hire a copywriter to assume your business blogging activities.

There are a lot of benefits to hiring a writing professional.  First and foremost, a true ghostwriting “pro” can write in your voice – without ever making a Freudian slip.

Your clients or customers may love you – but they don’t need to know the intricate details of your latest bout with the flu.  🙂 Just one of many things that are better left “unblogged”.

Why Your Business Blog Shouldn’t Act like Other Blogs

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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – and if you’re considering launching a business blog you might be tempted to imitate some of the top blogs online.  It’s a great strategy to imitate success – but if you do choose to imitate some of the top blogs online – you may very well find yourself wasting a lot of time and energy.

When it comes launching and maintaining a business blog, you have to define your goals carefully.   Long ago, I applauded Liz Strauss when she wrote, “Your business is not your blog.”   Those words of wisdom still apply for the business owner who wants to use a business blog to promote his or her business.

Today there are some blogs which are acting as a “business”.  If a business blog is classified as “marketing” – these blogs would have to be classified as “media channels”.

You’re already familiar with the concept of different channels offering different content through television.  What began as three national channels has exploded into hundreds of channels – each targeting a different demographic. Many of the top blogs have become their own “television network” so to speak.  The primary goal of these blogs is providing entertaining and informative content.  In essence they’re “competing” with other content providers – like the television networks.

In these cases – contrary to Liz’s word’s of wisdom – the blog is the business.  When it comes to this style of blogging – you’ll notice there are lots of ads being displayed.  Those ads are the way those blogs are paying the bills which is why – in these cases – the blog is the business.

In the 8 Week Power Blog Launch – in the first lessons I ask the bloggers to define their blogging goals.  It’s important to define your blogging goals because if you’re going to become a competitor for network television  you’re going to have to take a different approach than the business owner who wants to position his or her blog posts in the path  of prospective customers as they research an upcoming purchase.

Creating your own “network” with your own programming is a huge task – an insurmountable one if you’re trying to do it yourself.  These “network blogs” often employ full tine writers,editors and even advertising sales people.  The content of the blog IS the job.   So while you may be a huge fan of a blog which provides daily content and breaking news – chances are you won’t want to imitate that big time blog when it comes time to launching your business blog.

Instead – you’ll want to adopt the blogging style of writing informative blog posts which are written with the end consumer in mind.  If you’re selling widgets – then your business blog should be filled with articles on all the many amazing uses of widgets around the home or business. When that’s your goal, writing a blog post or two each week is often all you need to build that kind of business blog.

On the other hand, if your blog goal is to compete with Oprah’s new television network – that’s going to require full time effort by a team of talented writers.  You’re going to be churning out content on a daily – in some cases hourly – basis.

This is why you must first define your business blogging goal before you begin blogging.  In many cases, your business blog shouldn’t act like other blogs because it’s goal is not to become the go to source for widespread information rather the goal is for your business blog to provide great information for prospective buyers of your product or service.

Business blogging is a marathon – not a sprint. Keeping the goal in sight is a great way to keep your business blog on track and can prevent you from “burning out” before the race is over.

Succeeding in Social Media

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You’ve got a business – and you’d love to find new customers online.  You’ve heard that social media can do that for your business- but you don’t know where to begin.

If that’s where you find yourself, then you must know that there are TWO things you MUST have in place in order to succeed in social media:

You need two – and only two – KEY elements in place to succeed in social media.

1.  You must have a plan.

2. You must be proactive.

First – you must have a solid plan.

I’m not talking about a “social media plan” or even a “social media strategy”. I’m talking about a solid business plan which includes as part of your business’ DNA a DESIRE to serve your customer base.

Social media sucks for the business running a “pump and dump” style business plan.  If you view customer comments as “noise” then chances are your “social media strategy” is going to focus upon making your customers SHUT UP and “kwitcherbitchin”.

The current “trend” appears to be that consumers voices are becoming more easily “heard” online that the many professional marketers.  Google is actively searching for online reviews and including them as part of the Google Places Page – a free page one website which business owners can claim and utilize.

In other words,  the search engines appear to be interested in magnifying the voice of the “little guy” a.k.a. the consumer online.  The wise business owner and CEO will keep this trend in mind as they plan for the future in ALL areas of their business.

Think of social media as a huge cocktail party where the conversations are being etched in stone and run your business accordingly.

Creating a free standing “social media plan” – one that is separate and distinct from the overall business plan – is kind of like a resident of Spokane, Washington  planning a road trip to Miami Beach and buying a map of  Florida to plan the trip.   While that map will help once you’ve actually arrived in Florida- but it’s not going to help you navigate the lower 48 and get you to the Sunshine State border.

The best social media plan is one that is integrated with your other means of customer communication… because that’s what social media is – communication with both existing customers and prospective customers.

Which brings me to the 2nd element needed for success in social media.

You must be proactive – not reactive.

Most humans don’t live proactively.  As a species – we didn’t immediately and universally adopt the habit of wearing seat belts and had to be “legislated” or forced into using them.  Sure, there were a few proactive thinkers who buckled up for safety – but these proactive thinkers were definitely in the minority.

So when I say “you must be proactive” when it comes to social media – that advice assumes you’ve already got a business plan that has customer satisfaction ingrained as part of your business DNA.   Then – being proactive simply means not only listening to consumers but actively ENCOURAGING them to speak positively about your business.  Giving consumers a place to be ‘heard” is a great start -but then the real job is cultivating the positive conversations.

When satisfying your customers is part of your business goals – then listening to your customers becomes a priority.  You want them to come back – you want customers to buy from you again – because you realize that it’s 5-7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to sell another product to an existing customer – you will eventually realize that listening to your customers is the best way to keep them.

In a recent article over at Mashable…Social Media Success: 5 Lessons from In-House Corporate Teams Amy Mae Elliott  interviewed Kerry Bridge, head of digital media communications, EMEA and global public sector at Dell Computers.    Bridge offers this simple reason for why Dell has been so successful using social media to generate sales for their business:

“Listening to our customers has always been at the heart of what we do.  Dell’s heritage of direct customer connections and online leadership are the seeds of our drive to be a social media success.”

Throughout the article – you’ll see the same “thread” repeated over and over again.

The Social Media Success Formula outlined in that article can be summed up as this:

Strong products + a sincere desire to improve customer experience + a proactive commitment to communicating effectively with consumers = social media success.

I get a lot of inquiries from business owners who want to “get started” using social media to grow their business.  They read stories where a companies like Dell have generated millions of dollars in revenue using the free social media communication service Twitter and they want to tap into that kind of business building social media action for their business.

These business owners are frequently disappointed to learn that the social media strategy is not a “set it and forget it” type of proposition.  While many of the communication tools which are an integral part of social media are “free” – using those tools takes time to learn to use – and they require a significant investment of time on the part of the business owner.  Companies like Dell, Ford and Southwest have teams of social media pros who work full time participating in the social media conversations online.

You may not have the resource to fund a full time social media team dedicated to communicating with consumers- but almost every business can launch a self hosted blog where consumers can come and share their thoughts.  Sure – you have to put forth a bit of effort in crafting those blog posts – and if you do that well then you might have to drudge through spammy comments – but if you’ll invest that limited amount of time into your business blog – you’ll find REAL gold in the authentic comments from actual consumers.