For almost all blogs, writing must be interesting and engaging. If the reader is bored, they will just click to move to a new website. Unless your subject matter is very serious, dealing with abuse for instance, lightening up the posts with humor and personality is a good thing.
When you have a unique voice, people will notice the authenticity of that voice and you will get followers. I have a few people that I follow on Instagram, not necessarily for the subject matter that's revealed, but more for the entertainment of the actual reading of the post.
Also, if you are consistent in your approach and your voice, repeat readers will look for that consistency. It's just the same as when you are attracted to someone in person, if their personality kept changing all the time, you wouldn't know where they stand and which is the "real" person. It also applies to online personas. If you have way too much variety in your format, super serious one day, light hearted and joking the next, then ultra zen, the reader isn't sure where you stand and won't want to follow you.
Whether or not you impart a lot of personality in your posts, you should make the writing interesting and easy to follow. Break up the paragraphs, use light background with dark letters and utilize interesting graphics.
Hi Marilyn,
ReplyDeleteI have a slightly different out take than you (but isn't that why the world is great? We can all have own opinions and it's OK =)
Anyways I do agree that some sort of consistency is good, but really only to make sure your blog is about 1 main topic (fashion and makeup, food/restaurant, construction, art etc.). It would be rather odd to go to a blog that you have been visiting for a few weeks to get great fashion tips and suddenly see the blogger talking about care tires...
However, I feel like the content needs to be spiced up a bit I think I may get bored who's writing never changes.
I also think that the blog needs to be interesting and engaging, and I think that comes directly from personality. However, from what I'm reading, it seems that there is a bit of confusion between adding personality to your blog, and making it personal. Personality, style, or as you put it, voice, can be key in crafting a blog. I really like your thoughts on consistency, since that is an often neglected component for any reoccurring writing projects.
ReplyDeleteHey Marilyn, I agree that the writing should be easy to follow and interesting. However in my opinion, depending on the subject, it's OK to switch up your voice. Some topics are serious and some are light-hearted. That's how most people are in the real world. Silly at times and serious in others.
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