Shine With Grace

 If you are a user of MyBlogLog you should have seen (and be attracted) by the avatar of The Thinking Blog, and wondered whether the beautiful woman who appeared in the avatar is Ilker, the blogger her/himself.  Just discovered this A Shy Blogger’s Avatar and MySpamLog post from The Thinking Blog’s archive, written back in February revealing the secret and whether such an attractive avatar helped boosting the readership.

Interesting discussion.  And this leads me to think: ”How much of yourself do you disclose in your blogging?” and “Do readers prefer a more personal touch?”

Avatar

Do you use your photo as your avatar?  What is the thinking behind your decision?  The experience of Ilker was when he/she changed the avatar from “the thinking alien fetus oil painting” to the attractive woman photo, even though there was no sudden upsurge of readership, people in the online social network become much nicer and responsive to him/her. 

First impression counts.  In view of the popularity of MyBlogLog and other social networks around the blogosphere, an avatar that can represent you while also attract people to go to your site to find out more can take you a long way.  While personally I don’t really mind whether it’s the picture of the blogger him/herself, a comic character or a specially designed logo, good looking/interesting/attractive avatars do drive me to pay a first-time visit. Similarly, avatars that don’t appeal to me/leave me a comfortable feeling discourage me to go to their blogs. 

Share with you some of the avatars that “work” for me:

Don’t you want to hear Michael talks about ProBlogDesign after seeing his avatar?

Isn’t it obvious that this is the avatar of City Guide, the travel blog?

If you have a beautiful face like Random Magus’s don’t hesitate to use your own photo!  And by the way she has a great blog too.

Peter’s warm smile leads me to find his big heart at Necessary Skills.

You and your story

Do you talk about yourself in your blog?  Do you reveal your background, profession, hobbies, nationality?  Or, do you prefer a more distant approach and write from a third person’s perspective?  Don’t you use the word “I” in your writing?

There is no hard and fast rules and it also depends on your own writing style and the nature of your blog.  Say, a third person perspective would come more naturally if you are maintaining a readers’ digest type of blog.  Nevertheless, on the whole readers do prefer some personal touch - after all reading a blog is different from reading a newspaper.  It’s the interaction and conversation that make blogs so interesting.  I know I shouldn’t be mentioning Problogger this often but I think no one would dispute that Darren has been doing an excellent job in sharing his own stories and experiences as well as interacting with his readers while talking about blogging.   

Your name

Do you disclose your name in your blog?  Or, do you prefer to stay anonymous?  Why?

Both are common in the blogosphere and I’ve been pondering this myself for awhile.  When I started Shine With Grace some two months ago I was an absolute newbie (meaning that I haven’t seen too many blogs, nor given much conscious thought to a couple of fundamental issues, including whether I was going to use my ”real” name or not).  Looking back I guess subconsciously I feel safer not to disclose my name at the very beginning, for I had no idea how good or bad Shine would be doing.  Then, what happened was from time to time I got questions like “should I call you Shine, or Grace, or Shine with Grace?” 

Blogging is indeed an excellent branding tool.  If you are considering to start a blog, do consider using your real name (as long as it won’t adversely affect your job or your other commitments). Of course, like me, you can always consider switching at a later stage.  But the dilemma I’m facing now is it feels a bit awkward to change all the signatures mid-way.   Would I caues confusions, or, have I merely been too self-conscious?

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