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
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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
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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>

Online Voice – Part 2 – Advice from bloggers on finding your voice

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

As I mentioned in the last post, I’m presently work on my Northern Voice talk that deals with “Finding Your Online Voice“.  This post is the 2nd in the series. (The first is here.)

I asked a few bloggers I knew to fill out a short survey.  One of the questions was:

“Did you have any difficulty finding your online voice? If so, how did you discover it?  Do you have any tips on that for new bloggers?”

(Yes, these are three separate questions I asked as one.  This made the form look shorter and hence. more likely to be filled in, and I apologize to no one for that! No one!)

Here are some of the astute responses:

Kimli Welsh Delicious Juice Dot Com	Tips for new bloggers? Be real. Start small. While you don’t have to share as much as I do, you should share SOMETHING – a thought, an opinion, a story. Stick to the blogging rules: no one cares what you had for lunch. Don’t force anything; let it come naturally. Did I mention being real? Please be real. Give people a chance to know YOU, not a false image.
Classifies her blog as: highly personal, leaning toward comedic (I hope) – I share information about my day-to-day life on a daily basis.
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Kim Werker Kim Werker	I find it easy to write, and when I first started blogging (on a different blog), I had no trouble being the voice of the website I was writing for. When I finally started *my* blog, I found the transition to be a little awkward. I felt like I had to be the “professional” me, since I was the person behind some fairly prominent publications in the crafts industry. So I was writing about stuff not related to crafts, but I felt the need to be my professional persona. I didn’t want to rock the boat or say anything that might make a reader judge a publication negatively because they didn’t like what I wrote on my blog. Eventually, I just ripped the bandage off and started to just be myself. That was a HUGE relief, and it contributed almost entirely to me becoming a better – and happier – blogger. Readers became more engaged on my blog, and I found I had a lot more to say and I just said it as me. (And to my knowledge, my book sales haven’t hurt. )
Classifies her blog as: It’s a whatever-I-feel-like-writing-about blog, with a focus on creativity, business, crafts and books.
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Erica Lam The Style Spy	No. Blogging is all about being yourself. The voice online is exactly the way I talk in person and to my girlfriends when I discuss shopping. Showing off your latest purchase, the newest beauty discovery. It’s all about keeping it real and not over-thinking it. For new bloggers, be true to what you believe in, don’t try to conform or copy a popular style of writing. Obviously the more you write, the easier it gets. And it really should be easy & natural.
Classifies her blog as: Style/Fashion/Shopping
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Isabella Mori Change Therapy	It wasn’t difficult but it also went through a bit of a process.  I’ve been writing for many years, so i didn’t have to work hard on finding my writing voice. I’m someone who suffers from writers and idea tsunami more than from writers and idea block, so my challenge was more on how to focus so that my voice would not be a dissonant jumble.  what has helped with that was to see what readers were interested in, and also looking back after a few months on what and how i enjoyed writing on such a regular basis.
Classifies her blog as: business/op ed/educational with a good dose of personal
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Miranda Lievers Blue Olive Photography	The approach I took and what I’d suggest to new bloggers is to simply be yourself and write how you talk. It will come across more authentic and genuine than if you try to write how you think others want you to write. And of course, don’t take yourself too seriously
Classifies her blog as: Business
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