Finding your blog voice when you are the only writer

The blog voice for your company blog is a critical part not just of engaging the reader but seducing them to explore even more posts. Write with too much humor or snark and you’ll turn off one set of the audience. Write with too much formality and you’ll turn off another. Finding your blog voice is a critical step in developing a blog that becomes a destination for readers eager to learn what you know.

What is your blog voice?  It is the style with which you communicate with your audience. Tone, tenor, and tempo all go into your blog voice. How you make a point, how you summarize an idea, and how you provide a call to action all contribute to your voice. Just as a conversation with an old friend over cocktails likely includes a different voice than Sunday morning meeting with your pastor, your blog voice should match your audience.  How they want to be spoken to and how you want to speak to them.  You cannot write effective blog posts without understanding your voice. 

But how do you develop a blog voice that resonates with your target audience?  Admittedly, it can be a lot more complicated than you might hope. We work with clients whose blogs are still finding their voice months after posting began. 

 

 

Answer these questions to start developing your blog voice

How do you write your best?

By far the worst thing to do when crafting a blog post is to apply a manner of writing that is uncomfortable for you. You will likely lumber through the post and every word will be a chore. Even worse, your readers will detect how unnatural your writing is.  If you write in a voice that is anything other than your own, your writing will suffer. That means your blog will suffer.

Our advice is to write your first draft the way you would write without a care in the world. Reviewing and editing the post will allow you to remove references and verbiage that feel too far afield. But the fastest way to stunt your activity is to put yourself in an uncomfortable position from word one.

Who is your audience?

The next most important thing to consider when writing is who is your intended audience? Since your business blog is a marketing tool, it is important that your voice speaks to potential clients or customers. Writing in a style that amuses old friends or expresses your individual personality is probably best left to your personal blog. For a business blog, it is critical that your voice speaks to the audience that can help you grow your business.

What information are they hoping for?

A significant part of your voice and writing style will be influenced by the type of content your audience is hoping to consume. If your business blog is oriented towards the C-Suite or VP level audience, then your content is likely to be more focused on strategy. The way to write about big picture ideas is different than the way you would likely write about tactical ideas. Individual contributors and managers would be hoping for different content and your blog voice would do well to respond to that.

What is the voice of your brand?

The last question you should ask yourself as you develop your blog voice is if your writing matches the voice of your brand. For example, a brand that is focused on improving the morale of personnel will have a wildly different voice than a cybersecurity company.  While it is hardly critical to connect your blog voice with your brand voice completely, some common threads should be in place.

Attempts at humor, the way technical details are shared, the length and structure of paragraphs, and sections of writing all should have some things in common. Do not choose to be charming and clever on your website then buttoned-up and formal on your blog. Readers will feel disoriented and be less likely to stick around.

Finding your blog voice should be easy

The questions above only just scratch the surface on discovering how you should write. In contrast, finding your voice is an onerous quest where success is always just out of reach. The moment you start posting, your voice will start to take shape. And just like any task or hobby, the more you practice the better you will get.

Additionally, your blog voice will change over time. Answers will change. Goals will change. The evolution of your organization will need to be matched by the voice you apply to your blog posts.