Ok! So I got your attention, right?

Yes, you guessed it! the HEADLINE is without doubt the single most important piece of any blog post that you create….

That’s why you should give it lots and lots of attention and come up with one, that works really well and grabs the potential reader as soon as he or she sees it.

The funny thing however is that we (me included) are often guilty of spending a lots of time researching and constructing a post – but only investing a few minutes (or sometimes even seconds) coming up with the headline. Are you guilty?.. I know I am.

With just a little effort and some additional time, it’s definitely an area where most business bloggers could improve significantly.

Here are some super resources to help you craft incredible headlines:

How to Write Magnetic Headlines

The Sexy Art of Writing Headlines that Kill

How to Write Compelling Social News Headlines

How The Huffington Post uses real-time testing to write better headlines

And these are some recent examples of headlines that grabbed my attention on Bloggertone:

MR. Topsy Turvy’s Job Rant

Blog, blog, blah, blah – bland, bland?

Oops – Where Did The Money Go!

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Is Anybody Listening?

Now over to you!

Do you agree that headlines are really important?

How much time do you spend on headlines?

And have you come across any great examples of headlines at work?

Pic: seobook

For the last few months, Bloggertone has been a labour of love and indeed a steep learning curve for me and the guys at Channelship. For those of you that don’t know (the new official explanation), Bloggertone is a business blogging community, a place where business professionals can stand out. You can read the specialists; share opinions and sign up to blog about business!

The site went live on the 23^rd of October 2009 and as it now goes through its first redesign, it feels like a good time to look back and access what I have learned in between.

Identity takes time

I had an idea in my head of what Bloggertone would be before the project got off the ground. In some respects, it now resembles those initial thoughts and in other ways it is completely different. “What Bloggertone is” has changed and is changing. I now realise that this is one definition online community, it is an entity that grows and changes and you as the parent need to support rather than resist. I now realise that it may be some time before Bloggertone acquires it’s grown up persona.

Community means you setting the example

I think most Bloggertoners (what they now like to be called) would agree that the single biggest success of the project so far is the community. It was probably 6-7 wks after the launch that this realisation fully dawned on me. Its easy to talk up community, but to really support a growing community like Bloggertone, you must be prepared to put some work in. You yourself need to become the example of the community member that you are trying to create.

It takes all types

The strengths and levels of involvement differ from member to member. Some people are great bloggers and produce excellent content. Others are wonderful networkers who promote, support and interact effectively - while some members come purely for the advice. The point is that people interact in the way that best suits them, while you might like everyone to do everything; this is not a realistic expectation. A better way is to accept this and find ways to make it easier for members to continue their level of involvement.

Summary:

The strength of any community is down to the people, we are very lucky in that we have great people who have invested themselves in the success of the project. This is really what has set the tone for Bloggertone.

As you can probably tell, I have struggled to find the time to blog on here recently. My intention is to get back to it in the New Year but in the meantime, here are some updates on what’s been happening.

Sales Leadership Ireland: Zero to Here

Our Third SLI event was help last night in the Hampton, again the conversation was excellent led by two wonderful speakers in Vincent Reynolds and Sean Weafer.

Vincent kicked off with a truly insightful presentation - as he took us on a journey into the minds of senior managers. I have undertaken research before meeting with CEOs or CFOs before - but never with the type of perspective that Vincent talked about last night. He recommended that you effectively step inside the world of the senior manager, and that you adjust your thinking and selling - so as to be aware of the opportunities or indeed threats that exist from their points of view. I am not doing his presentation proper justice here, but let’s just say there was a huge amount of learning to be had for those that attended.

Next up was the fantastic Sean Weafer. Sean talked about why people really buy? -they buy feelings. Why USPs are no longer relevant. He demonstrated why proper and expert questioning technique is the most effective way to create points of compelling relevance and how to create win-win situations between buyer and seller. Sean is a wonderful motivator and a fantastic teacher of the craft of selling - but he is also a passionate defender of professional selling and salespeople. He is a true Irish sales leader and we were thrilled to have him.

Bloggertone

Bloggertone continues to go from strength to strength on the back of the wonderful contributions from the bloggers.

A few recent mentions include:

http://www.iia.ie/news/item/1395/bloggertone-brings-together-the-collective-voice-of-business-blogging/

http://www.dubchamber.ie/mn_pressrelease.asp?page=members_news&article=1188

http://www.dceb.ie/news/bloggertone-brings-together-the-collective-voice-of-business-blogging

http://www.dceb.ie/news/50-ways-to-get-more-from-linkedin

http://www.simplyzesty.com/uncategorized/bloggertone-launches/

http://www.connector.ie/2009/11/2009-awards-christmas-connector/

http://blog.iia.ie/2009/get-the-facts-fast/

http://www.scip.org/NewsRoom/PRDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=9007

http://sortmybooks.ie/wordpress/2009/11/19/bloggertone/

http://www.cvsandinterviews.ie/job-hunting-two-great-articles/170/

http://www.codegaconsulting.com/blog/82-bloggertone-launches.html

http://www.cubeonlinemarketing.ie/why-you-should-use-blog-networks/

http://wwwcareerscoacheu.blog.com/2009/10/25/a-new-site-for-irish-businesses-launched/

Here is a link to my articles

It’s been a while since I blogged on here, because for the last while I have devoted nearly all my energies into Bloggertone. It’s been a learning curve for me but one that I have enjoyed and so far so good.

Before I report on the progress made, let me again thank Fred and Facundo from Channelship. The guys are simply awesome professionals and are an absolute pleasure to work with. They come with my highest recommendation.

Bloggertone went live on Friday the 23^rd of October, The countdown to the site launch was held on Twitter with the site going live @ 2pm GMT.

A Right Old #Twineup!

With spirits already high with the success of the launch two inspired ladies @miriamahern and @whatswhat_sian came up with an entirely novel way to celebrate that evening.

Miriam’s explanation:

“It’s just like that - a spontaneous party -don’t need to go anywhere. From the comfort of where-ever you are simply grab your favourite beverage, sit in front of your favourite Twitter client (mine is TweetDeck) and run a search for “#twineup” . Everyone from everywhere is welcome. Join in the conversation and meet some great people”

Congrats and thanks to Miriam & Sian, because it was an absolutely roaring success with #twineup taking over (modestly) part of the Irish twittersphere on Friday night - mentions on radio stations ( think it was 98 FM, but let’s leave stations in plural anyway) soon ensued with many people describing it as the best fun they had on Twitter - well EVER!

So Far So Good

According to Alexa, Bloggertone’s traffic rank for the first 7 days was 154528. In many respects, what was even nicer to see was that people were spending on average over 8 mins on the site visiting over 7 pages. The Social Media buzz was also working with Linkedin, Twitter & Facebook sending lots of visitors.

Many Quality Posts

The quality of the posts has been excellent so far, a few of my personal favourites include:

“Rural Business, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” by Elaine Rogers

“LinkedIn for Jobseekers, Do you Dance” by Paul Mullan

“Competitive intelligence gathering for international markets” by Una Coleman

What’s Up Next?

The PR for the site is just about the start, we wanted to wait until we had something to show people.  An international blogging and social media expert has just joined the Bloggertone gang. Details to follow but I have little doubt that this person will help immensely to make the site a valuable and popular business resource. If you are interested in contributing to Bloggertone and becoming one of our featured bloggers, please apply here.

So all in all a pretty good start then, lots more to do and I may need to get back to the day job soon

I recently passed the 100 post mark on this blog.

To say that I have learnt a lot in between would be an understatement. To say that I have lots more to learn, would require an even bigger understatement.

It has been an enjoyable, frustrating and fascinating experience. I have gained readers; I have gained new customers and best of all I have gained many great new friends.

My posts have resulted in praise, in controversy, and in scorn. Readers have agreed with me strongly and readers have disagreed, with equal amounts of passion.

Perhaps, now is a good time to step back, and evaluate what has a 100+ posts taught me, about blogging and blogging for business.

Lesson Number 1 - Quality always Beats Quantity

With the amount of available information that is out there, you need to stand out from the crowd. To this end, it is always better to focus your efforts on the quality of your posts, rather than the quantity.

People now have a much shorter attention span, so to get them to actually read what you have written - requires that you offer something of real value. Spend enough time constructing each post, giving extra special attention to your headline (eye-catching) and your first paragraph.

Lesson Number 2 – Never Ever Sell

So many business blogs are merely a series or reworded advertisements for the particular business. It’s awful, awful, and awful and gives nothing of real value to the reader. Instead think Give! - give advice, give insight and give resource. Make your blog valuable, in the eyes of your readers.

So instead pose questions, stimulate debate, provide commentary, and invite other experts to write interesting posts. Remember, the more value your blog brings to your readers - the more lightly that these same readers will become your customers.

Lesson Number 3 – Popular won’t always mean Popular.

There can sometimes be a tendency to jump on a particular bandwagon, and post about what everyone else is posting about. While this can be sound strategy for more established bloggers - it is rarely sensible for new bloggers to follow suit. Where possible, try instead to come up with new ideas and new topics - or at least differing angles for your posts.

It’s perfectly OK to be controversial, so long as your opinions are considered, and that you truly believe in what you are saying. Be careful, because once you have committed a point of view to the public domain - you will need to be able to back it up.

Lesson Number 4 – Engage with Your Readers

The very best thing about blogs is that, they allow for you to engage and debate with your readers. If someone takes the time to comment and give their point of view, make sure to respond and thank them.

Don’t just engage with people through your own blog, instead follow them home to their blog and leave a comment. Reading and engaging with others bloggers, not only increases readership of your blog – but is a super super way of generating ideas for new posts. Be sure to credit the other person and invite them to continue to partake in the ongoing discussion.

Lesson Number 5 – Don’t Be Afraid to be Yourself

A big mistake many new business bloggers make is to try and write in a so called “professional manner” It’s much more important to try to be yourself and to let your uniqueness out itself in your writing. If you like a joke, well then - have a joke.

Don’t burden yourself with having to sound, or come across - all professional like. The most important thing is your message, and that you communicate it with language your readers will understand.

So it’s 100+ posts down, and hopefully many more to go.  I could say more, but I will save for it 200+.

Can I take this opportunity to say a BIG thank you, to the readers, to those of you who left such great comments, to those that republished my posts and to anyone from anywhere who ever stopped by.

Warning: By the way, blogging is bloody addictive and I still cant spell LOL.

Published by Niall Devitt @ BtbTraining  

Published by Niall Devitt, Btb Business Training

In part one, we talked about how some business bloggers create posts that resemble a series of reworded ads. This is, in my opinion a misguided S&M approach, which will rarely add anything to the company’s bottom line.

For a business blog to end up adding real value for that business, it has to first add value for potential customers/readers. Then and only then, will these potential customers be motivated enough to contact the business and give you an opportunity to turn them into actual customers. So how can you achieve this?

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Published by Niall Devitt, Btb Business Training

As a relatively new business blogger, I am constantly seeking out advice as to how to improve our blog. One very simple way for me to do this is to surf the net looking at other business blogs, seeing what they do well and sometimes what they don’t. It goes without saying that ultimately a business blog needs to add value to a business or else it is simply not worth doing.

(more…)