People will follow your blog because they want to hear your views and opinions about the subject you are blogging about. They are looking to you for an informed view and you will be letting them down badly if you rant and rave to in an attempt to force them to accept your views as being correct. This means that all your posts have to find a balance between providing factual information and adding your own take on the issue.
Many bloggers steer away from giving any opinion at all in their posts, but this is a mistake. Even professional copywriters can fall into this trap because most copywriters come from either a journalistic or marketing background and feel that all their copy has to be based on fact.
All good bloggers are prepared to share their personal thoughts and experiences with their readers. They are not ‘afraid’ that their comments might upset some of their followers – why? Because they know that most people like to read something that is a bit controversial and even if they do not agree with what you have written they will be stimulated and entertained by it.
What if your customer doesn’t like your opinion?
As content marketing professionals, we understand that some clients are more open to change / controversy / trying new methods of writing than others. Your customers and prospects will be the same. If your customers and prospects all share similar views, which we doubt, then by all means target your content to appeal to those views. Another way to get your views across without incurring the wrath of your customers is to direct them to other external blog posts and pages which promote your point of view. Ideally such external bogs should contain a range of views on the subject and not just the one you like.
One of the main reasons for blogging is to build you online credibility, build trust and to position yourself as an expert in your field. As an ‘expert’ you should feel entitled to express your views and opinions but your post should also be factual. For example let’s say you are doing a blog post about a new cosmetics product that has just come on to the market. Your blog will, of course, include your opinion of the product but you should also take time to research the facts about the product e.g. where does it come from? Are there any environmental issues? Has it been tested on animals? etc.
Even if you are not an expert on the subject, people reading your blog because they are interested in it and they want to read more than just a bulleted list of facts.
If you use a copywriter to do blog posts for you they need to ‘speak in your voice’ and make sure that they include one or two interesting opinions, preferably yours, in the posts that they do for you.
If you would like to learn more about successful blogging or copywriting please leave a message below or visit WSI IMS – WSI Internet Marketing Services for UK Business.