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Are you thinking of your business blog as a Conversation (with a capital “C”) with potential customers? Why not? That’s the strength and advantage you have over your competitors who either don’t have a blog, or have one but don’t converse with it. In this installment of our Copy Writing Matters series, we’ll look at two common business blog mistakes, and how to avoid them. [Ed.]

by Scott Frangos

Yeah, yeah… Content is King when it comes to blogging — but it’s only one of the Five C’s of Social Marketing. And if you don’t get to Conversation quickly… you “got nothing,” even if your content is great.

Conversation leads to trust. Conversation leads to negotiation. Without Conversation… there will be no Converstion — no sales. Seem like common sense? It is. Then why am I writing about it? Because a lot of businesses just don’t get it. They pay to customize and install a business blog, then make key mistakes that leave possible paying customers out in the cold.

Converse. Convince. Win Customers. See how easy life can be?

Ok… that’s enough of a rant. Let’s look at a couple of examples of business blogs failing to engage in Conversation, analyze why and exactly how you can address these common mistakes.

Mistake One: Failure to Address Negative Comments…

First — an easy one. What to do if you get negative comments? I actually have a client who runs a blog tied to his nationally known company — call him Bill. Bill wants to know if he should entertain negative comments? The recommendation: yes — if they are not derogatory, but instead offer an opportunity to dialog. Converse. Why? Think what would happen if each time a sales person encountered an objection, they went silent and walked away? Nadda. What do good sales people do with objections? They see them as opportunities to further the conversation, of course. So, you run the comment, then reply politely pointing out features and benefits about your company that the commentator may not know. And guess what? Unlike the sales analogy, there are other potential customers that will come along and read the same comments.

Two more reasons to run negative comments in your business blog:

• It’s interesting. People enjoy a good, polite debate — it helps them weigh the pros and cons… just make sure you are convincing on the “pro” side of the debate.
• It shows courage and integrity. If you’re big enough to take criticism, people will respect that.

Mistake Two: Failure to Write Conversationally

Here’s a real-world example of how not to use a business blog if you value how real conversation can lead you to a sale. I’ll follow the example with a list of how-to’s if you’d like to do it right.

My company, WebFadds.com, has installed a number of blogs for Real Estate Agents this year. Turns out they understand how blogging software (we use WordPress) can help them get noticed. But few, oddly, understand how to use their blog to engage potential customers in conversation. I say “oddly”, because those same agents would never fail to speak to customers in person, ask good qualifying questions, and put their personalities across. That’s because a good agent knows that they’re selling themselves every bit as much as selling a home.

Why then, do you think that so many agents simply use their blog to post dry, dull listings? You don’t need a blog to do that, and most of those same listing are availble at a variety of other Real Estate sites… including (”doh”), other competing agent sites.

Learn to write about your business in a personal way. One realtor with a new blog began his first post something like this, “I just got this blog to get the word out, but I’m not exactly sure how to use it. I guess I’ll learn as I go, and the couple hundred bucks to the web developers will help me tell you about some great listings in the area.” Good. His personality is coming across, and I am starting to feel like I know him.

Let’s wrap this up with a list of ways to use your business blog to actively engage prospective customers:

• Write conversationally by picturing your reader/customer in your mind and just talking to them like they were right there with you. Ask them questions (if they’re interested you’ll get bonus insights when they reply in comments). Some Writers/BlogMasters tape a picture of their ideal customer to their computer and pretend to be addressing them directly.
• Reveal your personality. Get personal. Write in some stories and anecdotes so people get to know you before they even continue the conversation.
• Encourage comments. Learning what your readers and potential customers are thinking is invaluable.
• Reply to every comment. This is the conversation thing, remember? And also, in addition to talking to your prospect, other prospects will read comments in the future.
• If you’re busy, use a plugin for an auto-reply to first-time commenters, and also a contact form with an auto-reply message.
• Follow up with an e-newsletter… and always solicit feedback

That’s it. Converse. Convince. Win Customers. See how easy life can be?

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