How "Personal" Should Your Business Blog Be?
Natalie Lue
I've been blogging for over five years in both a personal and business capacity, and as a professional blogger (I actually make my living as a blogger), I'm regularly asked how personal you should get if you publish a blog that is connected to your business. Whilst blogs certainly add personality, really the main reason why many business owners opt to become bloggers, is because search engines like fresh content, and without they were their blog, there is a strong possibility that content would only be updated on an infrequent basis. Put aside the technical though and there is definitely an opportunity to add voice to your business and connect with your customers, but it is important to have a clear idea of what you are looking to achieve and convey with your blog, because at the end of the day, customers spend money and you don't want to turn them off because you keep going on about how often your child poo's and other delights of your day! Which brings you back to the question of how personal do you want to get? Do talk about family life/your own experiences but make it contextual. I read quite a few blogs that are connected to businesses and the successful ones are exciting and manage to weave the fabric of their personal life into their posts in a fun and engaging way. They talk about things that they make with their kids, places that they go, purchases they've made, how they juggle family life with running their business, which products from the business that their children enjoy, inspirational finds, recipes, and often provide tips, ideas, and links to things of interest. One particularly great example is Famille Summerbelle's blog where I get a sense of their passion for design and creating as well family life in France. Their lifestyle helps with the branding of their business. A great gauge of how personal you can be is if your family life triggered your business idea and provides the inspiration for a lot of what takes place, which products you buy in etc, getting personal will add value because your customers will find you relatable, which will make your offering of more value to them.
 If you want to get personal and don't want to muddy the business waters, have a separate blog that is not connected to your business.
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-- Natalie Lue
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It is key to have an 'about' page which makes clear what the blog is about and also gives you an opportunity to set the tone and provide a bit of a back story. This means that however someone comes across your blog, they get the gist as opposed to feeling like they've stumbled in on a random conversation. But save the slagging off your partner/husband, other businesses or whoever, because aside from it being connected to your business hence making you readily identifiable, your customers don't want to get that close to you and you may come across as unprofessional. If you want to get personal and don't want to muddy the business waters, have a separate blog that is not connected to your business. You can always link the two at a later date if you change your mind, but it removes the pressure, particularly in the early days where you may be finding your feet and your 'voice'. Ultimately this is your business so your blog will end up being part of your branding activity so be sure that what you write, is what you want to represent your business and that you are adding value. You may feel that you are the business, but be careful of putting so much of 'you' in it that your business takes a back seat
Customer Comments
Most Helpful Customer Comments
Yes, i agree that it's much better to have a separate blog for business or personal. However, it's still okay to have personal touch in every blog we have even if it's for business. This article is an insightful one.
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