On any given day you can probably find at least a dozen blogs being advertised and shared on your timeline. How many of those blogs do you actually click on? Now how many do you actually read through to the end?
In today’s day and age just about anyone can start a blog but not just anyone can have a good blog. In order to have a successful blog with a regular audience and following, there are several key points to remember but todays point is being relatable. Have you ever read something and three lines in rolled your eyes and said, “This is ridiculous” and closed the tab? Why was that? Probably because whoever wrote it wrote the blog post either without actual experience on the matter or wrote it completely lopsided and bias. So it’s important to remember a few things when writing a relatable piece,
- Transparency – Nobody likes smoke and mirrors so if you’re going to write about a life experience or something that’s happened to you, be honest. If there are key elements of the story you’re missing or can’t share it’s probably best to skip writing about it because your readers will find those cheese holes in the story right away and it’ll probably deter them from reading the rest of the piece and possibly anything else you post. If there’s a life lesson that you want to share but don’t want to get into the nitty-gritty then try your best to zoom in on that one aspect, why it’s important and how it’s able to stand on its own.
- Don’t be bias– Even though the experience you’re sharing is yours and yours alone you need to be mindful of the fact that the way things played out for you may not be the same for everyone. In fact nobody will see the same two scenarios the same so in order to be successful blogger it’s always better to keep an open mind. Even if you feel super strongly about something try and convey it in a way that says you believe what you believe but you’re aware and respectful of other people’s views.
- Knowledge– When you’re writing about a current event or something that’s going on in the world make sure you confirm your sources. Check the validity of the information against other sources and use neutral sources that people are less likely to disregard or dislike. For example don’t always use the same source, use several that back up the information you’ve found or have. Building an audiences trust is crucial in getting them to share your work and keep coming back to read it.
All in all people have to feel that they’re reading something that increases their knowledge, helps them through a hard time and isn’t trying to shove something down their throats. In the age of technology more and more people turn to blogs or other online forums for advice before their buy things, before they visit places and when they need advice. If you want to have a blog that pops remember your audience will be diverse so you should be too.
Sam, I think one of the hardest things any writer struggles with is being relatable to their readers because our fear is that our target audience is such a small pool of readers that we want to expand that by being even more relatable. I believe that bias is what ultimately decides relatability because you cannot be biased … you can share your opinion but you must leave room for all aspects to be included and considered so everyone can understand your view but not feel pressured to agree with you. I have found that objective writing is one of the hardest way of writing there is because as people we are so sure of our opinions that we feel that it is the only way that is right and nothing else matters but regardless of that we cannot force our opinions on our readers, we can only share them.