What to blog about for your business blog

If you have a business blog, you must have content. If you blog regularly, you have a better chance of coming up in the search engines as well as connecting with your public.

But coming up with fresh topics that will interest your public can be a challenge.

Following are a few suggestions that may give you some ideas on what to blog about for your business blog:

Trends in related industries. For example if you sell baby products you may want to cull the news for articles relating to child safety, crib safety, children’s allergies then write a post making relevant commentary.

Current news. Check the headlines, newspapers, your favorite news sites, or even your Face book feed for any current story that may relate to your field and product. For example, if you sell skin care products and you see an article that talks about trends in skin cancer treatment or prevention. You can site the article then write a list post, with tips on how to protect your skin from too much sun exposure.

Statistics. The U.S. government (as well as private groups) is always doing studies and they have statistics for just about everything. Whatever field your product relates to you can find statistics for and turn into a post. For example, you sell a hands-free cell phone holder for cars. You could look up stats on texting and accidents, cell phones and accidents and create a list post with tips on how to use the phone and drive safely.

TV, Movies and Books. If you’re clever and have a sense of adventure, you can also tap pop culture and do a tie in to your product. For example, a movie that involves dogs could tie into your pet care/accessory products. Do a review that is entertaining, perhaps even mention that your dog product might have helped the pooch in a specific scene.

Short and sweet with a take-away

Although news sites, personal blogs, artist’s blogs and so forth may write long posts – businesses should keep their blog posts short and sweet. The idea is that you want to give some kind of value that will be helpful to your public and has some sort of take-away. Whether it’s tips, increased awareness of risks, coming trends, safety or even a laugh, your reader has to feel like it was worth reading.

Readers do not respond to selling disguised as a blog post. In fact, if you try to sell someone something, you will face immediate resistance. But if you can provide information and/or entertainment that the reader likes, they will probably want to check you and your products out further. In blog posts and other social media venues hard-sell never works. It’s more about connection and interaction.

So, make it short and sweet, give them something for their time and build up some rapport – you’ll find that eventually, they’ll decide to buy from you without your having to ask.

 

 

What’s Your Business Story?

In today’s world, the Internet is to business what water is to a duck.  And although electronic communication has increased our reach around the world it’s also made doing business less personal than it used to be.  Despite all of the technological advances we’ve made and will make in the coming years, nothing has really replaced human contact.

When I was a kid growing up in the Midwest, there was a Mom & Pop business on every corner.  And we all shopped at these neighborhood establishments, knew the owners, usually on a first name basis, and liked it.  It was nice to know the people you did business with.  They were neighbors, friends—people we knew and trusted.  A handshake was the contract and you never dreamed of going back on your word.  Few businesses follow that neighborly model anymore.

We don’t write letters, we send emails.  We don’t meet for lunch, we tele-conference.  We don’t make deals on a handshake; we hire teams of attorneys to draft 100 page agreements, covering every possibility under the sun.  We don’t know our customers but we’re obsessed with the numbers and getting more.

Tell a story and your customers will know and like you

Your business has a story, a narrative that started long before anyone knew who you were.  You worked hard.  Maybe you worked your way through college because you had a dream.  And that dream kept you going through the night, over the weekends and kept you up at night more often than not.  You knew if you just kept at it, you could realize your vision and your dream.  But do your customers know that story?  Do they know you?  Yes, you probably have an About Page on your website and have sent out press releases or post cards telling people all about your business.  But has that story been distilled down to the facts, accreditations, and the obligatory bio with as much life as a cardboard cutout of who you are?  Your public persona?

A perfect example of a company that has used the story approach to expand its business is Trader Joe’s.  It started out as a local convenience market in California in the 1950’s and now has hundreds of locations, thousands of employees and does billions in business.  Trader Joe’s story is told in a unique, refreshing, and down to earth way.  And goes even further with their timeline narrative.  After reading their story, what shopper wouldn’t want to at least go there a have a fun shopping experience?  Their primary form of advertising is a circular called the Fearless Flyer – word of mouth pretty much did the rest for them.  Wouldn’t you like to have people flock to your business because your story was as appealing as Trader Joe’s?

Every business has its own story – tell yours

Despite opinions to the contrary, people don’t respond to sterile bios and dry copy.  Despite all our gadgets and techie toys we still want to know the people we do business with.  We want to feel that we could be friends and neighbors—we want that connection.  It’s just human nature.  So what is your business story?  Do your customers know who you are, what you believe in, and how you feel about the world?  Don’t you think it’s time you did?  I promise you if you do tell your story that people will want to do business with you.  And they’ll tell all their friends too.

Disclosure: In my freelance writing business one of my specialties is business story writing and I have linked to that site in this post.

Writer Chick

copyright 2013

 

 

 

No, Dear Client, Your Website is Not All About You

Does your website speak to your fellow professionals or your potential clients?

While my first true love is fiction writing and I am pursuing that actively (yes I have a new book which should be on Amazon by December), I’m also a freelance copywriter.  Specifically, I write content for websites and business blogs .  I write for a variety of professionals, like attorneys for example.  However, regardless of the profession or industry there seems to be a common misunderstanding about the purpose of website content.  And that misunderstanding is that the client believes their website is supposed to be all about them.  But the truth is that’s not really the case.

How to get people to leave your site quickly

Professionals, like attorneys, spend an enormous amount of time learning their craft, honing their craft and building up their practices – and it’s natural to want to brag a little bit about all that hard work.   However, law is a very competitive field and every day another 100 attorney websites debut on the Internet.  In fact, I read recently that there are over one million practicing attorneys in this country alone.  The problem then becomes, how does one stand out from the crowd?  The simple answer is you have to have a website that is more appealing to your potential customer than your competitors have.

Most attorneys I’ve talked to believe that the important things to put on their websites are their:

• Experience
• Accreditation
• Awards
• Peer reviews
• Peer ratings
• Media about them
• Bar Associations
• Memberships
• Other important professional accomplishments or accolades

And while it’s true that the above are important things to include on website and should certainly appear on your profile page, that doesn’t mean that information should appear on every other page of your website.  You see, the above is what a copywriter calls a feature.  A feature is something about the product or service that is being offered.  However, features are rarely also benefits.  A benefit is the thing that your service or product gives your potential client.  And prospects are attracted by the benefits more than the features. Examples of features an attorney might offer are:

• Can negotiate with the insurance company to get your settlement
• Has won multiple jury verdicts for plaintiffs
• Has obtained multi-million dollar settlements for clients
• Can settle your case quickly
• Does all the paperwork
• Has a proven track record in  your type of case
• Handles all the headaches connected to the case so you don’t have to
• Handles creditors

Your prospect does want to know who you are, but only because they want to know what you can do for them and that they can trust you to deliver.

Hard as this may be to hear, people don’t come to your website so they can admire you or be impressed by you and become your fan.  They come to your website because they need something.  They come because they have this idea that you can do something for them – solve their problems or show them how to solve their problems.

However, if your website is all about you and never about them and the problem they have come to solve, they won’t stay long.  Actually, it’s the quickest way to get people to leave your site.

Want them to stay on your site?  Then speak to them in their language

Copywriters know something that most people don’t.  That copy is written for the people who the product or service serves.  It’s not written for the CEO of the company, it’s not written for the department head or even the owner.  Copy is written for the people who are the potential customers of the product or services that the company offers. Period.  End of discussion. It really is as simple as that.

To be successful in your online marketing, you have to tell a story that your potential client wants to hear.  A story your prospect can relate to because he or she is living that story. If you’re a lawyer then you’re telling a story about a person suffering because of some legal problem in their life, which by the way you can solve for them.  If you’re a business consultant, you’re telling a story about a business owner who is failing because they don’t know how to turn their business around,  which by the way, you can help them with.  Do you see the difference?

If you talk to them, they will come

If you want the world to know about how great you are, then feel free to fill your website with copy about you and your many accomplishments.  (And this may be effective if you are a celebrity. ) However, if you want the people you serve to find you and do business with you, then you have to show them that you know who they are, that you understand their problems, and that you’re just the person who can solve those problems.  If you can do this with your website, you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes.

Writer Chick

Copyright 2013