How to Become a Heroic Business Blogger

Ready to add more to your business blogging bottom line?

What you need is a hero.

You probably already know that business blogging is not about blatantly self-promotional posts. Your focus should be on building your authority and credibility with compelling content that offers true value. In the long run, this strategy will easily convert a good percentage of readers into paying customers.

Even then, they are likely trying to sell you the benefits of working with you or buying your product outside of your regular mail flow. That's why business bloggers should be paying attention to Roberta's landing page articles because that's where she'll be sending people for the most focused sale.

Is it a problem if you ever do a little "selling" on a blog? Absolutely, but it's best to do it in a way that doesn't come across as selling. The good news is that the technique you can use is one of the most powerful forms of selling around.

Confused? Let's take a closer look at the bad, better, and better approaches.

Bad: Blatant self-promotion

Any type of copy that is focused on telling people how wonderful you and your company are is doomed to failure. And even though the web is full of bad self-promotional corporate-style websites that don't work, there's never been a better example of how badly that kind of content works on a blog.

All great copy focuses on the prospect, and all great blogs focus on the reader. You're wasting your time telling people how great you are because odds are no one cares enough to decide whether to believe in you.

Customer & Media Testimonials Blurbs - Best

As I've said a few times before, what others say about you is more important than what you say about yourself. This is the fundamental aspect of bonding and the backbone of social networking.

Testimonials and media are important because it mentions the concept of social proof. all that, to varying degrees, we look to others for cues on what to do and how to behave. Social proof is the foundation of buzz, marketing, and word-of-mouth fashion trends, but it's also an important aspect of our day-to-day lives. We avoid sensory and information overload by looking to social cues for heuristic judgments that help us make decisions.

However, outside of a focused attempt to get someone to take immediate action (such as ordering a product or calling you), testimonials aren't very convincing. Simply reproducing what someone else has said about you isn't as interesting as it is when you read it somewhere else. In short, testimonials do not make good blog content.

Can we do better?

Best Hero Stories:

What is a story of a hero?

A hero story is similar to a testimonial, except it transcends praise and turns it into a compelling, engaging narrative that your readers can directly relate to. Instead of you or your company being the center of attention, your customer or client is the problem-solving "hero" using your solution.

Here are some of the key characteristics of a hero's story:

The story is not about you or your company
The story is about your customer and how his problem is solved
First, introduce the hero
Then enter the problem
How did the hero solve the problem?
What did the hero learn along the way?
What specific results did the hero achieve?

Woven into the story, of course, is you and your solution. But in reality, you are just an "extra" supporting the hero. You want the hero to speak to your readers and potential customers in terms they can relate to. Or in other words, a hero makes you look good in ways that are hard for you to achieve yourself. People will tune out their own horns for irregularities, but they're going to love a good story with a protagonist who overcomes challenges that are similar to their own.

A hero story is nothing but a good story

The key, of course, is a good story, and a good hero story is just like any story that contains drama, obstacles, and conflict resolution. And the key to writing a good hero story is going to be participating in your presentation.

You need to add some flair and a great hook to your story. Imagine yourself at a cocktail party with a small group of people gathered around to listen to you. Is there going to be some monotonous, monotonous recitation that bores people to tears, or is there going to be a wonderfully lively tale that keeps people engaged and hanging on every word?

I think we know which method works best. Now, just write that way.