How To Find Your Voice and Get Heard In The Blogosphere

It’s inevitable. The very moment you start to write a blog post, your self-confidence and assurance will go out the window. It can’t be truer than that. All that influence you have? Your years of experience? It won’t matter. That was how I felt years back when I just started blogging online, be it on a personal basis or for business purposes. There is something magical in how something published on the internet gets heard immediately from another side of the globe. There is also something about those awful and plain-looking blogs that have the ability to turn people into mumbling zombies. the possibilities definitely lie within!

So where are you? You need to find yourself and your voice in the blogosphere. You need to be heard if you want to connect with your blog community. And yes, you shall do it and you can do it! I’ll hold your hand.

Gone Were The Days When YOU SUCK!

The #1 challenge that most bloggers face is that they find it hard to standout from the rest of the crop with a unique voice. I believe that if you are still reading this post, most probably you are a blogger yourself and to you, that challenge seems ever so familiar. If you aren’t, probably you have read something on the Internet and thought to yourself, “Hmmm … This looks familiar … Didn’t X mention about this before? This blog is so unoriginal!” Well, this is quite common among most bloggers but it is certainly something which we can overcome. Here are five tips that have always helped me find myself, my voice and, in the end, a paying audience.

Be Bold. Be Brave!

Many bloggers generally think that the first rule of blogging is not to be boring; awesome content on your blog will make sure that you will have a crowd of loyal followers. While that is true, I will like to take this to another level; I am going to tell you to be brave in your blogging. Well, what do I mean? Bloggers, who are brave, take risk in their language; they try new things out and write about controversial content. People live and breathe controversy and when they can comment or put up their own opinion, it makes the controversial topic even more popular.

Be Simple

You do not have to sound like Mr President when you blog; be conversational. Use the same voice that you will use to talk to your friends, your colleagues or your family. It sounds so easy but most people simply cannot write like they speak. People start using bombastic words and jargons to sound learned and sophisticated … well, if that makes you feel good, carry on doing it but give your blog readers a break! While I believe that you are full of knowledge and you like to display that part of you, the core of you is simple. It’s the YOU that exists when you’re not trying too hard to impress. That’s what people want.

What Do Your Readers Want To Know?

If you like birds and you love to blog about rearing birds, that’s fine! But please, move to the side now. Well, the fact is that everybody else is blogging for MONEY! Therefore, you will need to blend that whole authenticity thing with the ability to sell to your blog audience. Take a look at your niche market and find the missing gaps. Blog about it; give your opinions on how you will like to see the gaps addressed or better still, propose solutions to solve the problems. From time to time when solutions are made available in your market, let your blog audience know about it!

Do You Know How Your Blog Audience Perceives About You?

Dr Stephen R Convey once said: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”. If you want to be heard, maybe you should hear about what your blog audience thinks about you first. You might think that you and your blog are doing great but is that what your blog readers think? Provide a dedicated feedback communication channel where your blog readers can voice their opinions.

Reach Out Beyond Your Blog Walls

Most bloggers communicate with their blog audience via the comments at the end of the blog posts. That’s great and please continue to do so. However, there may be a part of your blog audience who prefers a more personal touch; they need to feel that you are authentic and that you are real. Well, offer alternative communication channels where your blog audience can hear you. I know of some bloggers who feel more comfortable talking to their community via Skype because it allows people to see them and it is much easier to gather their thoughts that way than to sit in front of a blinking cursor. There are also some bloggers who use podcasts so that they can simply talk and their audience can download the content and take it for the road.

These are five of the most important things that have allowed me to find myself in blogging to attract an audience. What has worked for you?

Jack Harold is an experienced Internet marketer and has helped thousands of his students to apply Internet marketing strategies to succeed online. If you would like to know how to make money online, you can grab a free copy of his exclusive “The Rags To Riches Blueprint” at his website, Affiliate Home Business.