The Yummy Goodness of Laughter on Your Blog

This guest post is by Angela Severance of Wonder Divas.

As a blogger, connecting with your readers can sometimes be a challenge. If you’re new to blogging or you haven’t quite “found your groove” you may even be struggling. You want to make an impact on your readership, but the “how” of it kind of escapes you.

The answer often lies in giving your readers a good laugh or even just coaxing a smile from them. Once you’ve managed to do that, you’ve also managed to connect with them on some level, engage their interest, and hopefully make them excited for more.

So here are a few tips on injecting a bit of humor into your blog and giving your readers (and yourself!) a few tickles to the proverbial funny bone.

Duh! Find the funny

It may sound oversimplified, but injecting humor into your blog means finding the funny events happening in your life around you and finding a way to tie them into what you’re trying to say in your blog post.

Maybe you use a funny story to illustrate a point or a funny example to showcase “what not to do”. Maybe you just share something funny you heard on the news or tell that witty joke your co-worker told you at lunch yesterday. Look to the experiences happening in your own life, whether they are positive or negative and try to find the humor in them. Then share those humorous (and human) moments with your readers!

Choose your words—literally

When you polish up your vocab skills and use different words that may mean the same thing but carry different connotations, you increase your ability to write not only effectively but with humor if you so choose.

Often something that might not be construed as comical at first glance becomes comical if you use the right language to express it. A thesaurus is a great tool to help you in the “wording” department, by the way.

The upside is that, as you increase your vocabulary, you increase your ability to communicate and find your true “voice”. Or even “voices” if you desire! And sometimes using colorful adjectives can throw a reader just enough off-guard to incite laughter!

Don’t be bossy

It’s not your job to tell your readers something is hilarious. It’s your job to tell the story, describe the situation or express the character, and allow them to come to their own conclusion that something is hilarious.

You can do this by using words to paint a picture for your reader. Pull them into your world, immerse them in your words, and allow them to discover the funny all on their own.

Dress it a little differently

Sometimes what you’re saying might not be smashingly unique. That’s fine, but you can still make it witty by finding a way to say it a little differently than the next average Joe. You can also use things like metaphors, similes, silly clichés, and irony to inject humor as well.

Just remember that when you’re using metaphors, similes or silly clichés to choose ones people can relate to on some level, that engages their senses and creates a “picture” in their minds. Don’t use some obscure cliché that almost no one has ever heard before or you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot. People find the most humor in things they can relate to, not things they’ve never heard of!

Get up and flow

Finally, remember that to write with humor, whether it’s a blog post, a novel, or a letter to your friend, requires a certain amount of cahones. (It’s okay if you’ve only got the proverbial kind, ladies.) No subject is taboo and when you start writing you shouldn’t censor yourself too much.

Sure you can go back later and edit if need be, or if you don’t want to be quite so “balls-y” you can censor a bit after you have something written … but don’t let it be your first impulse. Write what you think and feel, let it flow freely and worry about who you may or may not offend later.

And remember that you don’t have to be a stand-up comedian to write funny material and make your readers laugh. Often you just have to be you and be willing to let your guard down a bit. Now get out there and tickle some funny bones people!

“What if you tell a joke in the forest, and nobody laughs? Was it a joke?” – Steven Wright

Angela Severance is a Certified Holistic Life Coach, image consultant, writer, and Chief Happiness Officer at Wonder Divas. She enjoys dance parties with her daughters, baking cupcakes, roller skating, traveling, learning, inspiring, and laughing. Subscribe to her blog, and join her on Facebook.