Of Dust Bunnies & Expertise - How Personal Does A Blog Need to Be?

I got a comment today on an earlier post, and I thought it was a sentiment that others might share, so I decided I'd write a new post for everyone, rather than just reply.

The comment was this: the writer has decided to start a blog soon, but has concern about writing about him/herself (sorry the sig doesn't tell me). Here are a few thoughts:

1. Your blog is yours, no editors involved, it will be whatever you want it to be.

2. Many blogs talk about needing to clean up dustbunnies, listening to favorite music, or the latest art created by the blog owner's cat. If your reason for writing is for fun, to have an online journal to share with family and friends, posting that kind of stuff makes sense.

3. If your reason for blogging is to build an audience, show your expertise and generate traffic to a website, then those types of personal details won't be your focus (have two blogs if you want both styles).

4. You can interject your personality without being overly personal. This can be accomplished relatively easily too, partly because you'll have your own style that will come out once you've posted a handful of times.

Also, if you think of yourself as a teacher, or as simply being in a conversation with your readers, you'll write in first person, but not about yourself, if you don't choose to.

5. If you are writing to enhance your career, it's always good to keep a close watch on what you say and reveal anyway. You never know who could be reading, and what they might do with the information for the good or bad.

Good Writing & God Bless,

Cheryl Pickett
http://www.publishinganswers.com/