The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Business Blog Galaxy: 30 Tips to Transform Readers Into Customers!

 

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Business Blog Galaxy: 

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35 Tips to Get Readers and Transform Them Into Customers!

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So I’ve been Business blogging for 16 months now. 156 articles and closing in on 150,000 hits (said humbly).

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I’m no genius…let’s get that out of the way from the start. Due to a learning disability in Math, my IQ is actually slightly below average. I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way. Much of what I have learned has been through the process of trial-and-error. A LOT of errors. But I have tweaked and refined a system that has worked for me. Perhaps you will find it useful.

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There are two aspects of a successful Business blog as far as I’m concerned.

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The first is finding readers in the vastness of Cyberspace…and keeping them coming back. There are tens of thousands of Business blogs out there. It’s about finding an angle to make yours stand out from the crowd; carving out a niche, so to speak.

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The second is getting a good Return on Investment (ROI). It entails turning blog readers into paying customers.

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I’ve decided to spill ALL of the beans in this article. Here is the sum-total of all that I have learned in my 16 months of Biz-Blogging. 35 things to transform a business blog into a client-magnet:

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1) Great Content: It goes without saying, if you want readers to read your posts, provide great, insightful, thought-provoking content!

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2) Business! Yup, it is a business blog you’re writing of course. Offer plenty about doing business, starting a business and surviving and thriving in business. But include non-business thoughts and ideas. Keep in mind…business is inherently boring. Make your blog posts about more!

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3) Insight into You as a person. That’s right, if you want readers, especially readers who turn into paying customers, reveal some aspects about you as a person. People do not want to do business with robots, they prefer living, breathing human beings!

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4) Insight Into You As a Businessperson. Who are you? how did you succeed? What are your systems and methods? What are your strengths? Your abilities? And most importantly…why should I read your articles and consider giving you my business?

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5) Self-Promotion! You are good. You are an expert. You are experienced and wise. You have great products and services to offer. DON’T BE SHY! Don’t be SELF-DEPRECATING! SELL YOURSELF IN YOUR BLOG! PROMOTE YOURSELF!

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6) Value. Yup, you gotta make people feel they are walking away with something of value. It’s also what keeps ’em coming back!

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7) Tips. Yes, people are seeking information. Provide consistent sources of information and how-to and they’ll value that which you provide.

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8) Advice. It’s about giving something back. All that you have learned through study, research and trial-and-error…provide it to others. It establishes a lot of good-will and what comes around goes around!

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9) Expertise! A great way to attract others to yourself is by establishing yourself as an expert in your field of endeavor. Make yourself the go-to person in your field!

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10) Energy and Enthusiasm! Liven things up. Be spontaneous. Do the inane and insane from time to time. Bend rules. Break rules. Take risks. Put some "umph" into your writing and your thinking!

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Pardon me as I take a break to walk our

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11) Creativity! Come up with novel ideas. Express them creatively. Think of things, concepts and ideas that are new, unique and refreshing. Express your thoughts in rich, vibrant language. Boring your readers will generally not result in them hiring you.

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12) Great Titles! A great title is the "welcome-mat" to your article. Choose a boring one and people might likely pass over it. Choose a great, unique and thought-provoking one and chances are you’ll attract visitors. Writing a post on Social Media? Forget about titling it "How to Use Social Media in Your Business." Try something like "The Magical-Mystery, Psychedelic, Social Media Guide to the Internet Galaxy!" Take my word…it works!

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13) Proofread! Bad spelling and mistakes in grammar and punctuation can make the best article look mediocre at best!

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14) Edit! Finished your great article? DON’T post it right away. Walk away from the computer…give your eyes a rest. Now give it the once-over, check for errors, make sure everything sounds okay and make last-minute changes.

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15) Humor. People love to laugh. You don’t need to do a stand-up routine or a Conan O’Brien-style monologue in every post. But tickle peoples’ funny bone. Give ’em a reason to smile!

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16) Slices of Life. Don’t just talk about business in your business blog…that’s pretty boring! Relate life’s experiences. Humanize yourself. From a shitty experience in a store to the best salesperson you’ve ever dealt with, talk about it and relate it to your readers.

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17) Values and Morals. Looking to do business with someone? Would you do it with a two-timing drunkard who cheats on his wife? Me neither. Interject some of your values and morals into your writing…without preaching. Show that you are trustworthy, honest and a mentsch. Assuming that you are of course!

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18) Current Events. I can’t tell you how many blog posts I have built around items from the news. Turn on the TV or pick up the newspaper. You will find no shortage of interesting items to relate to a great post!

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19) Sports. Yup, it’s a microcosm of life itself. It’s about challenges, victory, overcoming adversity and giving it all you’ve got. Sports stories are great to blend into your blog articles. From soccer to baseball, the Olympics to basketball, give it a try!

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20) Pop-Culture. From Lady-Gaga to the Beatles, Art-Deco to Warhol, Rubik’s Cube to Tickle-Me-Elmo, pop-culture knows no bounds. Woodstock? A classic marketing lesson about getting 500,000 people to show up at a small farm in upstate New York!

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21) Movies. Wall Street. Batman and Robin as a business partnership. Star Wars and "the force." JAWS. Blade Runner. From almost any movie a great business lesson can be gleaned. And great films are something which everybody can relate to!

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22) Books. Catcher in the Rye. Animal Farm. Catch-22. Salinger. Steinbeck. Hemingway. How about To Kill a Mockingbird with Atticus Finch, Gem, Scout and Boo Radley? Books have more Business-related lessons than you can possibly count. Read…and write about it!

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23) Music. "Taking Care of Business." "In the Midnight Hour." "Step Into My Office Baby." "Take This Job and Shove It!" From a song title to great lyrics to your favorite artist…build a blog article around it!

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24) History. History is a great subject to write about. Use a great chapter from any event in history as an introductory section to a blog post. I’ve done it successfully with the Civil War, the American Revolution, Oscar Schindler, Harley-Davidson, the Cola-Wars of the 1980s, business scandals, and many, many more. Use historical context related to your subject and capture your readers’ attention!

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25) Images. Yup, choose a great, eye-catching, relevant image to head your post. All words make a very bland article! A great image catches the reader’s eye and imagination.

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26) Video. Embed a great video which is related to your post. It greatly enhances your writing and can help get the message across in a dynamic way. Don’t produce videos? Me either. YouTube has a plethora to choose from. Start searching now!

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27) A Sales-Pitch. Your reader has read your great article. Now it’s time to make the sell. You’ll need a sales pitch where you speak briefly about what you do and what you have to offer. My advice? Put it at the end of the article so as not to turn the post into an advertisement!

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28) A Photo of Yourself. Article. Content. Sales-Pitch. AND PHOTO. People want to see who is writing and who they are considering doing business with. Show ’em who you are. In a dress, suit and tie or holding the 250 lb. marlin you’ve just reeled in. Let ’em see you. It humanizes you!

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Sorry, time for another break:  🙂

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29) Links. Yup, to your website. To your portfolio. To your testimonials. To your pricing. Once your reader has finished reading give him or her an easy way to check out what you have to offer. Don’t make it easy for them to click over to CNN or FaceBook. Make it easy for them to check out you, the businessperson.

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30) A Re-Tweet Button. I still see blogs out there without them. If a reader enjoys your article or finds the content useful, make it easy for him or her to pass it on to others. Without the Re-Tweet button, it ain’t gonna happen!

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31) A Thank You! Your readers are taking time out of their busy day to stop by for a ‘peruse.’ A Simple "Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed!" is a great way to thank them. Remember, readership is a privilege not a given. A gesture of gratitude instills good-will on your part.

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32) Comment Responses. Nothing gets my goat more than leaving comments on a blog and having them go unanswered. If your visitor takes the time to read, take the time to respond!

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33) Keywords. In order to get found in the search-engines, you’ll need to choose keywords wisely. Before you’ve even started writing, choose dynamic, popular sought-out words to include in your post!

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34) A "Hit-Counter." Written an article that has gotten a great response? One with a shitty response? I’ve penned a few with almost 10,000 hits. And those with barely 150. The only way to know what you are doing right, and what you might have done wrong, is to see how many visitors each and every post has attracted.

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35) CONSISTENCY! A great business blog can be had with two great articles a week. At 1-2 hours per-article (conceptualizing, writing, proofreading and editing) it’s a great investment. But keep at it. Be consistent! A week or two of missing posts will leave your readers believing you’ve been abducted by Martians!

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Thanks for stopping by!

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Hope you’ve enjoyed!

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Image Credits: Galaxy: http://www.mrbarlow.files/; Helpful Tips; http://www.motherandinfant.co.uk/; Coffee Break: www.davisjunctiononline.com; Wink: www.esp.ritsumei.ac.jp; Toilet: www.1.bp.blogspot.com

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Yonatan Maisel is a Business blogger, history buff and author. He specializes in all aspects of Business writing.

From speeches to resumes, from corporate bios to research, from blogging to website content, from articles to ghost-writing, he provides the highest level of quality at a very reasonable price.