‘Keep your personal
life out of your business blogging’ is a piece of advice that’s sometimes given
to business owners. And while it’s true that prospective clients probably don’t
want to read about what you had for breakfast, when you're using a medium like
blogging for your marketing, it’s worth remembering its history. The modern
blog developed from an online diary form, and as a result, people expect a
certain amount of personality to show in any blog — even if it’s a business
blog.
People Like Talking
to People
Human beings are
social creatures. Evolutionarily speaking, we needed other human beings to
survive — we hunted in packs, and given our relatively fragile physical form,
there was safety in numbers. Scientists are beginning to realise that social
connections are just as important to our wellbeing (physical and mental) as
adequate food and shelter.
But what does this have to do with your
business blog? Human beings seek out social connections. They like to talk to
other people. Think about how frustrating it can be talking to a machine when
you phone a utilities company, and how much of a relief it is when you call a
helpline and get to talk to an actual person. A business blog works the same
way. If your business blog can show that it’s been written by a person, if you
can fulfil in some way that social need, it will be infinitely more attractive
to clients (current and prospective) than one that sounds like it’s been
created by a smart computer.
Personality Ranks
Higher on Google
Quality content
that sounds like it’s been written by a human being with a personality ranks
higher. This is precisely because people seek out people. Ultimately, a search
engine’s function is to help people find things they want — services, people,
places — so it makes sense that it would rank higher the kind of information
that people are actually hoping to find.
Personality doesn’t
mean ‘over share’
Having a business
blog that 'has personality’ does not mean sharing every banal detail of your
life. Letting your business blog be flavored by your personality never means
the content doesn’t need to be relevant to your business. Let’s return to the
‘what you had for breakfast’ example. Now, if your business is a food-related
business, or even a health-related business, what you had for breakfast might
actually be relevant and interesting to potential readers of your business
blog. And of course, if that were the case, it could be perfectly reasonable
and helpful for you to write about your porridge. But if your business is a
motor mechanics or a web development company, what you ate this morning may be
less relevant.
It's worth
remembering, too, that there are lots of different kinds of personality. Your
business blog does not necessarily need to be loud and flashy to have
personality. Rather, it should reflect the personality of your business, and,
if you have them, its people. This goes back to some pretty basic and universal
marketing stuff: what are the values of your business? They'll give you a
pretty good idea of its personality.
Ultimately, you want your business blog to be
helpful to its readers. If it's not helpful to its readers, then they won't be
interested, and the blog won't end up being helpful to you.
The content should also be interesting to you.
If you're not interested in it, how you possibly hope to get other people
interested in it? Especially if you're nervous about where the boundaries lie
between 'personality' and 'too much information', writing about what interests
you and your business is also a good way of fairly effortlessly injecting a bit
of personality into your business blog.
So perhaps a general rule of thumb for content
might be to ask first if it's interesting to you, and second if it's helpful
for potential readers and customers. If a topic ticks both those boxes then
it's sure to be ideal for your business blog. Remember that a business blog is
not just about getting people to your website—it's also about keeping them
there, and hopefully turning their visit into some business. If your business
blog is interesting (that is, it has personality) and helpful, you're certainly
increasing your chances of converting a site visitor into a customer.
This article was
written by Joel Mayer for AWM, your local SEO Consultants.
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