Communicating with People You Haven’t Met
It is easier to talk to someone face to face, with co workers, friends, family, and even the person you meet at the library or the bar for the first time. But communicating with someone you have never met? That is exactly what we are all doing every day via blogging, aren't we? But then why are there so many blogs that we just did not want to spend time reading after that first line?
We all write for different reasons. We might want to discuss something that inspired us at work, or we may want to share a personal feeling, emotion or we might at times want to write to get other people's opinions on some specific situation that we might be facing at the time. In these circumstances, since we are the only ones who are completely familiar with what the reasons are and what we are feeling at the time of our writing, it is very easy to fall in the trap where we sort of leave out the details and assume our readers will get our point. Think about it for a second. If after reading an otherwise good article, we are left with an impression that the article was good but was really directed at someone else, we are likely to feel alienated and may not ever feel that association with it to go back to read more…..
What is it that leaves an impression on us the first time we read someone's writing? As for me, I always look for that connection in the writing, something that is invisible but felt in the words they wrote, even in the tech blogs. Yes, blogs filled with technical jargon are sometimes more appealing than some personal blogs. Why is that? What makes some online readings pleasurable than others?
I believe its all about communication. Communication is at the heart of building relationships and I believe blogging, as a means electronic communication, should be no different than face to face conversations. With every sentence we write, we are building a quiet relationship with our readers. So it is of utmost importance that each and every post is written with the purpose of engaging our readers.
We as readers don't even know at what point in time or with which post we develop that relationship with some blogs or their writers per se. We realize this only after we have gone to read those blogs more than once and then added them to our favorites, to Technorati, to delicious, joined their social network communities, and then we want to read them more and some we even add to our homepage. We all do this don't we? I keep seeing the same people/blogs over and over in many of the online communities I have joined. That is because once we find a great blog, or a blog writer who might be authoring more than one blog, we just do not want to lose them. We want to read everything they write and learn the techniques that make them unique.
As blog writers, that is exactly what our aim should be. To learn to connect with our readers, to make them want to come back to read us more. I am still at initial stages of this journey, but following are a few points that come to mind each time I sit down to make that attempt at writing articles:
- Making your point clear to the reader at the beginning of the post will avoid his confusion. If I am not sure what I want to say, then the readers are going to feel I am simply wasting their time.
- Write as if you are talking to your readers. This is the only way I feel I can write and express myself. It makes me feel much more comfortable in saying what I want to say, a process that helps me find my voice.
- I personally find it easier to write as if I am talking to just one person, one reader, not a whole group of them! Because when I start thinking of my readers as a group of people, I get nervous and the stress starts to build up. You know how when you see a huge billboard with someone's face on it, and as you are driving by, their eyes move with you? I always find that concept fascinating. If I can have that one person, one reader make some kind of connection with what I write, I would feel I have been successful at writing.
- Write what you feel most passionate about. We have heard this before, haven't we? I have to be honest and say that I have tried to write about blogging, and about the technical stuff but that is not where my heart is. I write about improving life skills, personal development and thereby explore means to make our lives better. Whatever the subject of your writing is, you've got to love it to be able to talk more about it. If you love your topic, it'll be easier to talk about it with passion and that will show through your writing.
How can I say this? Because that is exactly what brings me back to read my favorite writers.
I am sure you have something to share on what makes for great writing and why you favorite some blogs. Would you share it with us in the comments?
great points Pearl….
I love your little pics too…..is that a pic of your Grannie ????….she looks like an avid blogger….
and that leads me to my comment….I always like to read posts with images….as someone once said a picture can tell a thousand words :]
haha she is not my grannie although she does look cool :) I’m sure I’ll be looking like her though ;) checking out my email and comments in the middle of the lonely nights :)
yes I need to get in the habit of including pictures more .. I really like them too… :) challenge always is to find a relevant one though ….
nice post :d
Oh, you start to make me believe you are the granny! lol
80 years granny. :)
I agree with your opinions. Our Content should be reader-centric and not Self-Centric. :)
Pointless to tell you how great this entry is. I would love to read your take on… communicating with people you don’t know. :)
And… btw: HI! ;)
J! I was in a hurry and instead of writing “communicating with people you already know” … look what a mess. See? That’s your fault. You asked for a second. I really have to give more…
Another whopper Pearl!
‘Communicating with people you already know’
Sometimes this can be harder than for people you don’t know. You know how a particular someone reads into something differently than someone else – and you try to tailor to this so that they GET it, not just receive it. I find a quick blast from a friend quite shallow and, depending on the content, a bit lazy.
Communicating to people you don’t know relies much more on the openness, clarity and motivation of the author as Pearl has written above.
A great subject to think about!
~biff~
yplow98….thanks..
Ken… yes that could be me ;) who knows…
Mig……lol Thanks for stopping by … thats always a tough one, isn’t it? communication with the ones you know stops when we work on our blogs ;)
biff… you are right, I get that too sometimes, just shallow ..’yes, its good’ sort of thing and I’m sure all bloggers face this … very good topic to write about…..
thanks guys….
Great point. It is the personal touch which can help in building the reputation. I always try to communicate through my blog and that’s why I always write as You or We when I’m explaining something. That way I ensure that you get the feeling that as if I was talking to you.
[...] Communicating With People You Haven’t Met by Pearl [...]
hey Mayank – your posts are always written very well… thanks :)
[...] Communicating With People You Haven’t Met by Pearl [...]
congrats pearl!!! Darren linked to you!
[...] Communicating With People You Haven’t Met by Pearl [...]
hey Mayank.. thanks.. I just noticed it :) I was really not sure if my posts would be included!
did you submit something?
Congratulation, Pearl! :)
You;ve got accepted again! :)
Via Problogger I reached your blog which, I must say, it’s excellent :-)
I always like to leave a comment (there’s nothing like a comment for a blogger: Think it’s our healthy way to get high :-))))).
Thank you very much for this post and I promise to visit you more often :-)
Regards from Spain,
Paquito.
http://paquito4ever.blogspot.com
Thanks Ken :) same to you as well…. your articles are in there too :)
HI Paquito – welcome to the blog… and thanks for stopping to comment…
I’d look forward to seeing you here more often…tc
[...] Communicating With People You Haven’t Met by Pearl [...]
[...] Communicating With People You Haven’t Met by Pearl [...]
Hey, you do have a great theory about it, sounds pretty cool. i enjoy readin you, its not like if im jumpin around in happiness, but i finish it and i really feel that that’s already a success to you. Must people get away from what they read just in the middle, some in the beginning but you hooked me, I ll suscribe to your feed!
Hi dariou… welcome to the blog…
and thanks for nice comment and for subscribing! I’d be looking forward to hearing from you more here!
tc and kit
Pearl, I liked your 4 points about how you write an article. Very helpful. Thanks.
Hey Patricia – glad you liked them :) welcome to the blog and hope you will come back again!!
tc
Will always keep them in mind while i write something…….. Thanks! Pearl
welcome Voipbuddy… thanks!!!
tc and kit
[...] Communicating With People You Haven’t Met by Pearl [...]
[...] Communicating With People You Haven’t Met by Pearl [...]
[...] wrote a good post about it, she even share you the tips to handle this matter and how to communicate with people you haven’t met. “I was attracted to Blogging in the first place partly because of the way in which it [...]
[...] by Shawn DesRochers * Post Folding by Dan Cole * 7.5 Reasons I Abandoned You Today by Rich Minx * Communicating With People You Haven’t Met by Pearl * Publisher Advertising Programs Roundup by Edward Dowd * What Can Stephen Colbert Teach You about [...]
Just checking out your archived stuff. This is a great post.
thanks :)
[...] Communicating With People You Haven’t Met by Pearl [...]
[...] Communicating With People You Haven’t Met by Pearl [...]
[...] Communicating with strangers is difficult for I think most of us. What we fear is the response, or a lack of it. On the Internet your ability to communicate with people you have never met becomes more crucial because you friend, client, or your blog reader might be sitting on the opposite side of the globe and you don’t have any idea of his or her race, religion, or even gender. The blog post I’m linking here turned out to be about blogging whereas I thought it was about communicating with total strangers on one-one level. Communicating through your blog, although it’s very critical, is a bit easy because when people come to your blog they’re already inclined to get some sort of information from you. Still, unless you can strike a personal note, you are never going to develop a community of regular readers, and this is what explained in a blog post titled Communicating with people you haven’t met. [...]
I feel lost in blogging recently, but after reading this post, I think I found something. I got to rearrange my blog right now. Thank you very much, pearl. This is a great post, and I feel like you are talking to me face to face, while I am reading ^_^
thats great Zachary..:) I’m glad you liked it… would be reading your blog soon… thanks for stopping to comment….take care and stay in touch….
[...] Blogging is truly a medium that allows people to write with freedom, without having someone stand over their heads dictating what and how to write. So, write with passion. Write as if you are talking to your readers. [...]
[...] Communicating with People you haven’t met Building a Support System via Guest Blogging Make a Decision and Stick with it! Being Aware of [...]
[...] Communicating with People you haven’t met Building a Support System via Guest Blogging Make a Decision and Stick with it! Being Aware of [...]
[...] Communicating with People you haven’t met Building a Support System via Guest Blogging Make a Decision and Stick with it! Being Aware of [...]