The blogs that most readers will say they enjoy most are the ones that they get to learn about the blogger behind the site. When you first start a blog, it can be quite tempting to write as if you were writing an essay, or worse, in the style of a more popular blogger. But how can you let your amazingness show through?
First, and probably most importantly for bloggers, you need to allow your writing to be yours. Write as if you were writing an email to a friend (although keep an eye on that spelling!) – you wouldn’t just cut and paste half a press release and put that in your email without writing something around it to explain why you were pasting that in! Writing in a friendly tone rather than just a factual one will help people to remember your blog.
You could also insert little pieces of information from your life to make your blog more personalised – but this is something that only you (and perhaps your family) can decide what is and isn’t appropriate. Some of the most memorable blog posts we’ve seen recently have talked about the bloggers opinion on the Scottish Referendum – although a lot of bloggers tend to shy away from politics online, this was something that went beyond the political parties. If your job is an interesting one, or isn’t the typical 9-5, perhaps talk about that in some posts – you never know who you might be helping there! Remember to be careful about the information that you do give out though – unfortunately, not everyone who can read your blog is going to have the best intentions for you. (While you’re considering this point, why not have a look at your domain information to make sure your home address isn’t publically available too)
Photography is a really good way to show off your personality as well. The current trend for blog photos is to use candles or flowers as props – they look awesome, but are you really a candles and flowers kind of person? Anyone can use these things, but do they have your duvet or jewellery or those little bits and bobs that could be used in the background of an image? Could you keep to a specific sort of colour palette? Make your photography instantly recognisable as yours – a good example of this is Becky from Milk Bubble Tea – her photography is pretty recognisable no matter what the actual content is.
Consistency is another way to reitereate what your personality is like. This isn’t just about blogging every other day (although that can be important!) but also being consistent in the topics that you cover, or whether you have any regular blog features on the go. Creating a plan and sticking to it will help readers remember your blog and keep coming back to it.
Finally – be yourself and be polite. Sounds obvious considering the rest of the points? Even if you try to fake a certain personality online, it will all come out eventually – there’s no point in trying to hide it!
What tips do you have to share to show your personality?
Hell yeah! Be yourself. Your personality is what makes you shine and if you can channel it through your writing then you’ll stand out.
I really like the idea of a colour palette with photographs. There’s definitely a degree of inconsistency with my blog as my sister prefers different colours than me… if it was up to me, they would all be in my fav Afterlight filter!! haha.
I like to add little snippets of my life I have mentioned how I work odd times that I have a partner and step son but most importantly I just keep my writing a bit jokey but informative I like to imagine I am talking to my best friend!
http://www.allthingskerri.blogspot.co.uk/