Welcome to part two of Improve your blog by spicing up your communication. If you’ve missed the first part, then click here in order to read it.

In this second part, I’d like to list 5 of the most powerful factors that bloggers can use to improve interaction with their readers, add more value to their content and make a bigger impact on their audience.

I’d like to add that I’m sure that there are more factors then the 5 I’ve listed below, but I’ve found that these are the primary ones which are most easy to apply. You may find that others factors for improvement are usually derived from these primaries.

I’ve decided to list the tips in random order. It’s up to you, the blogger to decide what works best for you. As usual you’re most welcome to add comments and opinions if you feel that there’s something useful to add …

#1 - Being an idealistic blogger
Practically speaking, implementing idealistic aspects into your blog widens the spectrum of topics that you can write about and provides room for new idea’s to evolve. The space I am talking about is the gap between the normal and ideal situation.

A good example of how I’ve used an idealistic situation in a practical way in one of my posts is found in the first part of building an optimal keyword formula for bloggers.

In this post I’ve taken a theoretical ideal situation as a reference point to work towards. Without having used this idealistic point, I couldn’t have written that article.

You can find the paragraph that I am referring to just under the picture of the bearded guy on the left.

Sometimes it’s difficult to know how far you can take idealism, but I’ve found that as long as an idea is based on potential reality, being idealistic is acceptable and appreciated by most.

Aside from giving the practical advantages above, adding idealistic value to your communication demonstrates a form of strength and self assurance. Not being afraid to start a topic which to certain extend might be based on speculation (but also upon potential reality) can quickly initiate interaction with interested parties in the form of both positive and critical comments.

These two forms of feedback are both part of audience interaction and should be welcomed with open arms because this is exactly what you want to happen on your blog.

#2 - Extend the reach of your blog by being inspirational
If you are able to add the factor of inspiration to your blogging you might be surprised about the reach that you articles can have. Being able to inspire means that you’re leaving a long lasting impression on your targets which can easily translate into the most wonderful surprises.

Being inspiring can bring a blogger the wonderful things of sympathy and admiration. Either of these can be very beneficial in terms of receiving rewards for your work in the form of links , compliments and comments.

For example,

Listening to Desmond Tutu talk about Kenya inspired me to write this post because I felt that not only people interested in the Kenya crisis could learn from what Tutu had to say, but also people in my own direct environment such as bloggers who want to improve their skills.

This illustrates the reach that an inspirational message can have, as it can connect totally different topics. In this case the topic of solving the Kenya crisis, and the topic of improving your blogging.

It should be clear that if you are able to write in an inspirational way, this is one of the most powerful ways of spicing up your communication.

#3 - Build your blog upon the pillars of truth & honesty
As said in the little note under the video clip in the first part of this post. When millions of eyes and ears are focussed on the speaker, or writer, it’s hard to get away with lies. Most will agree that truth and honesty are probably most effective long term factors to keep a message standing.

No matter if you are a blogger, a sales person, or a writer, this basically means that if you build your communication around dishonesty, or twisted facts, your audience will eventually notice and disappear, leaving your blog unrepairable.

This is why it’s so important to keep being yourself as a blogger. Being yourself is not always easy and can be scary, but my advice would be to do it anyway. It’s amazing how even little white lies seem to surface when the time is ‘right’.

Ever wondered where the saying “The truth will eventually catch up …” came from ?

Unless you’re a sales person trying to make a quick buck with a bad product, being honest and respecting truth is the best way to keep your blog being around for a long time.

Aside from that, being yourself and staying true will always give you a leg to stand on when dealing with things such as negative comments or critical feedback from your readers.

#4 - Choose words efficiently and maximize readability and impact
Efficient writing and speaking, or in blogging terms; de-cluttering your post is an important part of making your message effective and impact full.

If you look at the Desmond Tutu example video in part 1, you can notice that he sometimes takes time to organize his thoughts while speaking. When his speaking slows down, instead of trying to fill the silence with words, Tutu uses this time to think for a second. This small amount of time is all he needs to select the appropriate word that has to follow the previous one.

This is where good public speakers differ average ones. Not everybody has the ability to do this and you can recognize a good communicator by looking for details like these.

You as a blogger possess the advantage of having more time to choose your words then Desmond Tutu has in a live interview. For you, it’s possible to switch around sentences, take out words and re-read your articles as many times as you like before pressing the publish button in wordpress.

I suggest that you use this time and not rush posts too much. Because if you do, the result could be that you crack the effectiveness of the message and eventually don’t make the impact that you would like to make.

Sometimes when I re-read an article I wrote, I delete half a sentence because I suddenly see that I can explain the same thing by turning a few words around and just adding another in a different place.

As a result the article becomes shorter, easier to read and more professional.

Readability is an important factor in readers leaving or staying on your web pages.

#5 - Personalize your communication and be socially accessible
Personalizing your blog involves getting ‘close’ to the reader or letting the reader get ‘close’ to you. Basically it means that you need to make your audience identify with you by having some sort of a personal relationship with each and every one of your readers.

This can for instance be done by applying a conversational writing style, adding your picture to the blog and posting participating in the discussions. Being more personal also means that you open up a bit and show the reader a little bit of your personal life so that he or she can identify with you more easily and the relationship can have some foundation.

Personalizing your blog can make the reader feel : involved, it builds trust and makes it easier for a reader to interact through comments, linking and so forth.

The thing about personalization is that without it, it becomes harder to add the other factors as well.

Logically, the key to creating a synergistic effect is by combining personalization with other factors from the list in order to create a mix that works best for you.

Personalizing your blog is probably the best known factor that adds value to your communication efforts. Let it be clear though that while many think that adding value to a blog ends with personalization, it actually only starts there.

Final words
If you as a blogger are able to combine effective factors such as in the list above to a certain degree in your articles, video posts and comments, you’re adding more value to your work and you’ll reap the rewards of it accordingly.

You can learn from good examples, such as Ghandi, Mandela, Tutu or any other influential person who regularly communicates on the world stage. If you’re not completely interested in the subject, you don’t have to turn away immediately. You can treat the lecture as a case to learn from.

In the end it really comes down to this : Understand effective communication, improve your skills and apply them to your blogging. As a result you will not only give much more to your readers, but you will also receive much more from them in return !

That’s it for me, hope you enjoyed this article. I’m off to find some added value for my next blog post …