Date post: | 14-Jul-2015 |
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Education |
Upload: | philip-taylor |
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Got voice?
How to make your posts more compelling
The tale and the teller
• J.D.’s keynote speech last year was about the importance of story.
• Story is vital -- but so is storytelling
• People can get information from plenty of places. Why should they choose yours?
What is voice, exactly?
• “Voice” means being able to hear the writer while I’m reading.
• A writing style that not only keeps me going until the end – it also makes me bookmark the site.
• Your voice is you -- loud enough for the rest of us to hear it.
Not that kind of loud…
• Do not mistake volume for voice. • Loud may get people’s attention but probably
won’t keep it. • ALL CAPS ON THE INTERNET IS REALLY
ANNOYING. So is blog writing done as a series of snarls.
• Not only is it tough to maintain, it’s likely to turn off readers over time.
In the PF blogosphere…
• How many genuine voices are there? Too few.
Listen up…
• I don’t hear a lot of originality – and I don’t think that’s because bloggers aren’t creative.
• I think it’s because they don’t trust their own voices.
I see blogs written…
• Inverted pyramid style• Yearbook style• 9th-grade-English-essay style• Hey-girlfriend! style• With slang that not only sounds forced but
will soon sound dated and maybe embarrass the writer five years from now (remember, the Internet is 4-ever)
What else do I see?
• Bloggers who feel they have to put in every single fact they collect
• Bloggers who think they have to fling attitude to get noticed
Attitude isn’t voice.
• Neither is relentless snark• Or hip-weltschmertz
• Those things can be elements of voice, just as voice is an element of writing. But it’s hard to sustain a blog on fey wit or “another sign the apocalypse is upon us” moans. You’d have to be a much better writer than most of us are.
What’s your voice sound like?
• So don’t let any of those things substitute for voice -- or overwhelm your voice.
• That is, if you know what your voice sounds like. A lot of us don’t. When we think “writing,” we’re back in that 9th-grade English class, building the weighty sentences we think the teacher wants to read. (She didn’t, by the way.)
Is that really you?
• Or we fall back on the shibboleths mentioned above -- maybe because we think our own voices aren’t interesting enough.
• Is your blog voice the way you talk? Or is it the way you wish you talked? Do you want to be a lot more hip, sardonic, erudite or oh-snap! than you actually are?
• Striking an attitude is easy, and comments like “LOL! Your so funnneee!” are real ego-strokers.
What is your goal as a writer?
• Merely to pull in page views, or to contribute to the conversation?
• To out-obnoxious other writers by larding your copy with slang words for genitals or phrases like “financial retard”?
• Or to provide information that can help people change their lives?
Style + substance
• If you’re a number monkey, pure and simple, more power to you and I hope you get 10,000 hits a day.
More than SEO…
• If you actually want to help people understand personal finance, pay attention to your writing.
• If you have both style and substance, you probably have voice. Let us hear you!
How do you find your voice?
• Start by listening to it. Read your last post out loud.
• Does it sound like a drone, even to you? Or to the person you asked to listen to it?
• Try this: Imagine how you’d tell your next post to a friend.
What old print newshounds can teach us….
• Newspaper journalists might get only 15” to tell what happened.
• Obituary writers have to sum up entire lives in as little as 8” of copy.
Print journalists…
• Assume a certain amount of collective knowledge.
• Attribute only things reader might not know• Ask the right questions – the famous 5 Ws• Use the most evocative info they can get.
But they don’t use all of it. • Tell us why this topic matters.
Bloggers shouldn’t…
• Set up or qualify every point. (You’re the one telling the story, so just tell it.)
• Go on and on and on… (More words won’t necessarily make your point. In fact, they might smother it.)
• Get lazy. (Each post is a chance to impress a new visitor to your site.)
Keep your voice in the forefront.
• Be unique.
• Tell stories that matter.
• Make your voice unmistakable – and make it yours.