Sunday 10 April 2016

Beautifully Simple Advice Comedy Teaches About Blogging


I'm a sucker for comedy, and whether it's Sarah Millican, Michael McIntyre, Lee Evans, or Mel and Sue from Great British Bake Off, I'm always ready to watch a 100 minutes of pure comedy gold. But why is watching comedy such a go-to happy activity for me, and what the heck does it have to go with blogging.

We may never know the answer to the first of these questions, but the second is much easier to explore. There one great piece of advice comedy can teach you about blogging, and how best to go about it, and although it won't help you in terms of SEO, social media marketing or opening your own business, it definitely teaches you a lot about the more practical, every minute moments blogging has in store.

What's this amazing advice then Amanda?

Personality is your biggest selling point


Think of your favourite comedian. How do they bring the audience into their story? How do they conduct themselves on the stage? Are they laid back, or do they use their upper class poshness to humour you? Do they act, use their hands, move around, or do they stick to the classic, microphone in stand, addressing those around them? Are they passionate, and not afraid to really act the story, or are they more composed, professional and proper?

Everybody has a different way of doing things, and comedy certainly has it's variety, so it's no surprise that certain methods work for certain comedians, while other methods work for others. The same goes for blogging, and it can be seen so clearly when you look at different bloggers in their own enviroment.

Lauren from Elle and Company is much more professional in her use of language, how she conducts herself, and her personality shines through her content, it's just less in your face and more guiding. Ash from The Middle Finger Project is certainly on a more animated end of the scale in comparison. Her language, her lack of beating-around-the-bush and tell-it-like-it-is attitude reflect on her content, and her 'performance' has just as much personality in it as Lauren's does, it's just a different type.

You should never be afraid to be more you on your blog. Anyone can talk about google analytics, or share how to achieve something, but if you put yourself into your content, into what you share with others, into your performance, you are so much more likely to achieve at your goal. A comedian uses their personality to sell things to their audience, and you should too.

The words you use go hand-in-hand with your personality too


We've all met the person who is linguistically perfect, but it doesn't match them, or their personality, or their overall demour at all, and it feels, well, not authentic. As important as grammar is, you want the words you're using to not only be respectful to your audience, but as YOU as possible.

One of my favourite ladies is Holly over at A Branch of Holly. She's in quite a professional and important role job wise, but her blog is where she lets her personality shine. She threads a light amount of humour and play through her content, but she's motivational, inspiring and hugely positive, and it shows in her blog. It's how she wants to be seen by the clients she works with in speaking gigs, and it's how she wants her audience to view her too; a teacher, a motivator, a shoulder, a friend. Holly is all about being relatable to her audience, and it works, because she uses her personality every step of the way.

I find I'm quite a spontaneous person in terms of comedy and the unscripted moments I have in life, and I incorporate that into my content as much as possible, whether it's sarcastic metaphors, or getting into the nitty gritty of dark and dry humour, it's who I am, and the type of person I want to be online too. Alas, I'm pretty reserved too, and sometimes even a tad professional and proper (although my accent would say otherwise) and it shows in the words I use. Likelihood is, if it's a tutorial, you're going to think I'm from London, but if I'm just being really honest about something, you're likely to get me, every sarcastic, emotional, clumsy inch of me.

The best comedians use their personality. You should too.


Don't be afraid of being yourself. Come out from behind the screen and sell whatever it is you do. If you're bonkers over books, get out of your blanket fort and shriek about those books. If you're loopy over lippy, then get your pout on and show them what you're made of. No matter what you're into, and whatever your blog is about, you have to sell it, and although your body might be hot, I suggest you stick to your shining personality instead.

What three words describe your personality, and do they match up with your blogs mood and style?

6 comments:

  1. Yesss, I totally agree! Actually the #1 reason I follow blogs is for the BLOGGER. I love good designs and I love it when they adore the same books as me...but I'm way more likely to keep coming back and keep reading because they're an epic awesome person. *nods*

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  2. Love this! I'm not a very serious person at all and I love just messing around (hence the "Loony" in my blog name...well, also a Harry Potter reference, but still). Humour definitely helps engage people :)

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  3. This is SO TRUE. Like, I cannot even verbalize how true. When I first started blogging, I thought I had to be "professional". So I guess I equated that with "boring", because that is what I was! But then I thought back to the post that actually led me to start a book blog- it was on my personal/mom blog, and it was a snarky as hell review of Fifty Shades, and this guy at a local news station read it and loved it and it was actually on the news. Which I mean, our local news is REALLY underwhelming in general, but STILL, I was so excited. And the posts where I had been just ME were the ones I had the most fun with. I had been dreading reviewing even! So I made myself stop.

    But then when I started requesting ARCs... well, I assumed that I had to be "professional" again. I didn't want to submit reviews to a publisher that were seemingly unprofessional. Well again, I fell into that same slump. And now I just submit reviews. No matter if I happen to use Muppet GIFs, or call a character an assface ;) Because seriously, it does not make any sense to not be yourself.

    If yourself IS more professional-sounding, then FABULOUS! It will show, and we need those! But that is not me, so why pretend like it is? LOVE this post so much!

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  4. Couldn't agree more. I often write in convonuted sentences and make references I think no one will get and for a long time I just thought I'm being weird (but whatever it's my style). Then I did a blog survey after a year of blogging and (among other things) asked people what they liked about my blog and 90% of people stated that they liked my humor/personality, which was fantastic to hear. :)

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  5. I think having your personality shine through in your blog is so important. It did took me some time to really find my way with blogging, but nowadays I feel like I do get my personality to shine through.

    I would say I mostly come across as a bit rambly and I write long and in depth posts, it's not that I don't get to the point (at least I feel that I do get to the point), but more that I just have a lot to say and talk. I am pretty quiet in real life, but when I have a topic I care about I can keep talking and talking. I am not really sure if my blog and words match that, I never really thought of that.

    I also like lists and that shows in my Lola's Ramblings posts as well. I hope I am friendly and approachable, but I do feel like I am not as quirky or enthusiastic as other bloggers and I love seeing that on their blogs, but it's just not me. I can be a bit dry and long winded at times and maybe even come across as too serious at times. And for a long time I thought that was bad, that I should be more quirky or different, but I feel like I am more accepting of that now and understand that's okay. Everyone is different and the most important thing is to just be yourself and there will always be people who like your personality.

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  6. I've recently become more ME on my blog, and far less starched and distant and amateur-erudite than I was when I started. (Ack, it's true.) Reading this post of yours has helped me gain even more confidence and reassured me that I'm on the right track. Thank you! <3

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