When Headway 1.0 was released, it shook up the WordPress premium theme market. Why? Because we gave bloggers what they really wanted: visual control over their blog designs with little-to-no complex coding.

Well, now we can add the word total to that description. You now have total visual control in Headway 1.5, which you can now get as a developer preview (which means you have to have the developer’s license).

For all you non-developers, though, Headway 1.5 is going to be your home for do-it-yourself design. The Layout editor in Headway 1.0 was great, but it was just the start. We know that what bloggers wanted — and what they thought they were getting with other themes, but didn’t — are easy drag & drop and control panel-driven design tools. In other words, bloggers want an easy design environment that’s more like a program than a web page.

Interestingly enough, those same features also make Headway 1.5 the best friend of every advanced WordPress designer on the planet, because the sheer speed with which you can work will plaster a grin on your face. Hardcore coding applications are great (I used Notepad++ myself), but Headway is the Dreamweaver of theme design.

Headway 1.5 is not available just yet, but it will be soon. I’ll be making more videos to show you the cool stuff it does and explain how you will benefit from these features. If you want to try your hand at a developer license now, head over to the Headway Themes site and get yours.

I’m not an affiliate for Headway because I’m a partner. But if you want to earn money as a Headway affiliate, sign up here so that you’re ready to promote 1.5 when it officially releases.

Related posts:

1. Meet Headway: The Next Evolution in WordPress Themes
2. Watch How Easy is the Headway Theme for WordPress
3. Watch Me Fly through Creating my Blog Consulting Page Layout in the Headway WordPress Theme
4. Review of Frugal Premium WordPress Theme
5. Black Friday Discount on Thesis Theme for WordPress for the First 150 People

My advice for surviving big blog conferences? Flow like water. Here’s some of the story of what happened at BlogWorld Expo ‘09 and how I managed it. People mentioned: Grant Griffiths, Naomi Dunford, Christine O’Kelly, and Joel Williams.

Related posts:

1. ProBlogger’s New Blog about Twitter – TwiTip

What are Your Secret Desires?

No, no, not those kind of secret desires. As a business owner, you have daydreams of what success looks like to you. You probably don’t go around talking about these publicly, because they feel private and personal to you. You’d likely be a little embarrassed to lay them bare before others.

Right now, I want you to take a moment to catalog your business success daydreams. I want you to write them down. Seriously, write them down, because there’s an important point to this. I’ll wait while you do.

All done? Okay. Here are some of the ones that were on my list (yes, they’re real, and no, they’re not outrageous):

• $10k a month income
• 10k subscriber and follower counts
• More time to spend with my family
• Never doing work below my pay level
• More time to write fiction and work on other creative projects
• Some kind of workflow and client management system I would actually like that works

Headline Magic

I hope you’re seeing the seeds of great headlines in those. If you were selling something that would help me achieve any or all of the above, would I be interested? Hell, yes, I’d be interested.

The reason why you had to write down your list of “secret desires” is because I wanted you to make them concrete in the form of exact words. Once you have that, it’s easy to start constructing headlines out of them:

• What I Did to Reach $10,000 a Month in Income–Ethically
• How to Grow Your Twitter Followers to Over 10,000 (Without Being a Spammypants)
• The Super Duper Hoo Ha Project System: A Review

Try It and See for Yourself

Try it with your own daydream list. Turn them into exactly the kind of headline that YOU would stop everything for and click on. Take a few minutes to do this. I’ll still be here on your screen until you’re done.

No, really, DO IT.

All done? How was it? Eye-opening? Maybe a little frustrating?

Get Inside Your Clients’ Heads

Now, this next part is going to be really fun: do the same thing, but I want you to envision your clients’ secret desires. Write them down, put them into concrete words. Create at least twenty of them. I’m serious: twenty. Why so many? Because if you go past the point where you normally would have quit, you will surprise yourself and start creating gold (big life lesson, right there, my friends). You have more insights into your clients than you think.

Here’s where the folks who think “everyone” is their customer falter and fail. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: everyone is not your customer. You can’t be all things to all people, you’ll end up being nothing to nobody. Figure out exactly who your customer is, down to the tiniest demographic detail. You only want to appeal to that person. Always write as if you’re writing to only one person. That person. Your perfect customer. Like you’re in a bar with her, having a drink and an important conversation (like how I’m “talking” to you, right now… do you feel it?).

Spinning Dreams Into Gold

I bet you know what comes next: take those secret desires and turn them into headlines. The words for these headlines are already there in your clients’ daydream statements you wrote. You can see from the examples it’s easy to turn them into headlines. Remember that headlines make promises to the reader, and the article text has to deliver on that promise.

If you do this, it’s like taking your customers’ dreams and spinning them into gold for you. What you write will resonate, and you’ll connect with potential clients like never before.

Related posts:

1. I Have Big Hot Burning Desires
2. The Real Secret to Blogging
3. Be Where Your Customers Are
4. The Secret to Success on Twitter is the Same as Blogging
5. Make Your Customer the Hero

This post was inspired from a conversation I had with Chris Brogan at BlogWorld Expo 2009. Chris is so damn productive, I have given him a nickname. Henceforth, he is “The Broganator,” but that is beside the point.

We were standing around in a little circle with a couple other people after a session Chris had paneled, talking about business. Any time we dig a little deeper into our blogs to make them more successful, we’re reminded they have a business end. We’re reminded which end is dog, which end is tail, and which end is supposed to be wagging the other (most people have it exactly backwards in practice).

One Very Important Thing

In order to be successful in business, and market that business successfully via blogging, you have to know one Very Important Thing. You have to know what problem you’re solving. There’s more to it than just that, but let’s leave it at that for now, as an introductory idea.

Most businesses don’t take a problem-solving approach. They take a service-provider approach. How many people you ask say, “I provide design services,” or “I provide consulting services?” Even if the word services doesn’t make an appearance, it’s often assumed.

But when our prospective clients reach a point where they need our services, what has happened in their lives? Often, they’ve suffered a problem that needs fixing. They may not even know what service to search for. All they know is they have a problem. If my stomach hurts, and I want to search online for relief, I’m not going to type “irritable bowel syndrome” into the Google search box, because I don’t know that’s what I have. What do you think I’m going to type in?

Framing the Problem

If you guessed, “stomach pain” or similar, high five yourself (or on second thought, don’t, because to other people that just looks like a weird clap and you’ll get funny looks). Now, if we’re selling a product that relieved stomach pain, our marketing objectives for blog content are clear.

But what if we sell services? Our potential clients still suffer from pain, but it’s more of a situational, logistical, or anxiety-based kind of pain. Our clients don’t necessarily want services. They didn’t wake up today wondering, “Gee, where I can I get me some good career coaching services?” They woke up saying, “Damn, not another Monday! I hate this job! How can I get out of this without putting my family’s well-being in danger?”

They want their problem to go away—preferably with as little involvement as possible on their part.

Google’s Big Mistake

Let me pick on a giant company as an illustration: Google.  Google has created several services which are languishing or riddled with problems based around large-scale user annotation of the web. Google SearchWiki is not even used by people. Google Knol is a ghost town. And Google SideWiki is turning into a huge, sad joke. Why does Google fail so badly with these services?

Because they’re trying to solve a problem nobody has.

When I said that in our after-session conversation at BlogWorld, Brogan immediately lit up and he said he really liked that phrase (Chris: steal it, use it). That’s the connection between BlogWorld and this post.

Think about your own business, your own blog. Are you having difficulty attracting qualified traffic that converts? Could be you’re not solving anyone’s problem.

“But wait a minute,” I hear you say (yes, I really heard that), “I do solve a particular problem! I solve ___________.” That’s good if you know that. But if your business blog marketing still isn’t pulling like you want, there’s a likely reason for that. It’s because even though you know what problem you’re solving for your clients, your blog isn’t doing a good job of communicating that. Go back and look at your posts from the fresh perspective of a complete stranger: do you see more than one post where the problem you solve is clearly stated in headlines and post content? Yes, you have to be that blatant, that direct about it.

Your First Step

Your first step in the right direction is to forget about labeling yourself as a service provider, and begin calling yourself a problem solver. And yeah, the observant among you will notice I’m not doing that here on my own blog. I’m sharing this with you before I implement it myself (because it’s that important). I’ve been telling this to my blog consulting clients and blog coaching groupsas well, for months (they have a head start on you, and they also have my specific guidance for their individual businesses and blogs).

We’re not service-providers. We’re problem-solvers. But, more than that, we want to be sure we’re solving the problem our clients believe they have. Let’s make sure we’re not making the same mistake as Google. Don’t try to solve a problem no one has. You and I don’t have Google’s vast resources to create and then discard such costly projects.

By the way, as I hinted at above, there is something beyond problem solving. That’ll be the next post. Stay tuned.

Your Thoughts

Have you been thinking of yourself as a service provider? If you had to write down what problem you solve, what would that look like? Leave a comment below and let me know. Help each other refine your “problem statements.”

Related posts:

1. How to Choose a Blogging Service or Software
2. How to Be a Godsend
3. Your Questions Answered – Should You Use a Video Service or Host Your Own Videos?
4. Should You Use a Directory Submission Service?
5. Thanks for the Crappy Service, Easyhost

Me and The Broganater.

Me and Derek Halpern of Prevential.

Proof that the A-listers are, in fact, demonspawn. Sonia Simone, Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, and Chris Brogan.

Me and Shama Hyder.

More later! I’m squeezing these in between various sessions and conversations. If you’re serious about blogging in general and specifically monetizing a blog or business blogging, you need to come to this event (any event, really). The difference when meeting people face-to-face is HUGE. Networking matters, face time matters, shaking hands and giving hugs matters.

Related posts:

1. Photos from Blog World Expo 2009
2. 2009 – A New Hope (You Can Do It)
3. Are You Using Your Power to Influence Your Readers?
4. Are You Ready to Get Serious with Your Blog for 2009? Learn WordPress SEO

Me and Sean Platt of Writer Dad, Collective Inkwell, and Ghostwriter Dad.

Me and Darren Rowse, who needs no introduction.

Me and my business partner, Grant Griffiths. Together, we do Headway Themes and the forthcoming 56k Media.

Me and Chris Garrett, whom I met for the first time at SobCon ‘08.

Related posts:

1. More Photos from BlogWorld Expo 2009
2. Are You Ready to Get Serious with Your Blog for 2009? Learn WordPress SEO
3. 2009 – A New Hope (You Can Do It)

Business blogs are often described as a way to reach customers, but it’s not true. Blogging does not help your business reach new customers.

It is the exact opposite which is true.

A business blog is a way for your customers reach you.

This is much more than a clever switching around of words. We have an entirely different dynamic at work, here. Understanding this dynamic makes a significant difference in how business owners understand the online customer acquisition process, set their marketing goals, and create the objectives to reach those goals. These must happen in order to attract customers, engage them, sell to them, and keep them.

“How do I reach customers with my blog?” is not the right question. Instead, ask, “How do I make my blog easy for customers to reach?

This leads us backwards to a preceding question: How are my customers looking for me, now?

And so the fun begins!

Your customers aren’t looking for you, precisely. They don’t know you exist, yet. They don’t know your name or your brand. All they know is they have a need or a problem, and they want answers. They’re looking for information to help them make a decision. They’re looking for trustworthy, authoritative information.

How do you make your blog the most attractive, most easily found “answer?” I’ve identified two major strategies:

• Be everywhere your customers are, so they have a greater chance of running into you.
• Have the most trusted, authoritative answers to their biggest questions.

How do we make these things happen?

Be Everywhere Your Customers Are

Being everywhere your customers are gives them a greater chance of running into you. You have to know where your customers are so you can get in front of them. This means you have to use tools like search engine optimization (SEO), guest posting, social media, advertising, and live networking events.

• Search Engines: Your customers almost surely find services via  search. Hardly anybody uses the Yellow Pages, anymore. That means you want to appear as high as possible in search engine results (#1 is good ). You want your blog’s SEO to be so good, you dominate search for the important keywords (search terms), and lock out your competitors.
• Online Advertising: If you can’t rank organically (natural results which are not sponsored) in search high enough and fast enough, you can engage in online advertising through Google AdWords, Microsoft AdCenter, StumbleUpon advertising, Facebook ads, or banner ads. Running ads on the search engines themselves is called search engine marketing (SEM).
• Customer Communities: If your customers read certain other blogs, then regularly commenting on and writing guest posts for those blogs would be a good idea. If your customers use a certain social network, then you should, too — even if you wouldn’t use that tool personally. For example, if your customers are on Facebook, you need to be on Facebook. If your customers are in a niche social networking site for the niche you serve, you want to be there, too. If your customers are found online in certain forums, you want to be in those forums, too.
• Live Events: Where you customers gather for live events, such as conventions, conferences, trade shows, expos, and the like, you want to be there, too. And not just as an attendee, but as a sponsor or at least an exhibitor.

Bottom line, if you know where your customers are (online or off) and you have the message they really want to hear, they’ll respond.

Have the Authoritative Answers Your Customers Trust

Being in the right places is the first step, but what do you say?

To have the most trusted, authoritative answer to the “big problem” questions your customers have, you have to know what those questions are. You also have to know exactly how your business is the answer to their questions. In other words, you have to be crystal clear whom you serve, and what problem of theirs you solve.

How can your customers reach you, if you don’t know exactly who you are to them, or what your offer is? You’re invisible to them until you figure this out. Once you have this, work it into your blog posts (SEO & content strategy), search engine marketing (SEM, or, Google AdWords), and social media activities. Your customers will seem to find you as if by magic. If you sell physical products via ecommerce, this may not seem as much of a big deal, but I believe any business can refine its approach here and improve greatly.

When customers feel that you have gotten inside their heads and you understand exactly what their fears and fantasies are, they will believe you have the solutions to dispel those fears and make those fantasies come true. Fantasy may seem like an odd word, but it fits. What sort of “mind movies” of success play in your customers’ heads? Those are fantasies you can tap into. You must tap into that if you’re to show you really understand them.

For example, if you’re a business process consultant, people hire you because they have a fantasy of having their business run like a well-oiled machine, practically on autopilot, while they’re freed up to spend more time with their kids and family (and count their money). If you’re a web designer, your clients have a fantasy of showing their customers a website that impresses and gets sales.

If you focus your blog content in this way, while your competition is doing the usual blog navel-gazing or superficial “customer outreach” kind of crap, your blog will stand out like a beacon in a dark storm. Your authority will be self-evident, and trust follows closely behind.

These kinds of fears and fantasies tie closely with the content strategy I outlined in Unstick a Stuck Business Blog with This One Amazing Tip.

The Specifics Are Up to You

It might seem at first glance that I’m giving away the farm, here, but I’m not. Although this article is much more specific on how to attract customers to a blog than anything else you’ll find online, the specifics are still up to you. I understand that can be a challenge. That’s where people have their blind spots. And of course, subjects like SEO or online advertising are too big to get anything but a brief mention here. By necessity, this is where the “free line” must be drawn. This is the dividing line between the free content on the blog and what I charge for as a blog consultant.

I’m all for it if you can take the information in this post and figure out the specifics for your blog, your industry yourself. If you need a hand with that, that’s what I’m here for, what I do. Assistance comes in two flavors: one-on-one blog consulting and group blog coaching. You’re warmly invited to get in touch, let me show you how you can attract customers to your business through your blog.

Related posts:

1. 7 Ways Your Website Can Help Your Business, Part 4: Attract More Customers through Search and Internet Advertising
2. 4 Power Questions for Killer Business Blog Posts that Grow Your Business
3. Be Where Your Customers Are
4. How to Start a Business Blog, Part 1
5. 25 Reasons Why Your Business Blog Sucks

Group Blog Coaching Now Available

UPDATE: Sorry, SOLD OUT!

The reason why this is already partly sold out even though this is the first I’ve posted about it is because there was a wait list, and naturally, they got first dibs. The response was so immediate and strong for the last group, it kind of floored me. As I’ve been putting the first blog coaching group of 10 brave souls through its paces, I realized that I could easily take on a larger group than just 10. So I’ve expanded the enrollment to a crew of 20, and 6 of those slots are already filled immediately from the wait list.

If you missed the first round completely (like, say, you’re new here), I’ve started coaching groups via conference calls in addition to my normal one-on-one blog coaching. It’s less of an investment to be part of a coaching group than to have me all to yourself. The first group isn’t finished, yet, but I think we can declare victory and say these folks are getting a rip-roarin’ “blog-u-ma-cation” (yeah, I just said that).

What’s New for Round Two

• Format: Each call will begin with a specific discussion topic and after that I’ll take your questions (any questions, and I will hold nothing back in my answers).
• Duration: Each call will go for an hour to two hours, depending on questions. Just so the first group doesn’t feel mistreated (Hi, guys!) I’m using this format with them, now, too (previously it was just all Q & A).
• Support Materials & Resources: Before the calls, everyone will receive a worksheet by email. The worksheet will have written info on it, any relevant links,  plus a checklist so you can make sure you get it done. By the time all the sessions have run, you’ll have a nice collection of very helpful documents and checklists you can use to increase traffic, participation, and conversions on your blog.

Can’t Make the Live Calls? That’s Cool.

Everyone gets the recordings of the calls. Even if you can’t attend a call live, you can always submit questions in advance and download the call to listen to at your convenience.

*This, in fact, is one of the reasons why I can now accept 20 participants easily: not everyone shows up for the live call. Some can’t make it or just don’t want to participate live (hey, fine, see if I care, it’s not like, you know, that hurts my FEELINGS or anything).

So this all works out great for everyone. Except for the part where my feelings get kicked like a dog by people skipping class. But hey, it’s not like I’m obsessively keeping track of that in a spreadsheet or anything.

When

The first group coaching session in this next round will be October 21 at 3PM Eastern.

I haven’t set the dates and times for calls yet beyond the first one, because once I have a full roster, I’ll poll the group on best times and take it from there. Generally, though, each call will be 2 weeks after the previous.

What

Here’s a quick outline of the call topics:

1. How to pick the best topic for your blog (or improve your current blog’s focus)
2. How to write blog posts that knock it out of the park every time (what to write about and how often to write)
3. How to grow traffic for your blog fast
4. How to increase reader engagement with your content
5. How to get more subscribers
6. How to turn your blog into a profitable business

That Thing Everyone Wants to Know First but which We Always Save for Last

Pricing for the first coaching group was a steal. One of the participants in the first group, Kelly McCausey, actually wrote me an email and said she felt like she was stealing from me–so I sent her an invoice for more money. I mean, come on, I wasn’t going to let her suffer with all that horrible guilt.

After this “Crazy Eddy”  introductory price of $97, I was supposed to double it.

True. I said that I would double it, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do… but…  not just yet.

You can have this for only a little more than it was for the first group: $149. There will be only 20  spots available (the first group only had 10 spots in it, but now I feel I can help more people while ensuring the quality of the experience).

By the way, I didn’t really send an invoice to Kelly for more money. But you already knew that.

This is going to be 3 solid months of coaching calls while we kick your blog into high gear: 2 calls a month (plus some great bonuses and stuff the first group didn’t get). All for $149. If you missed the first one, you don’t want to miss this one. And I promise the next one WILL be a greater investment.

Why the Price is Still So Low

Why am I still not charging the full value I know I could? Because this is only the second coaching group. I have learned a lot from the first one, and I’m making BIG improvements to the second one based on that experience. Coaching groups is not the same as coaching individuals, which I’ve been doing for years and have down pat (not that I haven’t stopped learning, mind you, but I’m more used to it). I will gain plenty of valuable insights during this second group, and use those insights to improve the third round of the program.

You know, bigger, better, that sort of thing.

The third time’s the charm, as they say. Group number 3 will get an even more improved program, but they’ll also face a more normal market-value price. When you look at what coaching programs go for, nowadays–anywhere from $500 to over $2,000 A MONTH–I think you will not doubt me when I say my goal here is to provide you with massive value.

What Current Participants Are Saying

I asked the current crew to send me their thoughts on the program so far, and here’s what they had to say:

Some of the technical details of setting up a blog were difficult to track down and figure out. A lot of people talk about how easy it is, but it can still be intimidating for a Word Press beginner.

The other major issue that I have is writing great titles and compelling content. I may not be the best, but I have improved quite a bit using Michael’s tips and tricks!

Michael helped me to understand how to get up and running with a site that looks great. I now understand how important it is to plan things before you build your blog, instead of winging it, and having to fix things later.

His personal, patient approach made me feel right at home, no matter if we were discussing simple or very complicated issues.

His coaching is invaluable to me, and I have already signed up for the next round.

~Steve Kennedy, Social Media Consultant

I did not havea clue. At all.

It’s taught me so much I wouldn’t know where to begin. First, it taught me a whole new way to think—to think not “like an expert,” but like my customers, and speak (write) in ways that connect with them. It taught me all the basics of blog marketing; the real dirt on how it works and exactly how to leverage my business within it. It taught me how to prioritize tasks for a powerful blog and execute them. It taught me how easy (and cool and fun) SEO can be. I could go on and on. Also, Michael is a truly good, kind, decent man of real integrity and the man is scary smart when it comes to blog marketing—a friggin’ giant. I recommend him to everyone I know who even MIGHT blog someday.

~Mark Powell, Business Owner

I was getting a new blog started from scratch and needed expert advice on just about everything.

I loved getting specific answers to my questions. Being able to listen to the recordings from the sessions I haven’t been able to attend has been very helpful. Specific areas I have found helpful(so far) are keywords, permalinks, headlines, categories, and the overall focus of the blog.

~Kim Wood, Business Owner

The Catch

What’s the catch? Well, because I’m still making tweaks to the (greatly improved) program, I don’t feel right about offering it now at the investment level it will eventually be. Have no doubt that as the program is perfected the price will match it.

But this means it’s very good to be you, right now. You get in on the ground floor of something good. You get the kind of help you either never could afford otherwise, or that you’re simply thrilled to have at this price point.

Well, I guess that’s not really much of a catch, is it? Okay, here’s the real catch: you all have to send me homemade chocolate chip cookies. There, now you can say “I knew there had to be a catch!” and shake your fist angrily at the sky and all that.

Oh, and by the way: semi-sweet chocolate chips, please, not those grody milk chocolate ones.

To join the group, click the big golden button below:

SORRY, SOLD OUT!

I look forward to speaking with you and giving you the best help I possibly can to make your blog a success!

And eating all those cookies.*

Michael

*The cookies thing is a joke. Please send tropical fish instead, as I am trying to build an aquarium.

Related posts:

1. New! Remarkablogger Group Blog Coaching
2. What’s the Difference between Blog Coaching and Blog Consulting?
3. How to Jump-Start Your Coaching Business with Your Blog
4. Blawging Lawyers Opens its Doors

Hey, it happens.

You start a blog to market your business and at first, all seems well: you crank out a couple posts a week and you manage not to sound too sales-y or full of yourself.

But then the idea machine stops working. Now what?

Or how about this? You’ve been humming along nicely, but your traffic (and your sales) just aren’t growing.

Or this: all your commentors aren’t potential customers at all, but peers. They do what you do.

This is not a problem you can fix with enthusiasm or more posts or more social media presence. These problems occur not because you haven’t got the motions down right, but because the motivation and the motives aren’t right.

To get your head back on straight and get your business blog pulling in hot prospects once again, try this one simple tip.

Write About Your Approach to the Problem You Solve for Your Customers By Telling a Customer Success Story

• Recount how a customer of yours had the problem you solve. Describe it in gory detail so that the prospects who read the post will identify with it so totally they’ll wonder how you snuck inside their heads and stole their thoughts.
• Then paint a glorious picture of that customer’s current success being free of the problem and what benefits that customer of yours is now enjoying as a result of being free from the problem.
• Describe how you solved this problem for the customer by walking through your process if you sell services.
• Describe how your customer solved the problem for themselves by using your product if you sell products.
• Talk about how glad you are that this customer is free of the problem but that you know there are many more people out there with the same problem who don’t realize a solution exists, yet.
• Say that if you (address the reader) knows anyone who wants to be rid of this problem, to send them your way, and provide a link to the contact page.
• KEEP DOING THIS. Write a post like this once a week if you can. Create a category for them called Customer Success Stories. After you build up a catalog of these stories, make the link to that category page prominent on your blog. Treat it like a feature.

The above doesn’t work if you’re trying to be all things to all people, so SPECIALIZE. Choose what problem you’re the solution for and stick with it. It’s highly likely your blog lacks focus because your business lacks focus.

Why This Tactic Works Like Crazy

Why does this tactic work so well? Several reasons:

• You get to sneak in your sales pitch disguised as a story about the customer in a way that doesn’t seem sales-y in the least.
• You can always write about the problem you solve for your customers. The problem never changes, but it keeps happening to new people, so you always have new posts to write. You just can’t run out of material or get writer’s block.
• Your prospect can now easily imagine being in your customer’s place and having those benefits. That gets you closer to a sale.
• You’re engaging in accurate blog SEO without even trying. How? To tell these stories correctly, you will practically have to use the keywords used by your prospects when they search on their problem (people search more on their problems than they search on solutions—because they don’t know what the solutions are, yet!). In fact, if you really want to nail this part, here’s a bonus tip: interview the customer and record it and have it transcribed. That way, you’re using your customer’s exact words, which will likely contain keywords.
• This post has no appeal to your peers, because they probably don’t have the problem and they’ll never be a customer anyway. If you keep writing about stuff that only matters to your customers instead of your peers, your blog will not have comments made by your competitors for your prospects to see and wonder about.

So if you’re feeling a bit stuck in your business blog, remember to make it about the customer, not you. The one simple tip I’ve shared with you here isn’t as easy as it seems if your business lacks focus. Any good business coach will tell you that specializing and narrowing your focus will make you more money. It may not have occurred to them there was an SEO benefit to this, but that’s how I think, so you get more than one angle on this problem.

Just try it: do one post like this a week if you can. If you need to talk to your existing customers to make this happen, then do it. You should be talking to them, anyway, right?

Good luck and let me hear your success stories with this tactic in the comments.

Related posts:

1. 4 Power Questions for Killer Business Blog Posts that Grow Your Business
2. The 10 Types of Business Blog Posts
3. Why Business Blogging?
4. Make Your Customer the Hero
5. Attract Customers Like Magic to Your Business Blog

Content Is King Of…

…NOTHING, if it cannot be found. If you think that all you have to do is simply “write good content” and you will rank high in search, you are being naïve. Sorry to be so bald (ha ha) about it, but I’m not really doing you a service by pretending otherwise just so you’ll not suffer any angst over your lack of writing and optimization skills.

You Don’t Have To Like It, But…

…I didn’t make the rules. I’m just the guy trying to help you understand them so that you know when to follow them, bend them, or even break them. There are rules to this—it’s not just a matter of my opinion.

You’ve been lied to in a big way. This whole “content vs. SEO” battle is not the real fight, as you’ll see in the video.

Google is the rule maker. Ignore them at your peril. Watch the video to discover what the true relationship is between content and blog seo.

You know who says SEO works? People who have high rankings and benefit from them.

You know who says SEO is bullshit? Mostly (but not always, so note that qualifier before you flame me in the comments) people who have pitiful traffic and who make no money, and who are looking for a scapegoat. For the record, I don’t count Johnny B. among that group.

In other words, if someone isn’t doing well, don’t listen to them. Seriously. I mean, if they’re not already successful, what the hell do they know? At the very least, their credibility is suspect.

And Credibility Counts When Giving Advice

Here’s my credibility:

Now, let me pose a question: have I sacrificed the quality of my content on Remarkablogger in the name of SEO?

Not in the least, of course.

But… if I wasn’t relentlessly gunning after a top ranking by employing SEO, do you believe I would rank number one?

I doubt very much that I would. But I do, and that’s because there’s a way around this whole “content vs. SEO” question in the first  place.

Do Not Let Yourself Be Held Prisoner

You’re running a business, trying to make it in a cutthroat marketplace. I know how that is, because that’s what I’m doing, too. Part of the reason why I’m succeeding is because I understand how “content vs. SEO” is a false dichotomy. And I want to help you succeed, so I don’t want your thinking to be held prisoner by this false dichotomy.

Watch the video for what I believe is a more helpful way to think about content and SEO, and let me know what you think in the comments or in a post of your own.

Related posts:

1. Create Sellable Content the Easy Way by Repurposing Blog Content
2. WordPress SEO Techniques to Avoid Duplicate Content
3. Process as Content