3 Secrets to Developing Your Writing Voice | She Owns It

by Heather Thorkelson

In this digital age your website is often the first point of contact for your potential customers and clients, no matter what kind of business you?re running.? And with that comes the responsibility of serving up fresh, relevant content to provide value and keep visitors engaged.?? So what is it that?s going to separate your content from the pack?? Enter: your writing voice.

Your writing voice is one of those intangible and yet oh-so-important pieces of the solopreneur puzzle.? Experts will tell you it takes 3-6 months of regular writing or blogging to ?find your voice?, but if you?re a go-getter like me and want to establish your unique voice in your business ASAP, here are three key strategies that work wonders:

1) Poll your closest friends and family members and ask them to describe how you express yourself in three adjectives.? The truth is that your writing voice is almost the same as your speaking style, minus the ?umms? and ?likes?.? But it?s really hard to be objective about our own speaking personality, so recruit your nearest and dearest to distill in to three words the way they perceive your personal expression.? Are you passionate, playful, and opinionated?? Or conservative, thoughtful, and kind?? Amalgamate their responses and create a ?voice compass? that will help keep you on track when you?re producing content.

2) Use a dictation service to create content.? You can either record yourself talking out a blog post into a voice memo app and then transcribe it yourself, removing any ?filler? words like ?umm? that we use in natural speech, or you can use a transcription app like the free Dragon Dictation or Scribe (for a fee) which will do the work for you and allow you to edit afterward.? Either way, your content will undeniably be in your voice, conveying your personality, and allowing your readers to truly connect with you.

3) If you feel awkward talking things out on your own, have someone interview you, record it, and then transcribe your answers.? Pick the topic that you need to create content for, and have your interviewer ask you high return questions such as, ?Why is it important for people to know about this?? What makes you angry about this topic?? What do you know people struggle with on this topic? What gives you hope about this topic?? What do you wish everybody knew about this?? If you could offer people one key takeaway on this topic, what would it be???? This strategy can be effective for anything ~ from all natural home-baked dog treats to effective SEO optimization for websites ~ your voice will come shining through when you activate your passion around it.

This might sound like a bit of work, but results come quick as you begin to see clear trends in the way you express yourself.?? And once you gain that writing voice clarity, authentic content will start to flow with a lot more ease.

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Heather is a coach & business strategist specializing in entrepreneurial activation and business freedom.??She leads an eclectic, adventurous, self-designed life, running her own location-independent business two blocks from the ocean in Peru. ? She?s particularly passionate about experiential learning and runs life-changing Adventure Reboot Retreats for a handful of courageous women in Iceland & Peru each year, helping her clients flip the switch to chart lives + careers they really, truly, radically LOVE.

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Source: http://sheownsit.com/secrets-developing-your-writing-voice-by-heatherlyone/

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