Taking the Blaaaaah Out Of Your Blog

Sunday, February 12th, 2012 at 2:55 pm

My Munchkins

I have a little confession to make.

I recently realized that there was way to much “blah” in my blog.

You see I’ve always prided myself on being able to speak somewhat eloquently, behave in a professional manner, and deliver ideas in a very readable way. But what does that lead to, in the long term…a very boring blog.

Don’t get me wrong, I still view myself as an absolute professional. However I realized that my blog was missing one very big component: Me.

While I’ve been able to drive lots of traffic to my blog posts, and got many returning followers… it was lacking the fun, the personality, and the Niamh-ness it needed to really become a place people remember and want to come back to.

So I started to inject myself into my blog posts, open up…talk to people like they were my friends, not my students…shares stories about my journey and my family…just be a little more me. Instantly there was a big change to the way people behaved on my blog.

They started staying longer, they started leaving more comments, they found me on Facebook, they started to come back.

Since changing the way I blog I’ve had much higher return traffic rates, and muuuuch longer stays on the site.

Why?

Because people need the info, they always will need the info, but they don’t need to read a dry boring piece that contains ONLY info. Once they feel that connection to a true person behind the blog they want to stay to hear more of your opinions, to learn more about you, and they start to get to know you.

The ultimate goal in internet marketing is to have a large group of loyal followers who come to your websites, buy your products, and consider you a friend. So you HAVE to make sure your Blog isn’t a Blaaaaahg.

Here’s a few little tips to get you started:

1. Write each post as if you were talking to a close friend. If it helps imagine that you are sending an email to your best friend explaining a topic. It will sound more natural and probably end up being more entertaining.

2. Use visuals. The more personal photos or videos you use the better. If people can see your face in regular shots, and hear your voice in videos they begin to see you as a person instead of a website.

3. Share your opinions. There is nothing internet marketers seem as scared to do as give their opinion on any topic. They are afraid of alienating people. But lets face it, the more popular you are, the more you will also have people that don’t like you. By being willing to open up and have an actual opinion and share real thoughts you will become more attractive to people like yourself. And you probably WANT to work with people more like you anyway!

4. Stories. This is the MOST important part of your blog. Even if you don’t have much success yet, or you don’t have a lot of knowledge to share…stuff happens to you…every day. I spend a heck of a lot of time at home between my business and having two kids under 3 (any outing can become a nightmare), but still things happen to me all the time that teach me lessons about my business and about life. When you start to share the little things that happen to you in a reflective manner, where you also discuss what you learned or how it helped you grow…people will relate to you even more.

Blogs are so much more than a way to get leads or traffic…they are a representation of who you are. The online world is a jumble of likes and links and shares…. join in by being true to yourself, and you will find that it opens up a whole world of people ready to get to know you and support you on your journey.