How To Add Fascinating, Engaging Personality To Your Blog

Looking for writing tips on how to add more personality to your writing! This blog post will help you find your writing voice and write better, more engaging blog posts. Click through to find out how!Now, a giant disclaimer to start this postI don’t think I’m particularly fascinating.

I do, however, think you are fascinating and when I can see your personality in your writing? I think that’s pretty dang engaging.

With that said, one of the sweetest things I hear about my writing is “I feel like I know you!” or “I feel like you’re just talking to me – it doesn’t feel like reading!” (I think that says more about my propensity for parenthesis and usage of the word “like,” but I’m choosing to view it as a compliment.) 

In fact, I worked as a ghostwriter for years, because my clients felt their writing is a bit, well, drier than they’d like. It can be especially hard to work personality into posts about things like marketing methods or photo formatting.

Good writing feels live a conversation with a smart friend. Click To Tweet

So if you find yourself asking “How can I communicate my amazing sense of humor and love of cat videos into this post about a/b split testing?!” this post is for you.

4 ways add more personality to your writing 

1. Start with a personal anecdote

Just about everything I write starts with a short story about how I came to write about this topic – I was writing for a magazine in Malaysia and didn’t have time to blog, my friend described me as “the one with boundaries,” Amber told me that the Griffith Observatory was her “church.”

These are all true (with occasional editing to protect my more private friends) but this peek into my life helps me connect with my readers.

2. Write like you talk

I know a Ph.D. candidate who really does pepper his language with polysyllabic adjectives and references to classic literature. Everybody else I know jokes, asks questions to make a point, or uses the word ‘like’ way too much (myself very much included.)

If you’re struggling to write in a more personal style, try improvisational dictating. Use the voice recorder on your phone and spend a few minutes talking – using your normal, everyday speech patterns – about a topic you’d like to write about. Transcribe and lightly edit the results – are they more ‘friendly’ or engaging than what you’d usually write?

3. Reference pop culture that’s important to you

When I reference Leslie Knope, you know I watch Parks and Rec. When I name drop Grumpy Cat or Sufjan Stevens or the Greek myth of Sisyphus, you immediately know more about my life and personality than if I’d spent a paragraph spelling out my appreciation for cats and moving, story-based folk music.

If you’re a committed Game of Thrones fan, reference that. If you love Beyoncé and her marketing methods have inspired you – write about it. It’s an easy way for us to get to know you and connect with you!

4. Use your own photos

A straight forward post about Instagram filters instantly becomes more engaging when you share examples of your own photos. If you’re writing about how to refinish a floor, include photos of your dining room before-and-after (bonus points if you include a photo of you working the sander.)

Some of my most popular, most commented on posts have included photos of me – even horribly awkward teenage photos! When we use personal photos we’re taking a visible, tangible step to connect with our readers. They appreciate it!

A note about professionalism:

there are certain topic areas and certain audiences that are less likely to appreciate personality-filled writing. Finance and health care immediately come to mind.

But that doesn’t mean your writing needs to be complicated or boring. It’s common practice – across platforms and topics – to open a piece with a real life example. Is it a trope? Yes. Is it effective? Super yes.

You can make just about any piece a better, more engaging read by keeping your sentences crisp and clean and avoiding the proverbial ‘five-dollar words.‘ Nobody wants to encounter those over their morning coffee.

Do you struggle to add personality to your writing? If you’re good at it, how do you communicate who you are through your articles and blog posts? Tell us in the comments so we can benefit from your knowledge!

P.S. How to find your writing voice and not sound like a robot

photo by Lionel Gustave // cc

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7 Comments

  1. Chrissy Lilly

    A lot of my readers have said that they feel like they know me because I write like I talk! I think branching out into YouTube has helped this too – people can actually hear how I talk too!! I’m totally more attracted to blogs with more personality. My brain tends to wander when I feel like I’m reading a textbook!

    Chrissy x
    http://www.chrissylilly.com

    • sarahvon

      That makes sense! I love hearing my favorite bloggers’ speaking voices!

  2. Mandy

    Great advice! I’ve started writing as if I’m talking to one person. Using the word “you” more. I might be thinking, “Wow, 20 people are going to read this!”, but they won’t be sitting together when they do. Makes sense to use a one-on-one tone. Also, I love the title of this post.

  3. Cadence

    That pizza photo is now my new favorite one of you!

    • sarahvon

      I used to use that as my online dating profile photo 😉 It was oddly popular!

  4. Danielle

    Yes! This post is perfect. I’m seeing more of a response from my readers as I loosen up and write how I speak. I’ve been ghost writing for clients for about 7 years now, but writing my OWN blog was a challenge for some reason. Everything you said is spot on.

  5. Amber

    I’ve been told that I have a strong “voice” in my writing. I really just write like I talk. The downside of that is that when I go back to revise, that “flow” gets disrupted… so the final version ends up jilting the reader a little. I am a writer and editor, so it’s something I struggle with! Doing the voice-to-text thing is helpful; I’ve been using the app Notability to dictate and make voice memos. As a mom now I’m always trying to find time-saving hacks like that.

    I need to get better at using my own photos! I think that’s so true.

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