Online Voice - Part 3 - Why do people care about your blog?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katie_made_me_do_it/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

(Note: This is the 3rd part of a series I’m writing in preparation for my  Northern Voice talk on “Finding Your Online Voice“.  (1rst & 2nd)

On the survey I sent to bloggers, I also asked:

“Why Do People Care About Your Blog?

What do you think (or have you heard as feedback) that makes people read your blog?

There are many, many blogs around. The fact that a blogs has any audience at all beyond the blogger’s immediate family is often a testament to a blogger’s persistence (sticking around, continuing to blog, and allowing their voice and audience to develop).  Oh, and there’s also that ever important content thing.

The feedback I get is mostly with respect to my Your Dose of Lunacy blog.  People tend to read it because they think it’s funny.  I also hear: because “you find the weirdest things” (some people can walk tightrope, noticing the freaky appears to be my gift).  Another popular response is that they have the same raunchy sense of humour, or taste in inappropriate, but (for obvious reasons) feel they should resist making that aspect of themselves public. So my blog appeals to them.  And is an outlet.

Basically, people read that blog because it’s funny.  If it ceased to be, I would lose my audience.  They go there for amusement.  That’s fine with me because it gels with why I write the blog – fittingly, it’s to amuse.

Here are a few reason the bloggers provided for why people read their blog:

Miranda Lievers Blue Olive Photography	As a business blog we are read by all sorts of clients – past, present, and future along with people in our industry from other photographers to wedding planners and the like. We’re also often surprised to hear that we have a lot of readers who fall into neither category – girls who don’t even have a boyfriend following along with our wedding work because the images themselves resonate with them. Our blog allows people to get to know us as people more than our work on its own ever could, and I love that!
Classifies her blog as: Business
.
Erica Lam The Style Spy	People can relate to our tone of voice, they know there are real girls behind the site, it’s like talking to your girlfriend in person. We cover everyday brands – it’s affordable fashion – most fashion outlets are high-fashion, unattainable. People can relate to us. The inside scoop. People want to read stuff they can’t find elsewhere. So we have many built relationships with brands to ensure we get the best information to share w/our readers.
Classifies her blog as: Style/Fashion/Shopping
.
Monique Trottier So Misguided	The feedback and comments are usually from people who want to thank me for sharing a particular book or insight. They care because they’re interested in the same sorts of books, or they want to share what they find interesting. It’s nice.
Classifies her blog as: Book blog, with a bit of technology, marketing, tap dancing and party tricks
.
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Eagranie Yuh The Well-Tempered Chocolatier	I write about chocolate.I was going to leave it at that, because that’s probably one major reason people read it. Other reasons include the curation factor: that I’m sourcing chocolate and talking about issues so that other people don’t have to look for that information themselves. And also that I present an expert opinion – my background in science and chocolate makes me a credible source.And, the voice thing. People like my voice. I like to think that I make an esoteric topic (artisan chocolate, science) accessible and fun.
Classifies her blog as: Food (specifically chocolate, often science, sometimes pastries/sweets/candy)

<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/katie_made_me_do_it/3768103622/&#8221; title=”I care about you. by _mandrew_, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2628/3768103622_da1ecf7e7c.jpg&#8221; width=”333″ height=”500″ alt=”I care about you.” /></a>

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