Kikolani

Blog Marketing

You are here: Home / Archives / Words that Sell: How to Write Compelling Content for Your Business Blog

Words that Sell: How to Write Compelling Content for Your Business Blog


By

This is a guest post by Chris Warden.

I can predict – with great accuracy – the steps that nearly every offline business owner tries when bringing their business online: set up a website, begin blogging, and sign up for Twitter and Facebook. Sound accurate? Let’s take a deeper look at the blog. The problem isn’t knowing you should be blogging, – it’s finding topics that are relevant to your niche that won’t bore your readers to death. “Words that Sell” (patent pending), if you will.

As important as it is to stay on topic, you need to find ways to bridge the gap between providing information and attracting new eyes to our content. Unfortunately, even if you are advertising the best, cheapest, and most relevant information, services, or products, the reality is that people will simply not click on you or your website.

This is for many possible reasons:

  • If you are new, there is not much credibility and trust between consumers and your company.
  • If there are other well-known companies in your line of work, consumers recognize them over you and will give them their business instead.
  • And, very importantly, if you or your post is simply boring – unattractive, rudimentary, or cliche, people won’t click on it.

However, there are ways to change this.

In this example, imagine you run a business that specializes in selling carpet and flooring.

Inspiration for outside-the-box content can be found anywhere. When standing at the line in the grocery store, let’s say you see one of those celebrity magazines with a drunk Paris Hilton spilling red wine all over white carpet. This is your inspiration.

“Paris Hilton and her Red Wine Problem – How CarpetMax Could Keep her Stain Free.”

Bingo. This is a perfect time to write about that special carpet protector you sell at a 400% mark-up, or a stain remover. This is appealing because it’s highly share-able while still having a soft sales pitch within. You’d be amazed at how many of these types of posts people read and then realize this product might work for that pasta sauce stain in the dining room. Even better still, you’ve accomplished what many businesses fail to do – you’ve successfully got them to give your company a look.

Most aren’t going to share an article with their Facebook friends about why Berber carpeting is a more durable option than plush (even if the carpeting is very high quality and inexpensive). The above article is infinitely more shareable. The Paris Hilton example is a great sales pitch in disguise while also attracting the eyes of niche audiences – such as celebrity gossip and pop culture – to your post. This is a cross-niche post, which is exactly what business owners need to be aiming for. It uses the momentum of a popular news story with a massive following, while inserting your brand into the piece to ride the wave of interest. In essence, it’s perfect.

Now, let’s build on that and create additional posts from our one piece of inspiration.

This one photo in a gossip rag can spur several topics all related to a drunken Paris Hilton and her carpet stain problem.

You wrote the first post pitching a stain remover or the pre-emptive carpet protector.

The second post could be a video demonstration of this very thing.

Now here’s where it’s time to get creative. In a third post you could write about alternative flooring types that we think are better suited to Paris Hilton’s lifestyle.

Then you could do a fourth post outlining the type of carpet she had and why it is luxurious enough for a celebrity.

Get the wheels spinning. This is one small idea that just spurred four blog posts and I’m sure you could find more topics if necessary.

Remember, you’re looking for shareable posts that bring eyes outside of your niche while remaining niche-relevant. Like I mentioned before, this could come from anything – magazine at the supermarket to the billboard signs you pass on the way to work, getting niche ideas for your products is far less complicated that you might expect.

Inspiration is everywhere. Start looking.

Comments

  1. In the beginning faith and trust has to be gained and can be hard for any business. But when a business owner starts writing and writes compelling content and they will get noticed and sooner or later and others will start to connect and share. It does take time but with compelling content, its possible to get there more quickly.
    Shalu Sharma just posted Drinking water guide in India

    • Thanks for your comment. I agree. Building a brand is all about engagement and interaction. There’s no better way to do that than producing content that your audience can relate to.

  2. Chris,

    Great blogging idea. Very nicely written. Thank you for sharing.

    When it comes to writing quality content, writing more and more and then some more helps as well. When I started blogging, initially I didn’t write very well (Now, that doesn’t mean I have arrived now. I am still learning and growing.) But now, as I’ve been writing consistently, I can definitely see difference in my own writing. My content gets better and better as time goes.

    So, if I may add something, it will be “Just write more….”

    Regards,
    Kumar
    Kumar Gauraw just posted Choosing The Best Blogging Platform For Your Needs

  4. The pen is mightier than the sword. In our case the keystroke is. Anyway, the power of writing can either influence or disgust the reader. It’s amazing to know that you have the power to make yourself rich just by the words that you choose to write.

    Content is and always will be King, but only if you write it that way!
    Wade just posted Twitter Tools For More Traffic-Tweet Adder Review

  5. Hey Chris,

    I must admit that you’ve chosen really catchy title here about “Paris Hilton” and everybody like to read more if they see this title. When you’ve a clear title, you know what you’re going to write about and later you can do some modification to make it more compelling.
    Aasma just posted Paying Guest in Delhi

  9. Hi Chris,

    Wow, it would be awesome if I could get inspiration for 2 or 3 posts just by seeing a simple news headline or something similar. But the truth is I kinda struggle a lot to find new topics to post about.

    But I do have one method that has never failed me. I take a little time to go through some Amazon books. I check out the table of contents and if nothing else gets me inspirated that definitely does the trick.

    I really enjoyed your article, all the best to Chris, cheers.

    ~Philip
    Philip A just posted 14 Steps To Jump Start Traffic to A New Blog

  10. Great advice – shows just how important it is for all writers to keep their eyes, ears and minds wide open – as you say, you never know where inspiration may be found.

    A lovely example of how something potentially pretty mundane can be made more compelling by relating it to an issue that’s likely to pique people’s interest and attention.

    Many thanks. A very enjoyable and thought-provoking read,

    Sue
    Sue Neal just posted Why I Became a Content Curation Convert

  12. hello chris,
    nice post, the most important thing is the relation between the blogger and readers/audience. trust is what makes you a successful business person. thanks for sharing this post
    prabhat just posted Home

  13. Hi Chris,

    You make some interesting points. I must admit – I had a tendency to “drift” of topic in the early stages of my very own blog. In fact, only really over the last few months have I found what my readers are really after.

    Thanks for an interesting and insightful post.

    Regards,
    John
    John Banks just posted How To Make Amazing Free eBook Covers

  15. Some of the best sources of inspiration for our content stem from our internal team meetings. An employee may be talking about a trend they are noticing or an issue they are having on an assignment, which inspires a lot of our blog posts. I make sure to keep a note pad handy during all meetings, as there are usually one to two really good posts that come out of our team meetings.