Blog Training and How-To Guide for Business Blogging

This week on BlogChalkTalk, we'll discuss the wonderful world of writing voices - what a voice is, how to establish a unique voice, how to strengthen your voice, etc.Today's expert blogging tip is courtesy of Know More Media Editor and author of BusinessBlogWire, Easton Ellsworth.

What is writer's voice?

It's the combination of what you say and how you say it. It's your vibe. It's how other people imagine you sounding when they read your words.

Why is voice important?

Your voice is your unique fingerprint. It gets people to notice you, to make assumptions about you, to judge you. It spurs them to action. It lulls them to sleep. It acts independently of the actual language you use. If you use it smartly, your voice can have great power.

How do you find your voice?

You just stumble across it.

No, you don't. You develop it. You're always developing it, consciously or not.

The more you write, the easier it should be to settle into your personal voice.

For me, the voice-finding process has been hard at times. I worried too much about what other people would think. I tried too hard to have a voice like somebody else. I faked voices. I forced them.

But I gradually came to appreciate my own sound, my own moods, my own vernacular.

What's my voice like?

I can't say for sure, because just like with our speaking voices, we sound a little different to other people than we do to ourselves.

But I think I sound friendly, calm, careful, a bit quirky and funny at times, sometimes dry, always particular. I hope I sound like I love writing.

What's your voice like?

Your readers probably know your voice better than most people who have never met you person. :)

Speaking collectively, if you're a Know More Media writer, your voice is fun, upbeat, wise, pensive, and (surprise) business-like.

But individually, you've got a voice all your own.

Pay close attention to the subtle differences between your writing voice and that of others. Accentuate the things that make you you.

How did you come to find your blogging voice?

Your turn. Tell us, please!