While the eternal battle remains between content and images on who’s the king, our goal in today’s Build Better Blogs series is not to determine the winner but to get you a step closer to having a winning blog. Unless you’ve got fantastic images that have great composition, quality and are accompanied by appropriately designed text, run along, you can skip this post altogether as your blog can probably run with images alone.
Wait.
Even though you’ve got stellar photos of your outfits, DIY projects or your home sweet home, this part about how to write better blog posts is mandatory for everyone. What separates the pros from the amateurs? Writing and writing very well. Paying a lot more attention to your writing will make an enormous difference in setting you apart from the huge sea of bloggers.
And how do you do that exactly? While there are tons of infographics and complicated flowcharts on how to draft blog posts that will go viral, we’ll go back to the tried and true basic principles. Here’s our 5 Killer Tips on How to Write Better Blog Posts every single time:
1) DON’T TELL A TALE. CRAFT A STORY
Forget the fairy tale, a tale is simply a narrative of a linear progression. It tells of something that happened here, then here, then after here. A tale exists with no purpose greater than itself while a story is something much more compelling. A story is crafted with a message more compelling. It has a purpose, it contains emotions and it lives in the heart and imagination of your readers, where no images can take you, the words you write will. These are the kind of posts you want to be writing.
2) WRITING IS NOT SPEAKING
One of the most common mistakes I see in blogging is writing just like one is talking. While blogging is indeed a less formalized way of journalism, it is still published content and should be treated like so. The truth of the matter is, speaking comes more naturally to all us while writing (more or less) is a learned skill. In general, good content or good ideas is not as compulsory to a good speaker than to a good writer that’s why you do need to put a lot more effort to it but trust me, it pays off. Go back to Tip #1 and do not just speak of a tale, write a story.
3) BE CONSISE. BE CLEAR
Think about the bottom line – what is the message you are trying to convey? While this may be contrary to the first two points outlined above, it is important to be clear and concise when you tell a story. How? Edit, not just proofread. Are there words or sentences that you can omit without changing the entire message of the story? Delete them. Truth be told, I get my work edited by other writers/editors who I trust before publishing them. Unless you are an essay blogger, stick to a few paragraphs per blog post. If it’s utterly necessary to have a long post, consider breaking it down into two parts, therefore guaranteeing a return visit from your viewers to read more.
4) GRAMMAR IS IMPORTANT
And anyone who tells you otherwise is not important. I am a stickler for grammar and let me tell you something, I am not alone. In fact, there are a huge number of associations and Facebook groups dedicated to this fight. That goes without saying that grammar is and continues to be an important keystone in writing. Learn when to use Your vs. You’re, It’s vs. Its, There vs. Their, Whether vs. Weather. Making mistakes sometimes is okay. It’s about not making the same mistake over and over that can make your reader or potential sponsors (brands, PR agencies or other media) question the amount of effort and diligence you put into your work.
5) PROOFREAD AND EDIT
This may not be the sexy bit about writing but this could prove to be a crucial one. While we may not all have the privilege of having a second set of eyes proofread and edit our work, it helps to step back and go back to what you’ve written, review it line by line before you hit publish. Excessive? Maybe. But it’s absolutely needed.
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A well written blog post that is concise, engaging and straight to the point makes a world of difference in engaging with your followers, increasing your readership, scoring well in search engines and establishing yourself as a credible and professional blogger.
What do you think of our BUILD BETTER BLOGS killer tips on how to write better blog posts? Can you think of more?
