Personality.
No sense beating around the bush.
I spoke to a few bloggers over the past week in Thailand. I also chatted with aspiring bloggers.
The budding stars had personality. I observed it through their blogs.
Aspiring bloggers noted how their stories would set them apart.
One blogging hopeful noted his story of teaching English in Thailand would distance him from other bloggers. But he would go beyond. He’d share the rest of the story. Meaning it’d be a digital nomad recount of life outside of infinity pools and dreamy home offices. Quite unlike Instagram digital nomads and travel bloggers, eh?
Peep the featured image for this blog. I snapped it during an evening run through a Thai village. Sunset. Brilliant. My story. My personality.
Today
At 10:03 AM in Chiang I’m writing this post. I spent the first 2 hours today motorbiking through the mountains and jungles to the west of Chiang Mai. Lovely area. A little remote but villages here and there.
We never knew such regions existed so close to town, or close to the sleepy village where we are house sitting for the next few weeks.
But I felt an intuitive nudge, hopped on the bike and we enjoyed stunning scenery and a different feel to the place.
Don’t you know me just a bit more after reading this recount? See how images pop up in your mind as I recount my day? Don’t you feel like a real human being is writing this post? I could have been in the USA talking of trips to the grocery store. Perhaps you explain a typical morning taking the kids to school.
All reeks of personality. Which is a good thing.
Your personality makes you stand out from every other blogger. Infusing personality into your blog and brand:
- makes your blog easy to relate to; fellow travelers read my posts and nod, connecting with me deeply because said travelers can relate
- helps you detach from business outcomes; I don’t write every post as a hack to get money or traffic, so I’m not terribly attached to outcomes, making my blog and brand more enjoyable versus those money hungry and traffic desperate bloggers out there
- makes you credible and believable; have you known any human who blogs 24-7, 365? Why do many bloggers talk only blogging, all the time? Desperation or greed but in either case, this crowd loses credibility because they are like blogging cyborgs, not humans, and a person talking blogging or their niche all day long isn’t trustworthy or credible because they lose the human (with varied interests outside of blogging) factor.
- grabs attention spans in a 3rd person blogging world; sick of reading dull, drab, boring 3rd person blogging voice? Most readers sit in your boat. Infusing personality into your blog immediately wakes up slumbering readers, perking ’em into action, helping you shine like a blogging beacon in a boring blogging world void of personality.
I talk business. Talking blogging shop is key on Blogging From Paradise.
But I allow my personality to shine through my blog to entertain, to educate and to inspire.
Sure I address reader needs. I help folks build successful blogs; my personal stories don’t dominate every blog post.
I do however build a foundation based on my personality to stand out in my niche.
Between solving reader problems and adding travel stories into the mix I’ve found a meld between addressing reader needs and standing out with my stories and my personality.
Tips for Adding Personality to Your Blog
- add personal stories to your blog; relate to your niche
- do not hold back; most bloggers fear adding personal elements to their blog for worrying about criticism or because lack of self-worth holds them back so feel these fears, release ’em and share of yourself
- Lighten up; don’t blog from a tense, strained, hard work consciousness space but do blog from a chill, relaxed, peaceful, fun, loving energy
The benefits of adding personality to your blog are immense. By shining brightly you drive steady traffic, comments and profits through your blog.
Be at peace with being you on a public forum.
Follow top bloggers whose personality bleeds through their blogs.
Stand out from the blogging crowd.