This guest post is by Nihara of Doing Too Much.
I'll never forget what my sister said when I showed her the first iteration of my blog. "BOH-ring!," she announced after scrolling through the first few posts. "It's all so very dull and generic." Fortunately, she did have some constructive advice: "You always have the most interesting stories. Why don't you try telling some of those instead?"
At first I wondered why anybody would be interested in hearing about the little snippets of my life, and what I have learned from my experiences. But after I started writing in my own voice, an amazing thing happened: people started to respond.
I haven't been blogging long, but I have already learned how to blog better. Here are five good reasons why you, too, should aim to be authentic instead of generic.
1. Being authentic brings something new to the conversation
There's not much you can write about that someone else hasn't already covered. But by bringing your unique personal angle to the topic, you can add something new to the discussion.
Rachel Meeks, the voice behind Small Notebook, offers this advice in her ebook, Simple Blogging: Less Computer Time, Better Blogging:
"Everything you could possibly write about has been written about before, but none of those ideas have been written about from your perspective. Nobody else has that special combination of life experiences which influence the way you think. You can weave a unique, personal thread into every story."
2. Getting a little personal can help you get your point across
When you tell people a little about yourself and your experiences, it's easier to convey your message. It gives your readers some context—a framework in which to understand what you are trying to say.
Gretchen Rubin, the cheerful writer of The Happiness Project, has found that she "often learn[s] more from one person's highly idiosyncratic...
