Accent

Languages can be said to be groups of phonemes.

Groups of people can be identified by the pronunciation of those phonemes.


Of interest is how those phonemes are heard by others.



This is where accent comes in:
                     
Accent is what someone, familiar with a phoneme, hears when it sounds different.

Said another way - if you know a language, you can hear when someone sounds different.


Learn the language of your niche.

Simply being passionate about the niche will give you some of the basic words.

Studying it will give you more.


Your goal is to speak the language of your niche with no accent.

Mastering this will contribute to your being seen as a legitimate source.


Be without accent!

Spacing

One of the more subtle aspects of presentation is spacing.

This can be as simple as ensuring sentences are only a certain width.
It can incorporate space distance between clauses, paragraphs, etc.

Do your best to have text not wrap.

Too, although this clearly isn't a deal breaker:
sentence-wrapping is dissonant.
Dissonance can detract from comprehension.

Certainly it can reduce reading speed at the least.

Take the time to choose the right spacing:
It will increase readibility by something like 5%.

And each of these small improvements will, aggregately, bear fruit.

Value

Implicit to the point of blogging is the idea of value.

There are different kinds of blogs; some are public, others aren't.

The ability to draw eyes is specifically associated with the value provided.

You could simply be journaling your own thoughts.

Value there would be the capture and dissemination of your voice.

You could be reviewing car dealerships.

Value there would generally be found in your offering a distinctive, useful perspective.

Again, it would be the capture and dissemination of your voice.

You could be sharing yarn and knitting patterns.

Value might be in how the patterns fit together and perhaps unique kinds of thread/yarn.

So, too, would value be provided through asserting your unique identity.

It is also true that the absence of voice removes value.

Without a reason to stand out, to identify and provide a unique voice, value is lost.

One could even say that genuine value ceases to exist when voice absent.

Provide value.

Sticky

One of the words mentioned throughout numerous posts is "sticky".

I first ran across the term in the book above.
It may be purchased by clicking the image or [this] link.

Being sticky is that elusive character that makes something memorable.
It is why urban legends survive but your remembered grocery list is incomplete.

It is an effective means of ensuring your core message is remembered

• by your customers
• by your staff

And clearly this is what makes branding and product-placement work millions.

Make your posts sticky!

Voice

Voice is that aspect to writing or speaking that uniquely identifies.

It is what helps you:

* pick a person out of a crowd

* identify a loved one

* recognize yourself

In blogging, voice sets you apart from everyone else.

It is, thus, important; it can also appear to be difficult.

There are several aspects to retaining your voice.

Most can be summarized as follows:

* Change

  Most topics are not static: try to stay current on yours.

  Do your best to read other blogs and grow daily (even if only a little).

* Don't lose sight of yourself

  Copying others can be tempting.

  Doing it too much can make it difficult to recognize your own voice

* Don't lie

  Advertising content you don't believe in can destroy your integrity.

  So can advertising content you don't understand.

  Losses to integrity tend to be accompanied by a detriment to voice.

  

Paring

One of the other things that blogs are about is the absence of content.

Paring, as an expression of focus, is important:
Choosing what NOT to include has a direct impact on your message.

Another aspect of paring is word-choice.
Each of the posts on this blog are titled with a single word.

This helps with post-focus.
It helps filter my idiolect, establish my scope, and direct my post.
It also helps YOU, the reader, prepare to absorb the post.

I will leave you with the standard business-case joke/riddle conveying this:

There are two rules to succeed in business.
1. Never tell everyone what you know.

Inspiration

As this week comes to a close, I wanted to provide a list.

Here are some things I do to help generate content:

1. Read
As mentioned previously, much content is rehashed.
This isn't bad - as long as you're not copying without providing credit.
Likewise, if you read enough, you'll often become newly inspired.

2. Sleep
I believe everyone has experienced the sensation of delayed resolution.
This is when, after some time, the solution just "comes to you".
One of the ways in which this can happen is simply sleeping.
You may also note that being well-rested can help the creative juices too.

3. Dance
Moving about can be a mental lubricant.
The key here is to simply get up and move about without forethought.
As much as you are comfortable and able: dance!

4. Sing
Voice is tied to thought.
This is why one of the most effective ways of improving speech is through improved writing.
The reverse is true as well; learning to speak more effectively can bear fruit in your writing.
And singing can help get the lingual juices flowing.

5. Argue
Another useful tactic is to engage in a mental dialogue with someone.
The easiest and most efficient method is through argument.
Be sure that disagreement does not result in offence.

Have a great weekend!

Blocked

Most of us tend to experience an occasional inability to form words.
This experience is affectionately known as writer's block.

In my experience, the primary cause is associated with focus.

The most common deals with a distracted focus.
This kind of focus is usually lost due to other things.
This often happens when one is expected to write and finds other things more interesting.
It can also happen when your mind is focused on things other than your writing topic.
Incidentally, it is also why, under pressure, this form of focus-loss often dissipates.

The second most common cause is that of the absense of focus.
This kind of focus is usually lost due to lack of discipline.
This often happens when one lacks a definitive timeline.
This form of focus-loss can often be resolved through writing more-often.

Note:
One common way to recapture the ability to simply write down everything.
Called "stream-of-consciousness", the goal is to allow your mind's tongue an outlet.
After a small season, the mind will often return back to the desired focus.
It will, of course, require some degree of editing.

Content

As mentioned previously, blogs are all about dynamic content.
If you've taken the trouble to ensure your blog has a focus, content should follow.

Content comes in several categories:
New:

     Most-rare, this is information simply unavailable elsewhere.
     This is blog-gold.
     This is usually the hardest to make sticky.

Extended:

     This is repackaged information that is found elsewhere.
     It is how genuinely useful information stays atop the pile.
     It is also a way to ensure your own relevance.
     This is also the easiest to make sticky.
     Often this includes linking to other sites.

Referral:

     This refers to information predominantly provided by another source.
     Excellent for relevant points that do not directly tie to your blog's focus.

One last content note:
All blogs have a voice; selecting a focus for your blog gives it that voice.
Be sure to include this voice in each post (and for all content types).