Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

The Importance of Story-Telling For Bloggers

March 19, 2009 | Feature, Marketing

Story-telling is an age-old pastime that has been around since before written language even existed. We all love stories. We remember stories. And if you master the art of story telling, but also learn your OWN story, you will be light-years ahead of any other blogger in your niche.

What I’m about to share in this post is like the tip of an iceberg. The rest of that iceberg is stuff I plan to get into a little bit later in a brand new program I am putting together just for aspiring probloggers. More on that later, though. :)

The Importance of Character

When people first come to your blog, they will immediately look for something that catches their attention. Most likely, they will look for a solution to a problem that they just searched for in a search engine. They happened upon your blog. Their attention span is VERY short.

In most cases, the reader will either find value in your post or they will not. Either way, they are most likely going to leave and not come back. But, what is the difference between that passer-by and the person who will turn into a repeat visitor? It is the story. Most notably, YOUR story.

What turns a person into a loyal reader is a level of reality or empathy with you. They identify with you. Most importantly, though, they will identify with your character.

A character, you ask?

Most of the time, the readers of your blog have not met you in person. They have no reality of what you’re like. What they DO come to know, though, is your character. It is the representation of you which forms in your reader’s mind. That character should represent the traits that your reader is after.

All characters have a story. Where did they come from? What happened in the character’s life to bring them to the present day?

Some Examples

There is a good chance that you’re not exactly understanding what any of this has to do with blogging. :) I’ll try to bring you there, but here are a few examples.

  1. Myself. Very few of you guys know me in person. However, chances are you have ideas about what I’m about based on this blog. You know I make my living as a blogger. You know I’m a family man (that is, if you noticed the pictures which rotate at the top of this blog). So, you could say that my character for this blog is a down-to-earth, relaxed family man with powers of making six figures as a blogger and who shows others how to do so in a very straight-talk way. :)
  2. John Chow. His character is that of a dude who lives the “dot com lifestyle”, eats out a lot, and makes a bunch of money online.
  3. Chris Pirillo. I bring him up because his market is completely different. Chris plays up his character big time, even going so far as to make use of his own head in various facial poses. His company logo is a caricature of himself. His character is uber-nerd who gets to play with technology all day.
  4. Ted Murphy. He is great at personal branding and he plays up the character of a slightly crazy social dude who likes to stick out his tongue a lot (another play at the whole “crazy” thing). He’s crazy and he’s funny and that makes people want to follow him and do business with him. Ted’s a sharp business dude.

If you follow the internet marketing world much at all, you’ll see that many of them develop a character of the dude who makes a bunch of money but hardly works at all. That is done on purpose because that character represents who their audience wants to be.

The Marketing Lesson

The idea of developing your character is another way of saying to develop your own personal brand. The importance of it comes down to the ideas and concepts which you (or your character) represent in the reader’s mind.

Now, there is a VERY important caveat that I have to make sure you understand here: You are NOT supposed to make things up!

When I say the word “character”, it is easy to assume that I’m talking about just creating the ideal character for your market even if it isn’t the real you. No! If you’re lying when you blog, you’re not going to get anywhere. You’ve got to be genuine. Ideally, you and your character will jive completely and totally. If you’re in the right market for you, then that’ll be mostly the case. However, everybody is multi-faceted. So, I would encourage you to simply play up those strengths that back up your character.

Develop Your Story

Like I said, this is the tip of an iceberg. I can’t make anybody an expert in branding with this post. But, take the concept and think about it for your own blog.

  1. What traits is your market looking for? What in a character would your target market empathize with?
  2. Taking the above into mind, what is your character for your blog’s market? Does it represent you truthfully?
  3. What is your back story?

With that character in mind, your blog should tell your story. Your “about page” should most definitely build up the character and tell the back-story. Your posts can reference the back story to teach and make points.

At the end of the day, why does any of this matter? Well, it equates to traffic. People will follow your blog in order to follow your story. They want to hear about new developments for your character. New things learned. When it comes to marketing things to your audience, it will be much easier to do when your readers have a relationship with your character.

Your thoughts? Did I go a little too deep here?

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

  1. The Importance of Branding And Why You Might Be Screwing It Up Badly
  2. Story From The Caribbean (And How It Relates To Marketing)
  3. Bloggers: It’s Important To Be Yourself
  4. The Importance of Surveys, SurveyMonkey
  5. Bloggers, Don’t Lose Your Soul

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  • Hi David,
    Good post. Each one of us are unique in our perception of life. These varied perceptions make us richer. That's what each one of us doing here in blogoshere. In their own niches.
    thanks for a great post!
    Solomon
  • Marlene
    I'm with Matty Byloos, opinion-wise. Not too deep, and indeed food for thought.
  • David, Great post. I just started bloggin as more of ahobby than anyhting else. I neve thought that I am drawn to certain blogs because I relate with the writer or like their chracter. Thanks for bringing these things that I woul dnever think about to my attention.

    Keep up the greta work!
  • Chas
    Great post David! Your message is truthful and very pointed....a lesson for the real world is to be yourself and don't pretend to be anthing but who your are...Own It and be proud of it!!
  • I completely agree! While tips and advice on topics are great, it's too easy to sound the same as any other blogger out there. The personality you bring to your posts, and stories you tell, help readers relate and draw them in. I appreciate advice, but am more drawn to a personal connection, whether it be similar interests, living in the same area, or being in the same circle. If you don't inject your character into your writing, you miss opportunities for greater connection.
  • I think it's a very interesting point. I blog at Gamesbrief, but I also write some fiction. I've tried very hard to make my blog extremely factual and analytical (I don't have a visible picture of me except hiding in the about page).

    So thinking about to how to give the site more character is interesting, even if it's just putting a Gravatar of me at the end of every post.

    Hmmm. Redesign on its way, methinks.
  • Not too deep at all, D. Great post - and a reminder to us all to think about the personality we are putting forward to our readership in the topics we choose to write about, the way we choose to write about them, the references we make, the links we provide, etc.
  • Well, everything I say on this blog is accurate, however, just to correct your interpretation, I don't live on a lake...just close by to the beaches since I'm in Florida. And I don't fly anything...my Dad is a pilot so that shot is of me in his plane. I come from a family of pilots, actually. But, don't actually do that myself. But, I'm definitely not in my early 20's (I'm 30, actually) and definitely don't live with my mom. :)
  • I am glad that you put in the caveat that it should not be a lie. Because, like you say, your online persona is well developed. You are a family man, lives in suburbs, near a lake and fly a helicopter (based on picture with helmet). If I found out that it was not true - that in reality you are in your early twenties and living in your mother basement I would be really surprised.

    For me the lifestyle of the blogger matters. Although I am not a family man, the image that you portray is soft and homely. A stark contrast to John Chow. Neither is good or bad, right or wrong – just different. Its like the differences between coffee shops – there are soft lite old furniture shops or a neon lite futuristic S shaped chair coffee shops. People have different tastes and frequent the coffee shop to their liking.
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