“Brilliant Blogs or Bust!” was the title of a blog post that just jumped off the page at me. OK, it was my computer monitor, but the title with its brilliant alliteration certainly caught my attention. Any individual or business with a blog included in their marketing plan wants to think that their musings become posts that readers will declare brilliant. I want to become a brilliant blogger!
Ideally, readers will find your posts brilliant enough to pass on to others, helping the blog postings to go viral, expanding your visibility exponentially. The idea behind a business blog is to attract potential customers to read your content and be impressed at your expertise and ability to solve their problems. Don’t you want to become a brilliant blogger? I do.
Brilliant Blogger Tips
My curiosity, piqued by that title, drew me to quickly link to the blog. Scanning the post, I found a list of five tips to help move a blog to ‘brilliance’. At the top of the writer’s list was a tip noting that people just love lists. Readers are more likely to read, re-tweet and share topics like: 5 Best Chicken Pluckers, 6 Ways Not to Burn Your House Down Over the Holidays, or 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. OK, that last one is a Paul Simon song, but you get the idea.
Readers find lists simple, yet intriguing, to the point and they seem quicker and easier for readers to digest. They are also more likely to read an post that includes a number in it’s title. Give them what they want. Write your blog for what they want, not what you feel like doing. They are the ones who will decide how brilliant you and your content are.
Other useful tips included giving homework to your readers and telling them what results they can expect. Once they have read your article, what should they do next? Leave a comment? Sign up for your newsletter? Download your white paper or e-book? Tell them what to do, then make it easily accomplished. Tell them what they can expect by implementing your ideas. Everyone knows the WIIFM mantra– it is still alive and thriving. What’s in it for me? It may seem a bit selfish, but is a prevailing concept you just can’t ignore. Make your call to action bold, clear and simple to execute.
Author, speaker and blogger, Patrick Schwerdtfeger, stated: “People don’t spend money to solve problems. They spend money to alleviate pain!” Talk about brilliance. Telling a client that you can solve their problems sounds good, unless in reality, it amounts to little more than lip service. Consumers are looking for someone to reduce their stress levels, remove aggravation, help them sleep better at night or keep disgruntled customers or employees from hating them. Those things are worth paying for. Those things have value.
Get out your marketing plan today and add Schwerdtfeger’s blogging tips to refine your marketing effort. Customers aren’t looking for mundane, mediocre approaches to solving their problems and challenges. They want brilliance. Become brilliant… strategically.
Alliteration is a great headline technique as are Top 5 or even “How to.” I might disagree with why people spend money. People buy first on emotions and then justify that purchase with logic. Then they buy on value unique to them and that value might be to alleviate pain, to avoid pain or to achieve something they desire.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Author of Be the Red Jacket
http://bit.ly/1Q9mnV
Thanks for your comments, Leanne. Lists and numbers seem to get people’s attention as well as those ‘How-to’ postings. Agree that people buy based on emotion, but isn’t there value in having your emotional needs met? :0) I know, it’s a fine line.