Convenience. We love that word. There a lot of things that are automated for convenience that we all enjoy taking advantage of: automatic car washes, cruise control, recording your favorite shows, having your son mow the lawn. But one thing that cannot be faked is: You.
So how does that help in promoting your blog posts and thereby marketing your business? Well, for better or worse people may be searching for what you wrote in your blog because you wrote it - not like a boring business sales copy or proposal but like you were actually speaking to a person. And when they find it, they may become your next customer.
If You Write Robotic Blog Posts Will Smith Will Take You Out
When you write your blog posts, write in a real, human voice.
Sure, you want to target certain keywords, but you need to sound like a person, not a robot that is “trying-to-get-the-best-rankings on Goo-gle.” (Imagine robot voice). Why? Because while Google indexes your site, it's people who are reading the posts you write and people who will decide if they will use your business or become a regular reader of your blog.
Unfortunately, finding real articles online to solve real problems seems to be getting harder and harder. Many people are paid to write perfectly search engine optimized articles for large sites with only badly written, superficial articles just to rank the site well to sell advertising. Ever landed on a site like that? You probably clicked away pretty quickly.
What's Good for Pinocchio Should Be Good for Your Blog Posts
It’s kind of like that Disney movie Pinocchio (this may be a stretch). No, not the lying part. You shouldn’t lie on your blog posts, that’s obvious. I mean how he was made of wood but just wanted to be a real boy. Application: When you write a blog post, don’t be a piece of wood, be real because people are tired of finding fake, wooden, badly written sites. They are searching for - and they will love it when they finally find - a real, well-written site by an intelligent, funny person who knows what they’re talking about.
When it comes to “real” blog posts, what do people like?
It depends. They could want an authority on a subject. Maybe they need empathy for the problem they"re facing. Perhaps they want someone who will just tell them the honest truth about something. You can give them that by being yourself, by writing in a human voice to other humans.
Wait! You might say. My blog is about my business which is something that isn’t very empathetic. I don't have a medical blog that people come to needing compassion or empathy. I install home theater systems, run a translating business, am an electrician, (insert your business here).
That might be true, but people are still people and they still react the same way.
They could be frustrated with trying to choose or set up a home theater system. So write a post on how it’s frustrating to set up a home theater system and give a few tips to reduce their frustration. Or try writing, "The 5 Easiest Home Theater Systems to Operate," "The Best-Sounding Home Theater Systems Under $1000.00," etc. When you write blog posts on topics that speak to real people, what will that do? They’ll hopefully read them and see you as an authority. They may tell their friends. They may call or email you and become your customer. Nice!
Let's take the case of an electrician - what are people often concerned with? Perhaps finding an honest, reliable electrician that is not smelly, is courteous, friendly, on time and does great work? Wow, just on those few qualities there’s a few blog posts: “The Top 5 Things You Should Look For in An Electrician,” “Honest, Reliable Electricians- Do They Still Exist?,” “How Not To Get Ripped Off By An Electrician,” etc.
Perhaps they came to the website frustrated and, because you wrote like a real person, they feel like someone understands, or - even better - someone who knows their stuff understands, maybe I should call them to do work for me or buy something from their site or sign up for their newsletter because they know what they're talking about.
In reality, isn’t that the same as when we have a trusted professional we already know do work for us?
We may know our faucet leaks, but to talk to our awesome plumber we’ve used for years and have him give us a few options on what type of new faucets we can replace it with is invaluable. That’s why we use him - we trust him and he’s the expert. It’s the same with writing blog posts like a real person in down-to-earth, not sales-y, language. There’s no substitute for it: we need someone to say, “Yeah, you’ve heard it’s like this and that, but here’s what you need to do and what you need to avoid. “
Yes, acting and writing like a human makes your blog “stick.” People who read it may look at you as their resource and it may drive sales to your business. So when it comes to writing blog posts: You’re Only Human- And That’s Not A Bad Thing.
Next Time: Part 3: Double Sided Title Tags That Stick
Like This Blog? Subscribe By Clicking on the Orange RSS Feed on the Left.