You remember what a wallflower is. It's that person who gravitates to the periphery of things, lingers in the shadows, blends in with . . . the walls.
The life of the party, on the other hand, has no such anonymity. They may make you laugh. The may make you cringe. But they get your attention. And on the way home from the party, you will talk about them and you will remember them the next day, the next week, the next month.
Loud and Bold Beats Low Key
If you have a business blog that's not getting noticed by search engines or the people you want to engage and influence the most, you may have a wallflower on your hands.
So how did you get in this situation? How did you wind up with a business blog that has relevant, topical things to say to people who could be your clients, but is as invisible as to them as the wallflower cowering in the corner at the big party? Well, it's a complicated situation, but we can tell you this: At a time where approximately 100,000 new blogs are being created every day, many helpful, intelligent, low key business blogs underestimate the need to be loud, bold, Life of the Party business blogs.
In Copyblogger, one of the most consistently interesting marketing blogs of any kind, editor Jon Morrow points out that people are far more drawn in by "the class clown" than the valedictorian.
Think about that. If you're like most people, you probably don't remember a single word that your high school valedictorian said. On the other hand, you can vividly recall your class clown and how his antics made you laugh in class when that was a dangerous thing to do.
Coming Out of Your Shell
So where does that leave you? There is a fork in the road here, make no mistake. You can continue to be helpful, friendly, intelligent business blogger. But where has that gotten you -- the Express Train to Blog Oblivion?
The other option is that you can reinvent your blog to become the louder, bolder, Life of the Party. How do you do that? The good news is you don't have to sacrifice your integrity or your dignity. We don't have to start from scratch. You don't have to start over. Everything is a work in progress.
Just keep one important thing in mind: Your role as a business blogger isn't to educate the world.
People will buy a book or take a course if they want to learn. If you want to have a blog that generates buzz and brings you new business, you need to deliver an interesting, entertaining diversion with a few valuable lessons.
Grab your reader's attention. Make them curious. Make them smile. Wake them up. Shake them up. Strive for bold simplicity.
If you do all of that with your business blog, you may not always get to be the life of the party, but you will bring more life to all that you say and do. And only good can come of that.
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