Finding Your Voice

Finding your voice is a critical part of succeeding with blogging. I think I have a bit of a unique perspective because I blog in both a personal and professional capacity. I became really active on Zillow Blog about a year ago and have been blogging on my personal blog since early August of 2006 (1st post).

Here are the main points that I’d like people to take-away from the “Finding Your Voice” panel discussion I participated on at Bloggers Connect this morning:

Unfortunately, I don’t think there is really a “magic formula” to finding a unique voice. It really comes down to lots (and LOTS) of reading and writing.

• READ — Start out by reading numerous blogs and figuring out what you like about them. There’s no better way to start determining what type of writing style resonates with you than reading numerous different types of styles.
• WRITE — In life, there’s no substitute for experience. Writing is no different. The best thing you can do to find your voice is start writing, writing, and writing some more. Any writer will tell you great writing takes time; don’t let the fact that you’re not a superb writer at the beginning (you won’t be) discourage you from starting.

Once you decide that you want to set up public blog, you should really think about how much of your life to expose online and draw the line somewhere. Are you going to talk about your significant other, your friends, or your personal hardships? It’s often a fine line. Personally, I find myself only referencing friends if I don’t reveal the name of the person I’m talking about. Also, think “golden rule” — when writing a post, think about if the tables were turned and the post was about you. Would you mind that story being public? Regarding personal hardships or thoughts, I don’t think I’m in any position to give you advice — it all comes down to what you are comfortable sharing with the world. Blogging does open up a whole new world of transparency.

Comments are one of the beauties of blogging — instant feedback and debate are what many bloggers live for. Most bloggers will tell you that extremely active comments is a sign of success — I’m no different. However, there is a line to be drawn as to when to intervene when people have differing viewpoints. In my mind, that line is really only if commentors attack each other personally. If they stick to the issue being discussed, let them fire away as long as there is fuel on the fire.

If you were in the audience, I hope you enjoyed the discussion.

Here are some other great tips.

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