When it comes to writing content and blog posts, there is a question of how personal you should get. Your customers are looking for information on your products and services, right? Therefore, you should keep everything business focused. However, one could argue that letting your customers see a more personable side of you will create a relationship and trust and, therefore, they will prefer to do business with you, rather than some nameless, faceless website belonging to your competition.

When it comes to your website, you should probably keep things a bit more business focused. Your website serves as your “front office”. However, feel free to get a bit more personal on your blog. Now, your customers may not need to know exactly what you ate for dinner every day during the week or what your opinion is of your favorite soap star’s current relationship, but they can appreciate knowing you are a real human, just like them.

If you are writing about a topic that relates to your business, go ahead and give your opinion. If you were affected by a news story you saw, go ahead and write about it. If it is your child’s first day of kindergarten and you are feeling emotional, go ahead and write a quick blog post about it. Your readers have probably gone through a similar situation and can certainly relate.

Just keep in mind that what you put on the web stays on the web. If you feel that you may not want the whole world to know about something, do not put it online. Not long ago, before the rise of reality television, personal blogs, video diaries, and Myspace pages, there was a thing known as privacy. Some people still go out of their way to keep it, and actually prefer it. All jokes aside, your privacy is something to seriously consider when you are writing something to be published online. A good rule of thumb is to only publish items you would feel comfortable with your neighbors knowing.

You will also want to consider other people’s cultures, customs, and religious affiliations. While there may be many similarities between you and your reader, there could also be some big differences. You do not want to alienate anyone by putting something potentially offensive on your website or blog.

In most cases, you don’t have to worry about any ill effects. If you keep your tone natural and modest, your readers will appreciate getting to know you. They will think of you as their friend and will become loyal customers.