Skellie has excellent advice on being a more influential blogger. She writes:
Develop a consistent style. Leo Babauta is renowned for his lists, Seth Godin — to pluck an example from above — is known for pithy, thought-provoking posts, while Jason Kottke is famous for interesting links and insightful commentary. What kinds of posts do you do best? Developing a consistent approach, voice, and formatting style will help to develop a style of blogging with your trademark on it. When readers see a similar style, they will think of you. They’ll start to recognize your posts wherever they appear.
Just like a flashy signature, site design, or logo can catch people’s attention, a consistent writing style will help people recognize and remember you.
You should find a style that works for you and fits your personality. While it’s a good idea to change things up a bit and not be too predicatable, your blog should have a sense of style that’s consistent.
My favorite blogs are the ones where I know what to expect. I like visiting this health blog because I know I’ll get short, informative posts about basic health principles. I like reading this copywriting blog because the authors have interesting pictures and great copywriting tips. I visit this NBA basketball blog daily because I know it will have interesting commentary and links about the latest NBA news.
What is Style?
So, what do I mean by style? Here are a couple things to think about.
Post length and frequency – If one week, you post five 1000 word posts and then the next week, you post three 300 word posts, your style is not consistent. Try to keep things consistent so that your readership knows what to expect.
This doesn’t mean every post has to be the same length, but you should have a weekly pattern. For example, you could write a longer post (800 words) on Monday and then 300 word posts daily for the rest of the weekdays. And then a 200 word “link post” on the weekend.
Think of your blog as a magazine. Would you like it if your favorite magazine randomly varied their page counts? One month you get a 75 page issue, another month you get an issue with 150 pages, and then the next month you get an issue with only 25 pages. That would be annoying. By being consistent with your post length and frequency, you blog will be professional and your readers will begin to anticipate your posts.
Tone – Having a consistent tone is especially important in blogging. Blogging is a personal medium. Whether you have a more conversational tone or scholarly tone, be consistent. Also, be yourself. People are attracted to someone who’s comfortable in their own skin.
Formatting – Be consistent with your formatting. If you’re inserting pictures in your posts, continue doing so. But don’t have a month where you have pictures on every post and then the next month all your posts are picture-less. The same goes with subheadings, bullet points, bolded text, and italics. If you’re gonna use them, use them often or use them very sparingly. What confuses readers is using them for every other post. Also, some bloggers like Lyndoman do well without using much formatting.
Linking out – Some popular bloggers like Steve Pavlina don’t link out very often. Others like Michael Arrington link out all the time. Be consistent with your linking out. Your readers will appreciate it because they’ll know what to expect when they visit your blog.
What other factors do you think affect a blogger’s style?