As go-to sources for innovative content, amateur bloggers have been teaching mainstream media professionals some new tricks. Once considered the sideshow of journalism, blogging has taken the center ring. Even traditional media outlets have joined the fray, bolstering blogging’s reputation. But for amateur bloggers not writing for a trusted brand, establishing a trustworthy reputation remains important. For Justin Carder of Capitol Hill Seattle, consistency is key: “You do the same good stuff day in and day out for long enough, and you become trustworthy. It’s a function of effort as much as anything.”
In addition, here are five tips for gaining your audience’s trust, and writing like a pro—even if you aren’t one:
1. State your credentials: When positioning yourself as a blogger, you must inform your audience of your qualifications. Credentials inspire confidence, and the term does not exclusively apply to professional degrees. For instance, if a blogger is an experienced ballet instructor and writes about ballet’s emotional benefits, her opinion has merit, even though she is not a licensed behavioral professional.
2. Write what you know: When you write about subjects you have in-depth knowledge about, your insights are richer and more authentic than when writing about a topic requiring extensive research. “Because I care about what I write, I can help my audience by making useful suggestions, interesting observations or just making them chuckle a little at what happens to me,” explains Candy Martin, author of the Seattle P-I reader blog Mother of Style.
3. Use credible outside sources: Outside sources bolster your own research and help persuade your audience that you already have others on your side. Using outside sources also demonstrates that you’ve taken the time to verify your facts. Moreover, the old saying that “you are judged by the company you keep” also applies to writing. Make sure your sources are worth defending and not just convenient. If they seem dubious to you, they will look even more dubious to your readers, and so will you.
4. Write with authority and accuracy: When trying to prove yourself to an audience, how you write is just as important, if not more so, as what you write. Information riddled with grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors will be dismissed by many readers as not credible. Use a confident, professional tone, and proofread your content before posting. In this way, you not only ensure that your writing is polished, but you communicate to your audience that you are careful and methodical.
5. Respond to comments: Interactivity is a key element of all online communication. By posting something online, authors instantly subject themselves to scrutiny, and it’s likely that their audience will respond to what they read. Part of being a credible source is a willingness to engage in further conversation with your audience.
What are your strategies for strengthening your credibility online?
Megan Jeffrey is a graduate student in the MCDM program at the University of Washington. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and public relations from Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo. She has worked as an account assistant for Verdin Marketing Ink and as a HubPages.com columnist. Megan is currently a community manager for Serra Media and a social media strategist for the UW School of Drama.
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11 Comments, Comment or Ping
Jeremy
Great tips, Megan. I think that consistency _is_ key for a blog. Knowing I can come back day after day (or week after week) for a regular post is a huge stickiness factor.
Oct 31st, 2009
Andy Shaindlin
All good points. Re: number 4, if you know that your spelling and grammar skills are not the strongest, have someone else (preferably someone with great spelling and grammar) proofread your posts before they go live.
Oct 31st, 2009
Helen Ptlick
Agreed with Jeremy and Andy: great points! I am constantly surprised by how many typos and grammatical errors bloggers sometimes publish, even with spellcheck making it easy to fix misspellings. It’s publish then filter, not publish then edit! If a blogger hasn’t taken the time to proofread, what other aspects of the post have they skimped on? Your last point is my favorite though: care enough about your audience to read their feedback.
Oct 31st, 2009
Terri Jeffrey
As a trained information professional, I can say that folks in my profession teach our students to use these same type of standards for any kind of website from which they wish to draw information for themselves or for research projects. This is an important piece of information literacy in the electronic age, but I would argue serves us well in all aspects of communication.
Nov 1st, 2009
mwalls2
Great tips, I especially think #4 is good, write with authority and accuracy. If all you are doing is rewriting objective facts with no emotion it can be very boring.
Nov 7th, 2009
-AntikA-
Thank you Megan for sharing those tips.
For myself, those tips are not only useful for blogger but also valuable for all writers in order to create credibility.
The latest technology, Internet, let us express our opinion and knowledge as fast as we think out loud. Thus, sometime it caused the inaccuracy if the writer skipped the re-checking process, as Helen comment. The 4th tip is helpful for remind all writers about this vital process which is very important for credibility creating.
The last tip is also important in term of using online platform as a media. Responding to all feedback could help in establish the relationship between the blogger and the audiences. And, the relationship is one of the factors, which bring the audience back to the blog. As far as they exchange their viewpoints, the credibility is established along that way.
Nov 16th, 2009
Amanda Vashro
I really enjoyed reading this entry. I think that any new blogger (or seasoned blogger) should read this to begin building a strong foundation in the essential basics.
Your section where you spoke about creating credibility by using outside sources was very compelling. This seems obvious, but not used enough. Too many bloggers feel that if they are talking in their own field, they know all and don’t need other people or research to back them up.
Nov 25th, 2009
Elise Chisholm
Thank you for #4! As a PR professional who has had a high level of interaction with bloggers over the past several years, I’m often surprised by the lack of attention to detail I see in postings. With so many voices competing for authority, accuracy is important. Corporate leadership typicallly doesn’t want to spend time and money interacting with bloggers who may not spell their brand name correctly.
One more aspect of trust that isn’t specifically called out here but that I think is very important is for bloggers to openly express their personalities. Unlike traditional media, digital channels give influencers more freedom to share opinions, preferences and quirks. As audience members, we need to be reassured we’re interacting with humans, not robots.
Dec 7th, 2009
Toni DelRio
I just started blogging not long ago. On my preliminar research before starting to blog I bumped into this data from CNET News: “There’s a blog born every half second” (http://news.cnet.com/2100-1025_3-6102935.html). This said, one major factor of a good blog is “Distinctiveness”.
The Blogsphere is probably the most competitive market in the information segment. The non-existent barriers to entry make it easy for anyone to become a blogger.
Then, we all should answer: “What unmet need is my blog answering to?”, “What is my point of difference of my blog in the area I am concentrated”?
Most importantly, the number one step on being distinctive is putting your personality into your blog. As no person is equal to other, neither is a blog.
- ADR
Dec 8th, 2009
Nicole Maroutsos
Great post, Megan. I think those are all good points. It seems like #4 is everyone’s favorite and I would have to agree. No matter what kind of credentials a blogger has, if the writing is riddled with errors it automatically seems less trustworthy. Number 5 aside, these are all standards that we have held for traditional media forever. Credible TV news shows, newspapers and radio shows typically use experts when talking about an issue and are strict with good grammar and accuracy. It’s what we expect of a solid source of information so it makes sense that those are the standards we use when deciding if online content is credible. I’m not sure I agree that responding to comments makes a blog seem more credible. I do think it makes for a more engaging experience…
Dec 8th, 2009
Sophia Agtarap
Great post, Megan. I would also add to this–when possible, collaborate with other bloggers. Because our online communities operate in very much a word-of-mouth sort of way, our name gets out there in large part due to the ability for our stuff to get cross-posted. If there are opportunities to partner up with another writer, take them. Our credibility and networks are sure to expand and solidify as a result.
Dec 9th, 2009
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