Every company and brand has a logo, this should be no different when you are blogging. When you begin a blog you have to have a style, set rules for your blog and most of all have a voice. The voice that you find must make sense for your blog and whatever it is that you wish to convey. If you have a very gadget and tech heavy site, you wouldn’t wish to use the voice of someone who knows nothing about computers, right?
It is not just blog content that matters when you find your blogging voice, the format has to work too. Making your blog a simple and streamlined design will help readers feel comfortable and safe when they come to you. The design of your blog and the stylesheet that you use should make sense to what your brand is all about. Knowing what your niche is will help you to find the right blogging voice.
If you still need help in finding your voice look at the content that you have already posted. When you look at that content, do you see any themes? What do your readers seem to respond to the most? What is the demographic of those readers that are responding? Sometimes you have to do a little leg work to decide what the right voice is for you. Once you have that information run with it, insert your personality and your brand, make it fun or interesting. No one wants to go to a blog where it sounds like the writer isn’t engaged in what they are doing.
Chances are if you are working on having your own blog, you have studied others that appeal to you. Almost every blog writer is also a blog reader and it can be easy to fall into the trap of sounding like someone else. While it is always good to have done your research, be true to your own personality. Take the influences that you have found, those you admire or who you think go along with your brand, and filter their ideas into your own personality. Take a zeitgeist filter approach.
The instant reaction most will have is, myself or my brand of course. However, that is not really the case. If you were only writing for yourself or your basic brand without a purpose, you wouldn’t care who read the content and wouldn’t need a voice. So who are you writing your content for? Who is your ideal reader?
There are any number of other questions to ask yourself about your reader, but do you see the trend? You must have an idea of who your ideal reader is; who you wish to reach with your blogging voice.
You might be thinking that you are limiting or weeding out people who might read your blog by doing this, but that is not the case at all. The idea is that you have a voice, a purpose. When any reader comes to your blog they will be able to see that you have some path; purpose that you are working for. When posts are more focused they are more engaging.
