10 Writing Tips All Bloggers Must Adhere To

Look, there are a lot of people out there that are going to tell you how to write. Some will give your ideas on topics, some will give your ideas on how to create title, and some will just tell you to use proper grammar. While all those things are important, I grant you, what are most important in blog writing are two things: passion and consistency. Unlike any other type of writing, with blog writing you get an audience based not only on WHAT you write but on HOW OFTEN you write it. No one will follow a blog that is only updated every few months. With that in mind, here are some writing tips for you:

Write often – You have to keep up with blog readers. They demand a certain level of post updates. It is just a fact of blogging. You cannot abandon your blog and expect it to survive. You cannot take a hiatus and expect to come back to the same number of readers. You have to write often enough to keep up with your readers. On some blogs that means once or twice a week, but for some blogs they require daily or even more frequent updates.

Write regularly – You can’t just toss up four or five posts on one day and call it a week. It will not work. You must, must, MUST write on a consistent basis. That may mean that you post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or every Tuesday and Thursday, or every day but Sunday. Whatever your method is, if it works then stick with it. If it does not work than change it up. But whatever you do keep it regular.

Write short – No one wants to read a novel on your blog. If you like to write long meandering posts and people seem to like them than great. Just break them up for me, will you? A bunch of shorter posts is better than one long post that is all over the place. You can even separate it is not part one, part two and so one so that people can easily follow along. This is a great method for making the most out of your how to posts as well, as they have to keep reading to find the next direction.

Write clearly – All the writing and posting in the world is not going to cut it if your writing is junk. You have to be clear. Some things that can mess you up are jargon that readers might be unfamiliar with, undefined acronyms, and just a lack of good writing skills. If you are not a native speaker please, please, please have someone who is look over your work before you post it. There are some things that are just hard to translate. I know you have a lot to share, but be careful that you do not scare away readers with your lack of clarity.

Keep it simple – Along with being clear you have to be simple. Unless you have an audience that consists only of highly intelligent and talented people familiar with what you are writing about, then I will agree that you can take it up a notch. But otherwise make sure that your posts are accessible to the average reader. Remember that a lot of people can’t read very well and do not have a large vocabulary, so if you insist on using big words try to use them in a way that others can pick up on their meaning for the context of the word.

Spelling and Grammar – Okay, now this is something that should not be an issue anymore. I assume you are typing your blog posts, right? Sure you are! Now, you see that little button at the top of the page that says spell check? CLICK IT every time before you post. Thank you. You have just cleared up most of your spelling errors. Read your post aloud before posting also to make sure it flows right and that you did not mix up any words. Things like horse and hoarse, hole and whole, and right and write tend to get skipped over in spell check. I am not a huge grammar Nazi. Just make it sound good, okay? And try not to use too many commas.

Font – Please do not be one of those bloggers who makes their font so curly and cute that I can’t read it. A plain font is fine, believe me. Also, watch your font colors. A bright color is eye catching, but it is also painful to read after a while. Do not make the font color similar to the background color either. If you have a black background do not use a charcoal font color! If you have a white background do not use a cream colored font! It is simple- take a look at your blog and make sure you can read it easily and without eye strain.

Break it up - No one wants to read a huge paragraph, or worse yet a run on sentence that goes the entire page. Break up your post into smaller paragraphs and insert images here and there to break up a lot of text. There should not be too much text because you are keeping it short, right?

Make lists – A great way to break up your bog posts and make people actually want to read them is to make lists. The 10 Best ____, the 5 Scariest ____, 15 Cool and Free ____, and the 25 Weirdest _____ are all things that readers will stop and take a look at. Why? Because they do not have to read! Readers are essentially lazy people that would rather scan a list than read a page. Use that to your advantage and make list posts when you can.

Use pictures – Did you ever hear the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”? Well, now you have. It is true. A picture can bring in more readers than almost anything else. If you can get an image that is funny, cute, or weird then you will get readers. Now, do not mess this up. Do not just stick random pictures in your blog post. They have to match the content to be effective. But if you can use a great image you have a greater chance of your post being picked up on social media, especially ones like Pinterest.
These are just a few tips I can share with you about blogging. I know when I first started out everything seemed twice as hard blogging as it did writing anything else. After all, there are no hard and fast rules.

However as you go along you will pick up what works and what does not work in your blogging niche. If you spend some time looking at successful blogs in your niche then you can pick up the things that help make them successful. Do not forget to become a part of the blogging community and interact with other bloggers. They can offer you valuable tips and information that you may not be able to find out quickly on your own.

Also remember that tagging and categorizing your posts is important. That is often one of the only ways a new reader will find your blog. Your titles are also something you need to spend time on to make the most of your writing efforts.

See! I have so much more I could tell you that I do not want to stop, but I am afraid some things you will just have to pick up on your own.
 

Good luck and remember to have fun and be passionate about your writing!

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