I cringe when I read some blogs because the information is so personal. I often wonder, “Don’t they realize that once it hits the “airwaves” of the internet it’s there forever?” But, one of the elements of a popular blog – in my humble opinion – is that some of your personality shines through.
And, that means sharing some of your personal life. So, how do you decide how much to share? Following are some guidelines I use.
It’s There Forever: Knowing that once I hit publish I have no control over who sees it automatically censors me. It’s strange because in my personal life, I tend to be very open.
And while I do share personal tidbits in my freelance writing newsletter (I have a section called “Yuwanda’s corner” dedicated to my non-professional life), there’s a line I won’t cross.
What Purpose Does It Serve? If and when I do share personal info, it always has to be for a reason. It’s kinda like how actors decide whether or not to do nudity. Some, like Sarah Jessica Parker of Sex & the City fame, have a policy to never do it – no matter what.
Others like Halle Berry, who bared it all in Monster’s Ball – for which she won a Oscar, natch! – say they will if it advances the story line.
Sharing personal tidbits have to serve a purpose for me. It shouldn’t be thrown out there for shock value, or it just cheapens the exchange with the reader. In fact, it may even turn them off.
Do Your Readers Want You to Share: Some blogs lend themselves to the personal sharing of information. As a reader, you intrinsically want to know more about the blogger behind the words. Other blogs have the opposite effect.
Again, using actors for comparison — it’s kinda like who you want to see naked. If Hugh Jackman wants to doff his duds – I’m all for it. Jack Nicholson – please keep your clothes on; it’s your magnetic performance I tune in for.
Why Sharing Personal Information On Your Blog Can Make It More Profitable
Sharing personal information can increase your readership – if it’s done right. BUT, it can be difficult to decide what the “right way” is. Only you can arrive at this conclusion — and I suspect that your readers will guide you via feedback.
However, when you find the perfect balance, it can not only make blogging more enjoyable, but more profitable as well. How?
By making your blog more sticky. Readers buy from those they know, like and trust. What better way to get your blog’s readers to know, like and trust you than to share part of your personal life with them?
How do you decide how personal to get on your blog? Or, does it even cross your mind?
I think being too personal can definitely hurt you since not many people want to hear about your personal stories but rather things about your niche. But it is nice to relate some of your content to yourself. That is where I think you should take your blog if you are wanting to be personal.
I think about how much personal information to share ALL the time. I NEVER use my kids names, they are mentioned from time to time, nor do I give my exact location. I do share my views and opinion and that gets me enough hate mail. I think this will become the hottest topic ever.
Lunatic Blogger
It's all about your market really, I've got a blog about my personal logging/log home creation company and then I've got my personal blog. In my log blog I focus on the industry, tips and tricks and things that people want to hear. I keep my moaning, complaining, celebrating and all my daily stuff on my personal blog. I know that those loggers that come and visit my blog and contribute wouldn't really care if I stubbed my toe, or want to know my latest pie recipe. Keep it focused on what the readers want when they come to your blog!
For my own blog, which is about helping people who sell, I think adding a bit more personal stuff may help. I've considered talking about what happens on my job (which happens to be teaching people how to sell). Maybe even how my 3 year old daughter sold me on giving her potato chips for breakfast.
I think it depends on the audience or the subject of the blog as B. Durant and Log Home Guy has mentioned. Some personal stuff just doesn't make sense for some subjects, but others it would.
Two things come to mind. First it entirely depends on what type of a blog you have as to how personal it is. For instance a blog about your day to day life is going to give more intimate details than a blog about adsense (or whatever topic)
Secondly by the time most people realize there is an online privacy issue they’ve already blown it big time. In fact most of them become aware of it because someone finds out something about them that they put online and didn’t realize it wasn’t really private.
On my business blogs, I try to leave the personal details to a minimum. When I do talk about myself, I try to use my own experiences as a way to solidify the point I'm trying to make with that particular post.
I do have a personal blog where I write random crap but I still try not to give out too much information. I angered my in-laws for reasons that were beyond my control, so now they scour each of my blogs looking for any tiny detail that they can use against me.
Apart from privacy and security issues, I also don't want to make my readers uncomfortable by getting too personal. There are times when I'd love to write about how horrible my day was, but I have friends and family to lean on if I need to vent.
I just finished reading a blog post that detailed the blog author's emotional breakdown after a really bad day and while I really feel for this person and can relate, I felt awkward for her – knowing that such a personal post is now out there for anyone to read.
To each their own I suppose.
In my blog I talk about myself, I didn't expect a lot of traffic.
I blog because I love to write. I think taht traffic it's just a naturally thing that becomes in the right time.
This is why I reopened my personal "anything goes" type blog…and this warning is clearly explained on the about page lol.
If you want to put a related joke or two on your marketing blog then fine, I do it too. I do not however care to hear about cheesy toes in between 2 blog tip posts.
I say if you're going to go social, do it, don't hold back. This from a guy who uses a nickname for his blog. But I talk about my life as it relates to the subject matter — environmental issues and rock n' roll. I think it makes for more interesting reading, and writing.
- Green Mullet.
http://greenmullet.com/
P.S. As for my personal stuff, I also have a Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin account under my real name. But again, go social, don't hold back, within reason.