How To Establish Your Voice As a Hobby Blogger

Jenny in Neverland

5 years ago

I’m back with another post in my “tips for hobby bloggers” series today. I’ve had 3 of these posts out so far – I can’t believe I’m already on 4! – and they’ve all done really well and have had a fantastic response, which I’m so thrilled about. I’m so pleased people are finding them helpful and enjoyable!

Photo by Alexandra Gorn on Unsplash

I wanted to start this series because I felt like all blogging advice posts were starting to be catered towards blogging as a job or for those who make money or WANT to make money from their blogs. As a full-time blogger myself, I think it’s amazing that so many people want to grow their blogs and try and take this gig full-time. It’s an extremely satisfying and enjoyable career and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

But let’s not forget, not everyone WANTS to. And that’s totally fine.

But those people who don’t want to blog for a job or make money from it might still want to grow their blog, build a community and share their content with a lot of people. But so much content is focused on the “making money” now, that hobby bloggers can’t see themselves represented in these posts anymore.

Of course I’m not fixing that with a couple of posts all by myself. But I do hope these are a good place to start. Before we go on, here are the previous posts from this series in case you missed them:

Now, let’s talk about establishing A VOICE.

Having an established and recognizable voice on your blog and social platforms can have a great benefit to your growth as a blogger. The way I like to look at this is; think about how many people have reviewed a particular eye-shadow palette. Nobody needs to read the same review 300 times over.

So what makes YOURS stand out?

In this post I want to talk about how you can establish your voice as a hobby blogger. This could be particularly useful for newer bloggers but perhaps you’ve been blogging a while and things are feeling a bit stagnant and you need to mix it up. This is great for you too.

So, here are 10 ways you can establish your voice as a hobby blogger:

How would others describe you?

The first few things on this list are going to be questions that you’re going to have to answer yourself. I think the main thing about finding YOUR voice, is that it’s YOUR VOICE. Not influenced by anyone else. Because then, well, what’s the point?

So the first thing that might come in handy when establishing your voice is thinking about (or asking them) how other people would describe you? Do they always say how funny you are? Or how kind? Would your friends describe you as outgoing? Or softly-spoken?

Think about all these little things and you’ll start to get a more clearer picture of your actual voice and personality and then you can transfer that to your blog.

What comes naturally to you?

What comes naturally to you when you’re writing or talking? Do you ever write in a way that feels forced or difficult? If so, then that’s probably not authentically you. And it notices, I’m afraid. If you’re trying to write the same way as everyone else and that’s not like you, then you’re not establishing your own voice.

Your establishing a copy of someone else’s voice.

What would you like people to know you for?

Another good question that can help you uncover your voice for your blog is what you want people to know you for. You might also want to take into account your niche here. Do you want to be known for your beautiful descriptions? Or your funny jokes? Or the way that people feel like they’re taking to the girl next door when they read your content?

Don’t copy anyone else

Back to the eye-shadow palette review example again. There’s just no point copying someone else and trying to copy how they write or how they portray themselves online. The fact that there’s only one of you is your superpower. You might as well use it!

Write about what you care about

There’s no better way to find out whether you’re using your unique voice than to think about the content you’re producing and asking yourself, “do I actually care about this?” If the answer is no then girl, what the heck you doing?

It can be tempting to write about things that you think will bring in those views, especially when you’re just getting started and want to attract some attention but if you don’t actually care about it then it’ll show.

Don’t be scared to use your own perspective

Establishing your voice also means USING your voice. You have this amazing platform to share your experiences, ideas and opinions. USE IT! Don’t be scared to get open and honest within your content. Not only will this help you establish your voice, it’ll also help others relate.

Think about your audience

Although your voice is yours, if you want to use that voice to build an audience then you’re going to want to actually think about that audience. For example, if your content is usually around serious topics then you’re probably not going to get much love from cracking jokes and being funny all the time when people want seriously information.

Think beyond the words

Establishing a voice doesn’t always have to mean words. It can also mean your branding and your general persona online. And branding ISN’T just for business bloggers!

Re-read your own content

A great practical tip that will help you get more insight into your own voice is to re-read your own content. If you’re re-reading it back and thinking, “what the f***?” then it might be time to re-evaluate. Does your content sound like YOU? Do you enjoy reading what you’ve written?

Research other bloggers you admire

And finally, sometimes it’s okay to research other bloggers and get some inspiration there. No, you don’t want to copy them but using others as inspiration is OKAY. Perhaps think about the kind of influencers you look up too, the sort of content they produce and how they hold themselves on social media.

Which tips do you need to take on board in order to establish your voice as a blogger? Would you add anything else to this list?

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