Personality is everything

If I told you that your blog is a personal diary then I lied. Your blog is so much more than just a diary, it’s a conversation between you and your readers. You want them to not just read your posts, but to feel compelled to take action. The action could be to comment on the post, or preferably to make a sizeable donation. Always keep this goal in mind while you develop your blog.

I’m no expert but these tips below may everyone, from beginners to the experienced and especially the fatigued to get started/restarted, to energize your blog posts and drive up traffic and donations.

It’s not only what you write, its how you write

Yes you do need to tell a compelling story with every post, content is important. But to turn a good post into a GREAT post, the recipe needs a dose of your own personality.

1.      Be personal– every reader likes to get inside your skin, feel the magic of the post.

2.      Be yourself – not too stiff or formal. Think of your audience as a good friend, write to your readers so it sounds natural, the way it would if we were chatting with each other over a coffee.

3.      Write about what you love and let us feel your passion. Use emotion (The sad death of a gentle elephant http://elephantvoices.wildlifedirect.org/2008/02/25/the-sad-death-of-a-gentle-elephant/

4.      Remember that you are having a conversation with your readers, they will respond and interact with you like an audience, so don’t be afraid to perform.

5.      Leave out the jargon and technical language.

6.      Be honest

7.      State an opinion about a news item and include the opinions of others on the topics that you’re exploring.  eg. “I think this is the stupidest thing but Joe Smith in his blog (hyperlink it to his URL) has  a totally different opinion”