There is the mistaken belief among many people that in order to be professional, we also need to be dry, dull and boring – look at any business product or material be it a promotional flier or a piece of software; the language used here generally will generally be devoid of any personality and any humour and will generally be entirely unpleasant to deal with.

This is a problem with business sure, but it’s understandable. What I can’t understand is why so many bloggers and webmasters feel the reason to write with such a dry and calculating tone as well. To read many blogs you’d think you were reading a press release or something written by a computer and it’s entirely difficult to get immersed in the writing or to feel any kind of connection tot eh site or the writer as a result.

Take a leaf out of Twitter’s ‘Fail Whale’ page – sometimes being a little bit quirky and humorous can do wonders for your business and can make a website much more likeable and much more memorable. Here we will look at a few ways to give your site a bit more personality and attitude.

Think Up Less Boring Headers and Options

I can’t remember what site it was, but I remember being amused recently at finding a ‘Who Is Us’ page instead of the usual ‘About Us’. Presuming that it wasn’t just an example of terrible grammar (in which case – major fail) it was hip and different and it made me smile.

Don’t Be ‘We’

If you’re one dude writing a website – don’t feel the need to pretend you’re a huge organization. You’re actually at an advantage if there’s only one of you really because it allows you to build more of a connection with your readers. Saying ‘we think’ when your site is clearly too small to warrant more than one writer/webmaster just makes you seem either desperate to be taken seriously, or severely schizophrenic.

Consider Your 404 Redirect Page

Your 404 Redirect page pops up whenever someone fails to load one of your pages for whatever reason and the default is a very dry error message with some unhelpful suggestions. By creating a custom one you can not only help direct your users more effectively to the page they wanted (thus reducing your bounce rate) but also use this opportunity to pull back the curtain a little on the workings of your site and break the fourth wall. It’s a nice little wink to your readers that reminds them your site is run by a human.

Use the First Person and Interject Personal Stories

At school you were taught never to use the first person – I get it. But you’re not at school now, and this is your blog so feel free to use the first person and talk to your readers in a way that will make them want to listen. Reading things in the third person is always less interesting because it loses that ‘human’ element, while including your opinions can help to colour your content and provide a bit more reflection.

Enjoy Yourself

Most important of all, make sure you enjoy yourself when you’re writing. As long as you do that then it will be apparent to the people reading it and they’ll feel like they’re along for the ride. If you hate writing it though, then chances are no one’s going to love reading it…

Tom Koh is an avid blogger who writes informative articles on the current trends followed in internet marketing. To know more visit http://getwebsitetraffic.org/