Finding Your Voice

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7月20日

For me, there is a distinguishing factor that separates the blogs that I get real value for on a regular basis verses the rest of them. The blogs that I get the most value from are those that have original content and I can get to understand the blogger as a person.

As a blogger, it would be easy for me to go search over the web and provide links to everybody else. I would probably get a lot of people because it would appear that I am a great blogger. In that sense, I would be more of a news reporter. Yet, nobody would really get to know me, what I stand for, what my likes and dislikes are. Plus, I would be providing the same information that at least a half dozen other people have already talked about.

I will admit that at times I refer to other sites as well, but will try to point to things that I don't think others have noticed. I also try to focus on those things that mean value to me, and translate it to others using my own voice. It's MUCH harder to write about things from a personal perspective, from your experiences based on your opinions. You have to dig down deep to come up with something of value. It takes several revisions to get it right. You end up throwing some things away because you can't put your thoughts into writing. In that sense, I would be more of a book writer.

News reporter or book writer, both have their places in the blogosphere I guess. However, it seems we have many more news reporters and not enough book writers. Regardless of which type of blog you promote, one thing is for sure -- "You need to find your voice" and stay true to it. Find your niche and stick with it. In the book The Leadership Challenge, one of the chapters is called Find Your Voice. Following are some exerpts from that chapter. Though they are directed towards the topic of Leadership, they seem to work well in this scenario as a blogger. After all, aren't you as a blogger LEADING your readers?

Finding your voice is absolutely critical to becoming an authentic leader. If you can't find your voice, you'll end up with a vocabulary that belongs to someone else, mouthing words that were written by some speechwriter, or mimicking the language of some other leader who's nothing like you at all.

To become a credible leader, first you have to comprehend fully the values, beliefs, and assumptions that drive you. You have to freely and honestly choose the principles you will use to guide your actions. Before you can clearly communicate your message, you must be clear about the message you want to deliver. And before you do what you say, you must be sure that you mean what you say.

You can't believe in the messenger if you don't know what the messenger believes.

If you are a blogger, go back and review your old posts. Can people learn about you along the way? Have you been consistent in your message? Have you found your brand or your niche? Can you distinguish your blog well enough from other blogs that you know your readers are reading? Try to find your voice if you haven't already. Your readers will thank you for it!

12:58 | この記事を引用 | Blogging

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Angel Skipさんの投稿:

Stephanie,

When I first started my blog, I was hoping that with every post there would be much dialog. People would comment, I would comment back, and the conversation would begin. It didn't work out that way. On the other hand, it wasn't necessarily one-sided either (or shouting through a bullhorn). I have found my blogging experience to be more of a small community. If I have something to say, and somebody likes it -- they post to their blog and mention me. If somebody else likes it from their blog, they write about it. And so on. And so on. You will find as you continue your blog that there is a smaller group of blogs like yours who tend to talk the same language and refer to each other often. This is the community I am talking about. Just make sure you "find your voice" so that the community finds you!

7 月 21 日

Stephanie West Allen さんの投稿:

I very much enjoyed this entry. My blog is coming up on its 4-month birthday and I am still thinking often about how to make it most valuable for readers and also enjoyable to write. Your post added to my thinking. Thanks.

I have a question for you, please. Where does "conversation" as described here:

http://kevin.lexblog.com/2006/04/law-blog-basics/lawyer-blogs-are-a-conversation-not-shouting-through-a-bullhorn

fit into book writer versus news reporter? Kevin seems to think the conversation between bloggers is essential. I would love to hear your thoughts on what he and the commenters wrote at that link.

7 月 21 日

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