One key feature of the Web 2.0 world is that of building personal relationships.
We’re moving from an environment where information is controlled by large, powerful, faceless corporations to a world where everyone can have an opinion and anyone can become an authority.
Profiles are raised. Friendships are built. And we learn from people not companies.
If you run a blog then it’s essential not to forget the “personal” aspect of blogging. Too many blogs these days present information in a clear and easily-digestable format yet have no real “personality”.
Those few blogs that are written by “real people” – people you can see, people you can understand, people you relate to – now these are the blogs that succeed. These are the blogs that rapidly build a large, passionate tribe of followers.
But what steps can you take to make your own more more personal and to let your readers really get to know and like you?
Create A Kick-Ass “About Me” Page
I run a number of blogs in different niches and never cease to be surprised by how many people visit my “about me” page each week. It seems that visitors in a Web 2.0 world *want* to know about the person behind the site so give them what they want.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that nobody will want to know who you are or that they’re *only* there to read your blog posts.
Your readers want to know who *you* are. They want to know what makes you unique, what your experiences are and why they can trust what you’re writing.
Heck, a few might even want to know what you look like (hint – try including at least one photo on your “about me” page).
Offer A Personal Introduction
If you met someone for the first time wouldn’t it be natural to introduce yourself to them before you started chatting about internet security, dog training or whatever your particular interest is?
One way to make your blog more personal is to offer a short, to-the-point introduction to welcome new visitors to your site and quickly explain who you are and what your site is about.
Think of it as the “elevator pitch” for your blog or your “about me” page boiled down into a couple of sentences.
There are a number of ways to make that first introduction. The first is to put it at the top of your navigation menu so it’s highly visible to new visitors.
The other is to use a WordPress plugin like What Would Seth Godin Do which will put your introduction at the top of each blog post but will only show it to new readers who don’t know you yet rather than annoying existing readers with whom you’ve already built up a relationship.
Include Your Name In Your Posts
If you’re using WordPress then a standard feature is the line that appears just under your post title that reads “Posted by Admin”.
“Admin” – is that really your name?
How much better to build rapport with your readers if this line read “Posted by Matthew”. Suddenly your readers know your name. They know you’re a human being. And that you’re proud of your work rather than trying to hide away behind a nameless title.
This little tip is easy enough to implement. Simply log into WordPress and visit the “Users” section. Here you’ll find your profile where you can change the name that readers see in a matter of moments.
Gravatar-Enable Your Blog
Wikipedia defines an avatar as “the graphical representation of a user”. Typically this is in the form of a photograph of yourself that is included by your name when you post in forums, on blogs and so on.
Gravatar is a free service that links your email address to an image of your choice so that nay time you use a Gravatar-enabled website and enter your email address you will find your chosen avatar pasted into the page.
How much nicer would it be when you’re responding to comments on your blog if a large number of people – including yourself – all had a photograph of themselves next to their name.
This makes the conversation far more personal (or to put it another way – far less faceless) and enables both you and your visitors to get a better idea of who it is they are communicating with.
Include Personal Posts About Your Life
You blog to provide high-quality content to your readers but from time to time why not break off to make a more personal, “from the heart” post about yourself and your experiences as of late.
You could even create a special category for “personal posts” or simply lace your new posts with a few snippets of information about yourself.
Remember that the people you feel closest to – and have the greatest respect and affection for – are normally those people you know the most about.
And we’re not just talking the good stuff either; admitting your weaknesses and mistakes can be just as important.
So be brave and open yourself up to your online audience. Let them glimpse the real you and I think you’ll be surprised at the positive response you get from your honesty.
Share Your Social Networking Homes
If you are active on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube then why not share the links to your profiles on your blog?
Doing so will allow readers who like what you have to say to connect with you in a deeper, more personal way. This not only makes you more “human”, but thanks to the viral nature of many social networking sites, it can also help to spread your message far further than you may first imagine.
Create Videos Rather Than Just Text Content
I have nothing against text-based articles, but imagine how powerful it is to see someone in the flesh talking about a subject they are passionate about. You get to hear their accent, their tonation, to see the little facial expressions that make them unique.
Yes, I know talking to your camcorder can feel uncomfortable and you’ll probably feel like a fool the first time you do it. But making video posts is not only great for making your blog more personal but can even make blogging quicker and more fun because you can simply turn on your camera and start talking then quickly upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo for easy distribution.
So now it’s your turn. What techniques do you use to make your blog more personal? What have you seen other bloggers doing that caught your attention?
Are there any key strategies you think I’ve missed? Please leave your opinions in the comments box below…
Hi Richard,
Nice post with great information and I think this post will surely gonna helps all the newbies and Yes, about me page is also an important part of successful blog because every reader are interesting to know about blog owner and Video also attracts many readers and also helps to make relations. Thanks for sharing these tips.
I can see that the about page plays a big role to making a blog personal. I am thinking of a elevator pitch for my blog too.
Your blog is very informative and I would like to apply the techniques advised you. I have just started blogging since September,2011 and I am struggling to get traffic and earn money.Could you please kindly review my site and give advice for improvement?Thank you
I’m trying to add a gravatar to my blog so when I reply to a comment my gravatar shows up. I do have a gravatar account already.
I have done some investigating on how to do this, but it’s getting difficult because I’m not finding the info that I need. On the gravatar site, it’s saying something about creating a hash and some other stuff I don’t get.
Is there a simple way that I can get my gravatar inserted when I reply to a comment on my blog?
Just by reading the article yeah this steps would make your blogs more personal. Sharing your life and the thing about you makes a personalize blog. Thanks a lot for the article.
Tips provided for make blog personal is really helpful. Tips like Gravatar, Share Your Social Networking Homes, Create Videos Rather Than Just Text Content is great tips for marketing of site. Thanks for information
Hi Lisa
Thanks for a great post. I haven’t mastered the art of creating videos yet. In time I will get onto it. At the moment I’m creating articles. They seem to be attracting a lot of visitors to my blog. I have gone to my wordpress blog and changed admin to Richard.
Thanks Lisa
i love to study blog which have personalities. Why ? because it do have better interaction with readers and more realistic. Is the best way to gain trust from your reader .
While you can see up that most of people do like to study a story more than a just a few points like wikipedia.
Hi Lisa,
I love reading your blog and have learned so much from you. There’s one thing I’m not sure about. I have a product website, and finally have it finished and will also be doing a blog. You talk about making it personal, does that apply for blogs that are promoting products as well?
I think yes most bloggers have been following this trick but a few f them who dont shud actually follow this and earn the reward of their hard work.!!
Okay that was really informative
Great tips! I agree being open to your readers is something
that they will like to keep coming back to your site. I did come across many personal blogs and I really enjoy reading and inspire to their personal blogs… great tips here i also enjoy reading your post.
Hey,
I do keep wondering about how great the About Me page should be. Though I have come across some nice stuff, I think humor works best with me. I did come across a blogger who had a 2000 words About me but then he did have a lot to say and talk about. I think you have covered on most of the points which would make for quite an attractive blog.
Have a nice day!
Videos is the next and most important thing for a success of a blog. I believe this will give a good chance to all the actors to earn well form there acting skills specially the one who is struggling
Hi Lisa, thank you very much for sharing these tips, i just started blogging^^ 🙂
Hi Richard, Thanks for the good tips. I think an about page is a must. Most people want to know who’s behind the site and a little bit about there life. Just keep it short!
I’ve been working on my pages lately and my ABOUT page was one of them. I think it’s pretty good 😛 I wanted to keep it short and sweet and I think I achieved that.
I love personal online relationships =)
Hi,
Indeed these are all great things to do to your blog. I have recently started my blog and have learnt a lot over the last couple of months. There is so much more to learn still. Thanks for the info.
I think this is a good tip for bloggers who have a following. However I don’t. I personally prefer to read what someone has to say without him or her being a “person” and then after a while of reading what they have to say then I find it nice that they are a “person”. Am I the only one who feels like this!
I try to write most of my posts through personal experience. I don’t know if the readers are connecting with me but I can tell you that I don’t feel like I writing to stranger when I do this.
BTW – – thanks for the link to the plugin.
Hey, Richard. I’m surprised someone hasn’t named their kid, Admin, yet. 😉 Seeing admin as the author of a post is one of my pet peeves when it comes to blogs.
I’m one of those people who click on the about page when I visit a new site. I want to know who’s behind the site. I like to refer to them by name when commenting and interacting with them.
Great suggestions. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Great Tips! I personally liked the Kick Ass “About Me” Page.
Its a very important part of a blog or website..
Also One of the best ways to make your blog personal is by adding social tool which you already said! I think thats the fastest way to make your blog personal and social!
Sup3r Work!
Cheers,
Hasan
I agree with every option, I think if you add a bit of a personal touch to your blog then you will sell more products as people will trust you more. I’m trying to do this myself. 🙂
About me page of my blog is not much good as I have just added a little bit information about me in this.After reading this post and all comments I am going o add more information on my about me page.
I will also add my twiiter and Facebook account link in about me page. 🙂
Happy Easter, all – I’ve just looked at a few “about” pages by some of the commenters. Some are really WAY TOO much more than anyone other tahn a stalker would really care about or need to know. Try for short, sweet and complete instead! Cheers!
Great article. Personally, I just leave a blog without an About Me page. If the blog has no Social Media contacts either, it looks like a really bad, made for money blog
Writing personal is fine.But,we should not write to much as it make bad impression about your blog
great points, and although i don’t have a picture of me up on my blog, i have all the other points covered. the results speak for themselves as my kick ass About Me page has received a ton of hits, unique views and comments from my readers
Hi Lisa,
I enjoyed reading the guest post. I am new to blogging myself and am developing an educational blog entitled http://www.fashionsewingblog.com, continuing and developing my experience from classroom based teaching to more online tutoring.
Certain academia have a professional theory about the learning process, but I have always incorporated an “out of the box” thinking to engage and encourage student learning.
I am all for the above mentioned points, and think I have tried to give my blog an interesting, different feel to give my followers a more interactive experience as I can.
I give myself a C and must continue to try that bit harder.
Colleen G Lea
Hi Richard
I always check the About Me page of a new blog I am visiting. Like to know who I am speaking with when I visit. And I know when people visit my site they read mine too.
Some really salient and important points you’ve mentioned in the post. Thanks Richard. Appreciated.
Patricia Perth Australia
…’scuse me while I get to work on an “about me” page: I’ve been redirecting people to MyBlogLog profile, but soon that will be gone… ThanX 4 the reminder!
I defiantly think more bloggers and blogs should follow this sometimes. There are way too many generic posts out there which have no feeling or personality to them.
I’ve always tried to add a little personality within my posts across the board, especially on other blogs hoping fellow writers would do the same.
Great Tips, being new, I never thought the “about me” page and gravater can have a significant value. And yes I agree in using your name rather than Admin, unless that is your real name LOL. Nice points. I would really keep you post in mind in redesigning my blog. Thanks!
Hi Richard
“Create A Kick-Ass “About Me” Page.
That is something that I really have to do.
My about me page is hopeless but I keep going with the posts instead of dealing with the basics.
Thanks for the reminder Richard and the tips to help get personal.
Great guest post Lisa with fantastic tips. Time to get some kick ass about me going.
Great post Richard,
I like to think of my site as personable. All of my sites content comes from first hand experience. I think that is what is helping me build a following and build traffic as steadily as I am.
I use social networks: twitter, facebook and especially youtube to deepen the relationship between me and my visitors. And it seems to be working pretty well for me.
I find that the best relationship builder for me is youtube because like you said it allows me to really “talk” to my visitors and have a conversation with them.
You’ve shared a lot of valuable information that I did not know about. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Regards,
Ti Roberts
Ti,
Great to hear you’re using YouTube. I wonder if you could share any experiences with us about what has worked for you to increase your views and subscribers on YouTube?
Warm regards,
Richard
Well, I have an SBI! site that is fairly new. I don’t believe I’ve done anything extremely special. I’ve just integrated youtube video across some of the pages on my site.
As far as views, I think what helps me the most is SEO.
Increase in SEO traffic = Increase in video views
Now I don’t have thousands or even hundreds of views on my videos yet, however, my views are steadily increasing daily. Which is great 🙂
Another thing I find to help me increase my views is keyword specific tags. I always try to make a video to correspond with a specific keyword I’ve already built a page on. Then tag my video with that specific keyword and related targeted keywords. Then I’ll place that video on it’s corresponding page.
I’m still in the trial and error phase and I’m slowly feeling my way around with these different marketing methods.
I find it very interesting and what’s more important is that I’m having fun doing it 🙂
Thanks,
Ti Roberts
Hi Richard,
I also love your recommendations. When I started my blog a few months back, I knew it needed to make it personal. You’ve reminded me that I really need to work on my About Me page, and the Personal Introduction is something I think everyone should have. I’ll keep using your other tips…maybe someday I’ll get to #7 (no budget to purchase something to create videos).
-Marianne
Marianne,
Firstly thanks for tweeting about this post! Secondly thanks for all your positive feedback on the article. And thirdly – and most importantly – to the subject of video.
You mention that you don’t have the budget to get started making videos. You might be interested to hear that I typically only use a Flip video camera. Not only are these small and very reasonably priced but they are so “cool” that they are often given away as prizes in contests.
Indeed, I managed to win two of them in the space of a month last year by taking part in a variety of blog contests. There are sites which list contests like this and keeping an eye on what is going on can be a great way to win some free swag! (I even managed to pick up an ipod and a Nintendo Wii in the same month as the two video cameras – and I’m no genius!).
Warm regards,
Richard
Hey Richard,
I love this one. I have done about half of this and need to do more. I am always a do-er especially about tips coming from Lisa’s blog, so I will definitely spend some time on improving stuff I can. First things I will work on are about me page and more videos.
Never really put too much thought into my About Me page, but you make some good points that will make me reconsider.
Completely agree that people love knowing little personal “nuggets” about you though. For example, my visitors like hearing about my college experience at Ohio State. It gives them a face and name that they can see and relate to.
Anyways, great post. Thanks Richard and Lisa!
I totally agree with all these tips … that being said, I really need to update my ‘about me’ page. I’ve done a lot of changing since starting my online marketing blog.
Great tips, thanks for sharing! These tips are rather simple but a lot of people don’t take advantage of them! I think the “about me” tip is especially important. I know I read them myself on other pages and it is only natural for us to be curious about who is behind the blog/site or whatever we’re reading.
Makes a lot of sense!
@lisa this is good article you share. About page is realy important. For your regular visitor its important because they want to know who is writer of blog.
I really enjoyed your post and it’s good to hear someone advocating more personality in blogging. I share pretty often about personal struggles, but try to end with a positive note. Sometimes I wonder if it isn’t too personal. I would love some critique if anyone is willing to give it. I am very passionate about helping people find their true self and reaching their goals and dreams. Life can be very difficult so I use my experiences to assist others in knowing they can succeed even if the cards may seem stacked against them. Sally
The about page is visited a lot on my blog..its ben shared hundreds of time on facebook..this type of page is what people love to read..keeps then on a personal level..
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”