Angela’s Note: Diane Corriette is a Personal Growth Coach who found the joys of the internet in 2005 and now supports mothers looking to build an online business. She also provides freelance support as Membership Manager of Blog Success http://www.todiane.com.
I have learnt a powerful lesson in life, if I hear something more than twice I need to pay attention.
In one week three people mentioned that I sounded just like my blog – or was it that my blog sounded just like me!
I waited for my mastermind group to meet and I asked them what they enjoy most about reading my blog (big assumption thinking they even read it but I got lucky!) – by the end of the discussion I had learnt something very powerful that I would like to share with you.
Blogging isn’t just about writing reviews and promoting products. It isn’t just about new clients and being search engine optimized so Google loves me – while those things are important I understood that my blog had a voice, it had a soul – it came from me and no one could replicate it. In a world wide web of millions of blogs I really was unique.
But enough about me……Let’s talk about you 🙂 Are you familiar with the voice of your blog? Are you informal and chatty or do you need to remain professional and authoritative? It may take you a while to find your voice but it is a journey worth exploring; here are 5 ways you can help yourself along that journey:
Follow your passion
It is the only way, when you have passion for your blog it comes out in your words. Stick to what you love and finding your voice becomes easier.
Write for your readers
Remember that your readers are real people. Don’t see them as the “target market” but write as if you are talking to a friend.
Know who your readers are
If you have no idea who you are writing for then you will have no idea what to write. Blogging becomes a chore when you can’t pinpoint who it is you want to help.
Always be you
Don’t make up a persona or lie about who you are unless you are ready to keep up that lie for a very long time! It is so much easier just to blog as you.
Never stop searching
If you are not sure about the voice of your blog don’t panic, this is a race with no end. Just keep blogging and you will find it happens quite naturally
When someone hits your blog they are looking for information initially but as they read they are then looking to connect with you. They may want to know your opinion on a particular product, or what you think about the latest celeb gossip – they want to find a person to connect with and as a blogger that is exactly what you can offer. The real you, the voice behind you, the soul that is you that flows out from your blog.
Exercise:
Which blogs do you read and love? What about them do you love? When you can figure that out you will be able to get some idea of the kind of writing style you may enjoy providing for your readers. Always remember your voice may change the more you blog so who you are as a blogger now and who you are 12 months from now may be totally different.
If you are struggling to find your voice leave a comment below and I will take a look at your blog and see if I can help you out.
Read Ten Habits Day Seven to learn about developing trust with your readership community, or learn more about finding your unique voice from Jessica Smith.
This is a great exercise. Voice is something I find really hard to following when writing for numerous publications. Thanks!
I would love for you to look at my blog and make as many comments and suggestions as you’d like. I am starting to feel like I’m finally finding our voice but are not quite there yet.
Questions I’d have for you would include:
1. Based on my comments to the previous 5 habits in this series, and the “Purpose” described on the blog, as the reader do you feel I am providing the information I’ve promised? Keeping in mind it’s a work in progress. I’m expanding the topics as I have resources.
2. Are the posts informative/interesting/fun to read (whichever is appropriate for the topic).
3. Are they written well? Too formal? Not formal enough?
4. We just finished doing major work on the navigation within the site. Do you find it easy to find any information you are looking for?
5. Is this a site you would recommend to someone? Why and/or why not?
And I would appreciate any other suggestions you can offer up.
Email is: makeadiff21@gmail[dot]com
Thank you for offering to help!
This is an area where I have a bit of trouble. I’m used to writing in the third person and really have to remind myself that writing in the first person or second person is okay for my blog and especially for my newsletter. For me, it’s hard to find a good balance between sounding open and friendly and still sounding authoritative. Definitely still a work in progress. For some reason, I find that it’s easier to sound less formal when I write my newsletter than when writing my blog.
@Ginny
I love your energy! You want me to go through all of that in a blog comment… LOL
I will focus on “your voice” as this is what Angela asked me to focus on…
I love your blog name and you are definitely living up to your promise. Your blog says it is about everyday life and that is exactly what the content contains.
Your voice is informal, friendly, like you are talking to a friend and your writing style is wonderfully simply – everything a personal blog needs to be successful.
This made me laugh
“Yes, we filtered water for no fish for five years. Read on. It gets better.”
You are doing great and your voice is very strong and VERY focused.
@Lorie
Lorie you are a professional, an expert in pet health care. A veterinarian on the diseases of dogs and cats. People won’t hit your blog expecting to hear about what your friend bought in the January sales!
You are on target and perfect. An authority on a very important and very serious subject. People are expecting you to help them – their pet is ill and they are hoping your blog has the answer or at least some way to discover what the answer might be.
Your question and answer blog post is great
“How do I know if my cat has feline leukemia?” This is one of the most common questions cat owners ask me in my veterinary practice.”
Keep asking your readers for questions that they want you to answer and you will never have to worry about coming up with blog content again!
If you can stand to think about video that might help – it must be frightening looking for information to help a sick pet so maybe your wonderful face on video reassuring people will make a difference to you appearing more “real” if that is your concern regarding your content. Also if your voice is calm and reassuring it will help to calm them down in they are in a panic.
I personally think your voice is very strong. It says authority, expert and someone who can help me with my problem. Perfect!
Thank you both for replying and I hope that helps
Diane
@Moe – I write across many sites and venues as well. I think that remembering your VOICE is unique, even when the STYLE changes, helped me a lot. Diane has a lot of great information about mindset that I have found so helpful this past year. 🙂
@Ginny and @Lorie – I think Diane’s comments back to you are spot-on. 🙂 Lorie you KNOW how I appreciated your help on the phone last year when I had my emergency with Jasmine. (Twitter saves a dog!) Ginny, I can look at your blog more in-depth next week. I get one day to catch up and pack away Christmas before I leave home to babysit my younger siblings. Lol! Busy, busy!
@Diane – Thanks so much for jumping in while I was gone yesterday! I appreciate you so much. 🙂
Thanks, Diane. Ya. Sorry. In case you hadn’t noticed I’m slightly ADHD. Wasn’t sure if all of what I asked fell into the category of my ‘voice.’ So I just threw it all in there. Thanks for your time and for you patience! Thanks mostly for your encouragement. It’s needed and appreciated.
Dianne, thank you for your comments. You made me feel much more secure about my “voice”. I like the idea of video. Actually, I’ve thought about doing it a few times in the past, but haven’t actually taken the time to figure out the technical part. But I’m going to put that on my to-do list and add it to my goals. Thank you again for the great advice and for the thought-provoking post.
Angela, I’m glad I was able to help and that everything worked out well. Glad to hear Jasmine is doing well. I wouldn’t wish an emergency like you had with Jasmine on anyone, but it really gives me a sense of satisfaction when I’m able help. That’s really the most important reason that I’m here doing this 🙂
And thank you for doing this blogging series. I’ve learned a lot over the past few days and it’s really given me some things to think about and helped me solidify where I’m going with my blog and with my writing in general. Keep up the good work! I’m looking forward to the next few days.
Diana,
This is great advice. The only thing separating one blog from another is the personality behind the blog. All of the big blogging sites that I read have their own personality.
Leo at “Zen Habits”
Mark Sisson at “Mark’s Daily Apple”
Tim Ferris at “4 hour Work Week”
Steve Pavlina’s site
To me it is about the person. They are the ones filtering the massive info in their niche into a custom package that is unique to them.
You are your “Unique Selling Proposition”…everything else can be duplicated.
Great post! I agree 100%
-Rusty
And Rusty is a great example of a blogger who is active in a very competitive niche. On a forum we both frequent he made the comment that it was HARD to find a blog that was well-written and personal at the same time. Informative but approachable. When you are that kind of blogger, it doesn’t matter if there are a million other sites out there – readers will find you and appreciate you for being you.
Somehow I missed day 6, and I could really use the message here. I do think I have a stong voice, but a very weak focus. I want to blog about things that come up as I research my articles and then link back to my Suite articles. I’d like to share all the helpful little tidbits that just don’t fit and add a little content. Like Angela said she experienced, the result is a jumbled mess! And it’s hard to keep the blog current if I am not writing a lot.
The problem is I have a very defined area that I am comfortable blogging about, or more to the point, what I’m not comfortable blogging about! I don’t want to share annecdotes about my kids or stories that make my husband looks foolish. I would be comfortable blogging about the contrarian life I lead but that would sort of mean completeing changing the blog entirely, maybe even coming up with a new name!
I think perhaps my blog is doomed!
Lol! Not doomed. Just in need of some pruning and redirection. Like an overgrown fruit tree that has been a little neglected, it will take some doing to work it back into shape, but you can! Sit down and figure out your plan for your blog. It doesn’t have to be a super-personal-mommy-blog just because you are a mother.
This blog isn’t – I rarely mention my children at all on this site except that I have some. 🙂 But it still has a voice and a strength. Took me awhile to morph it into what it is though. I started out just putting everything and anything up here – readers responded most to my writing posts, so that’s what I have focused on now.
What I would do is this – sit down and figure out what you want your blog to BE. I have one that I only write on to promote my Suite101 gardening articles. That’s it. I still make more than enough from adsense on the site (plus any clicks from traffic to Suite101) that the site pays for itself and is worth messing around with a little bit. If that’s what you want this blog to be – make it so. Just post an “About” post letting people know what direction you will be taking and then go that way. It can still have a voice. It can still have a passion. It can still have a value. Without kid stories and husband goof ups.
Use your additional content as you discussed – just learn to space it out better. Don’t think you can ONLY post when you have something more to say about the article that is going live that week. Go back to older pieces. Pull up seasonal articles. If you post three articles on Suite101, set your blog posts about those articles so that you are posted only two per week and then you’ll be scheduled out in advance. Change up the titles so that your blog posts have similar BUT DIFFERENT titles from your Suite101 articles and you’ll be even more likely to capture a wider variety of Google-searches. 🙂 All with you, your beautiful and more informative tone of voice. There’s nothing in the world wrong with having a voice that is more informative vs chitty-chatty. Nothing whatsoever. Promise. *crosses heart*
Rethink. Plan a direction. Prune. Begin again.
I have no direction. That is a huge struggle for me. I thought I was all good with what I am doing, and know I realize as I am going through these #10Habits that I am not. I have one blog that is really just about my family, and one blog that is all other things..kind of a mismash. i have gotten a good response when I actually take the time to write…but I didn’t even pay attention to that until now. Go figure. I’d love it if you could check out my blogs. Any feedback would be great!
http://www.thebudgebunch.com
http://www.cherylbudge.com
Cheryl
If you have no direction then that is a great place to start!
I love your budge bunch blog as an excellent example of a personal mommy blog with potential!
Most people are really looking to connecting when they read blogs and it is easy to do with budgebunch. I wish I could write like you – I can’t seem to get out of teacher mode LOL
Cherylbudge could do with a little focus and why not leave it for a bit and keep blogging – sometimes your focus comes from being unfocused (if that makes sense!)
I am assuming of course you are blogging for fun. If you are blogging for an income then your second blog will need focus but your first one is great for attracting mothers!
You ARE good with what you are doing. A little more focus or direction won’t hurt but that doesn’t make you bad!
Between wordless wednesday (classic) and monday mingle I think you are on to a definite winner – all it needs now is more blogging and some time.
With blogging everything is about giving it time!
Learn about building links to your blog and guest posting and that will help you take the next step up
Hope that helps
Diane
PS Angela – no prob 🙂
I did put in my post I would take a look so happy to help out but as I have done a few now I will leave any more to you.