1. Got voice?
How to make your posts more
compelling

2. The tale and the teller
• J.D.’s keynote speech last year was about
the importance of story.
• Story is vital -- but so is storytelling
• People can get information from plenty of
places. Why should they choose yours?

3. What is voice, exactly?
• “Voice” means being able to hear the writer while
I’m reading.
• A writing style that not only keeps me going until
the end – it also makes me bookmark the site.
• Your voice is you -- loud enough for the rest of us
to hear it.

5. Not that kind of loud…
• Do not mistake volume for voice.
• Loud may get people’s attention but probably
won’t keep it.
• ALL CAPS ON THE INTERNET IS REALLY
ANNOYING. So is blog writing done as a series
of snarls.
• Not only is it tough to maintain, it’s likely to turn
off readers over time.

6. In the PF blogosphere…
• How many genuine voices are there? Too
few.

7. Listen up…
• I don’t hear a lot of originality – and I don’t
think that’s because bloggers aren’t
creative.
• I think it’s because they don’t trust their
own voices.

8. I see blogs written…
• Inverted pyramid style
• Yearbook style
• 9th-grade-English-essay style
• Hey-girlfriend! style
• With slang that not only sounds forced but
will soon sound dated and maybe embarrass
the writer five years from now (remember,
the Internet is 4-ever)

9. What else do I see?
• Bloggers who feel they have to put in every
single fact they collect
• Bloggers who think they have to fling
attitude to get noticed

10. Attitude isn’t voice.
• Neither is relentless snark
• Or hip-weltschmertz
• Those things can be elements of voice, just as
voice is an element of writing. But it’s hard to
sustain a blog on fey wit or “another sign the
apocalypse is upon us” moans. You’d have to be a
much better writer than most of us are.

11. What’s your voice sound like?
• So don’t let any of those things substitute for
voice -- or overwhelm your voice.
• That is, if you know what your voice sounds like.
A lot of us don’t. When we think “writing,” we’re
back in that 9th-grade English class, building the
weighty sentences we think the teacher wants to
read. (She didn’t, by the way.)

13. Is that really you?
• Or we fall back on the shibboleths mentioned
above -- maybe because we think our own voices
aren’t interesting enough.
• Is your blog voice the way you talk? Or is it the
way you wish you talked? Do you want to be a lot
more hip, sardonic, erudite or oh-snap! than you
actually are?
• Striking an attitude is easy, and comments like
“LOL! Your so funnneee!” are real ego-strokers.

14. What is your goal as a writer?
• Merely to pull in page views, or to contribute to
the conversation?
• To out-obnoxious other writers by larding your
copy with slang words for genitals or phrases like
“financial retard”?
• Or to provide information that can help people
change their lives?

15. Style + substance
• If you’re a number monkey, pure and
simple, more power to you and I hope you
get 10,000 hits a day.

16. More than SEO…
• If you actually want to help people
understand personal finance, pay attention
to your writing.
• If you have both style and substance, you
probably have voice. Let us hear you!

17. How do you find your voice?
• Start by listening to it. Read your last post
out loud.
• Does it sound like a drone, even to you? Or
to the person you asked to listen to it?
• Try this: Imagine how you’d tell your next
post to a friend.

18. What old print newshounds
can teach us….
• Newspaper journalists might get only 15” to
tell what happened.
• Obituary writers have to sum up entire lives
in as little as 8” of copy.

19. Print journalists…
• Assume a certain amount of collective
knowledge.
• Attribute only things reader might not know
• Ask the right questions – the famous 5 Ws
• Use the most evocative info they can get.
But they don’t use all of it.
• Tell us why this topic matters.

20. Bloggers shouldn’t…
• Set up or qualify every point. (You’re the
one telling the story, so just tell it.)
• Go on and on and on… (More words won’t
necessarily make your point. In fact, they
might smother it.)
• Get lazy. (Each post is a chance to impress
a new visitor to your site.)

21. Keep your voice in the
forefront.
• Be unique.
• Tell stories that matter.
• Make your voice unmistakable – and make
it yours.