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Flickr photos: Howard Lake & SophieG*

Finding Your Blogging Voice

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Page 1: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Flickr photos: Howard Lake & SophieG*

Page 2: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Voice is how you speak to your audience

Page 3: Finding Your Blogging Voice

VOICE = Diction + Syntax + Tone

• Diction: The manner in which something is expressed in words.

• Syntax: The structure of sentences.

• Tone: The attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience.

Page 4: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Tone isn’t just what you say, but rather HOW you say it• Your word choices

• The phrases you use (or overuse)

• Your sentence complexity

• Your grammar

Page 5: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Science Daily

Doctor-to-doctor, highly technical, complex terminology & sentences

Page 6: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Metropolitan Pain ConsultantsHealth Blog

Doctor-to-patient, simple words/explanations, short paragraphs.

Page 7: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Why is tone important?• Expresses your personality

• Sets you apart from millions of other bloggers

• Makes you memorable

• Makes you relatable

• Builds trust & familiarity

Page 8: Finding Your Blogging Voice

MailChimp

Honest, relatable, casual, transparent, trustworthy

Page 9: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Developing Your Voice

Page 10: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Why are you blogging?

Page 11: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Define your purpose

Are robots reading your blog? No, humans are.

Ok, what kind of humans? The _______ kind.

Cool. What do they want from you? They want _______.

Why do they want that? Because _______.

Page 12: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Outline your personality

How do you want your readers to describe you?

How do you see yourself?

Page 13: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Get to know your audience

Page 14: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Who is yourtarget audience?

Page 15: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Who AREN’T you writing for?

Page 16: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Screw those people

Page 17: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Ask your readers why they like your stuff• Is it the pretty pictures?

• Because you share new ideas?

• Are they fascinated by the topic?

• Do they like the way you write?

• Do they like your personality?

Page 18: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Use your audience intel to help them feel comfortable

when they visit• People have an innate desire to belong

• They want to connect with you

Page 19: Finding Your Blogging Voice

People read on their own timeline, not just when

you’ve published a new post

Page 20: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Avoid the Caveman Mentality

Page 21: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Match your tone to your topic

Page 22: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Maintaining a consistent voice is easiest when you’ve put some

thought behind the process.

Page 23: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Vocab mattersAwesome, Far Out, Groovy, Great, Super, Excellent, Kick-Ass, Peachy, Phenomenal

These all mean the same thing.

Page 24: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Technical language: proceed with caution

Page 25: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Slang, acronyms, & specialized terminology

Rule of thumb: If 95% of your audience is likely to understand the jargon you’re using, you don’t need to explain it.

Page 26: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Easy reader research trickFigure out what words they’re already using to discuss your topic

• Facebook

• Twitter

• LinkedIn

• Pinterest

Page 27: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Humor can be tricky• Be humble - it’s better to make fun of yourself vs

others

• Err on the side of subtlety unless you know for sure you can pull off overt jokes

• Beware of misunderstandings, especially if the content is taken out of context

Page 28: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Overcoming fears• Embrace criticism

• When doubt creeps in, find a fresh set of eyes

• Internal debates are awesome

• If you can’t decide, sleep on it

Page 29: Finding Your Blogging Voice

The best voice is the one you’re comfortable using

Page 30: Finding Your Blogging Voice

Questions?@JenJamar [email protected]