I hate it when I see good bloggers say “I’m not a good writer”. If you’re not a good writer, I wouldn’t be reading your blog. If I’m not reading your blog, do I know about your blog? Drop by and leave me a link to it in the comments.
Having said that, there are some things I do now that I never did previous to blogging, and here’s 10 of them all neatly typed up for ya’all.
Write a summary –
Tell your reader why they want to read this post you have written in the first few sentences. Since getting on the Bumpzee Community RSS feeds, I have found that the first 250 characters of your post have to grab the reader in order for them to click through and read the rest. Basically this applies to anything you write – people need to be almost *teased* into reading the rest of your article.
Use the Thesaurus –
Tired of using all the same old words? Put the word you’d usually (commonly, consistently, customarily, frequently, generally, habitually, mainly, most often, mostly, normally, occasionally, ordinarily, regularly, routinely, sometimes) use in at the online thesaurus.
You can then take your pick of new, exciting (animating, appealing, arousing, arresting, astonishing, bracing, breathtaking, dangerous, dramatic, electrifying, exhilarant, eye-popping, far out, fine, flashy, groovy, hair-raising, heady, hectic, impressive, interesting, intoxicating, intriguing, lively, mind-blowing, moving, neat, overpowering, overwhelming, provocative, racy, rip-roaring, rousing, sensational, spine-tingling, stimulating, stirring, thrilling, titillating, wild, zestful), unusual words you don’t normally use that mean virtually the same thing!
Write ideas down –
I go nowhere these days without paper and a pen. NOWHERE. I have paper and a pen next to my bed, next to my recliner in the lounge, in the kitchen, in the car, in my handbag. Yes, even in the bathroom!! A lot of my best blogging ideas come to me as a surprise in the shower. I turn off the shower, even mid shampoo, step out, dry my hands, write it down. I find that if you do not seize the moment, that thought will vanish.
Record it –
Want to blog hands free? Do you have one of those little tape recorders students use for recording lectures? I have a Sony recording Walkman
Edit it –
Cugat helped me learn how to simplify my writing when we were working on a website together a few months ago. I use a lot of extra words. Really and Actually are two such examples. Just doing a quick word search of the blog front page before posting this, the word really appears 6 times and once in the sidebar. Actually appears 3 times. This is a major improvement for me. I’m still working on it.
Don’t edit it too much –
Editing can be a temporal vortex. Like when I go to the hardware store and two hours go by without me even noticing it. I have sometimes spent up to three hours doing it on some posts. It’s better to limit yourself to a certain amount of time. For a longer article it may be appropriate to spend an hour tweaking words and cutting words out. My advice is use a timer with an alarm, set the time you’re happy to spend editing (that could be anywhere from 2 minutes to an hour) and when the bell rings hit publish.
Use Headlines –
If you think readers of your blog read everything you’ve written in a post, I am sorry to tell you that you may be wrong – some readers skim, some readers scroll before deciding to read something in depth. So you’ll see some of my blog posts these days use headlines, in particular the ones which are intended to be helpful to fellow bloggers or the general public. The one you’re reading now is a good example. Doing this makes it easier for readers to focus on the parts of your post that are relevant to them.
Use Paragraphs –
The larger the chunk of text, the less chance some readers will delve into it. Breaking things down into smaller more palatable chunks increases the chance of those things being read.
Size Matters –
There is nothing wrong with a short post. Don’t be afraid to post something brief. Embrace the pithy. On the other hand, long posts can be scary to post because you think people will not read them. If your content is good, people will. Have faith in your readers. But for longer posts try to use small paragraphs and headlines if you can, to make it more accessible to all readers.
Invite Comments –
Your blog is where you can express your views. Ideally you will want your readers to express their views in return. Unless you think your bowel movements don’t stink and your opinions are right, perfect, and not to be discussed, in which case you will turn comments off. This will offend people. If you don’t have comments on your blog, chances are I’m going to unsubscribe from your RSS feed. Just so you know.
A final thought –
Don’t ever say you’re a bad writer. I don’t believe there is any such thing. You may not be writing novels that stun the public but blogging isn’t about that.
Writing is about communicating ideas and connecting with people through words. If you’re on my blog roll, I think you’re a good writer. Take the compliment with grace – say thank you, don’t try to tell me my opinion is incorrect.
If you’re not on my blog roll yet, chances are I just haven’t found your blog. Comment on this post with a link to it, I’ll drop by and check you out.
Wow! You’ve really put some thought into this!
Yeah, this article was in the process of being written for a couple of weeks, so.. ;)
I could easily do a part 2, but not today! ;) hehe
Snoskred
http://www.snoskred.org/
Right on Snos! (Or should I say “Write on”?) These are some good tips. And you were always a good writer, even with the extra words.
Cugat
http://www.vegetative.net/
Excellent advice. I keep a notebook too, so I can keep track of ideas to blog about. It’s amazing how some simple observation can inspire a whole post.
Many of my ideas have been languishing in the notebook for months now, but sooner or later I’ll get to them. ;)
I think some of the best writing is writing that comes across as effortless, even though you know the writer has spent a lot of time polishing their post. When I read your posts, they sound conversational… effortless.
P.S. I wanna see part 2. ;)
Thanks for this. I really value how much time you spend in the building of a community online. Brava!
Excellent ideas! I never thought of carrying a recorder… I love it…
and I notice I do use ‘actually’ and ‘really’ a lot!! I REALLY need to get that straightened out :-)
Good thoughts! I’ve recently started taking a notebook with me as well, and what a relief! Instead of feeling full of thoughts, I get relief by jotting things down and then I can forget them. And…when I do get back to actually blogging them so time has passed and I can decided if they are indeed actually blog worthy. :)
I use the heck outta thesaurus.com but the dang pop-ups are infuriating! I only keep going back because I haven’t discovered an alternative that’s as good or better.
This is an excellent article.
I shall refer my readers to it, I feel sure it can help a lot of people, I shall give you due credit, of course, and a link and encourage the readers to check your article out.
My link is http://www.mspaintart.com
Thanks for such a clearly written, and well expressed post.
I have a horrible habit of jotting things down very briefly, thinking a word or two is all I need to jog my memory. I then forget my notebook for several weeks, and later wonder what I’m supposed to do with ‘snail; coffee dream’.
When I expand my notes, though, I find I’m already writing the blog post, and often carry on till I’m done. That’s not such a bad thing, maybe…
Cugat – Thanks! That is high praise and I’m not taking it lightly. :)
Pieces of Mind – In fact conversational comes up in part 2 ;) I will write it, it may take me a little bit of time.
Liv – Thanks! ;) I do enjoy writing these things or else I don’t think I’d be able to do it. ;)
Pearl – the recorder one is an idea I had one day because the dishwasher needed emptying in a hurry so the other half could fill it back up, but I also had this blog post forming in my head. I thought.. I can do both! And I did. ;)
Catherine – I do the same thing, especially when I am trying to sleep. I find that’s the worst time for those thoughts to appear. This will come up in part 2 as well I think.
Rob.O – It has popups? I had no idea, because I have Adblock Plus and NoScript extensions running as well as popups turned off in firefox.. you might want to explore those options? ;)
Kaytz – Wow, great site! ;) I had no idea you could do so many nice things with MS Paint. ;) I have it but only use it to resize pics.. ;)
Diddums – Yeah that’s something I found too – I had to put enough info that I’d know what I meant later.. :)
Thanks for the comments all! ;)
Great list, all of them useful. The most important is the summary. Some readers will come to your site because they know you, but there are many others that will come across your posts in a feed like Bumpzee or through Google etc. You have to catch their attention quickly.
Thanks for the ideas.
I always think of good ideas and forget them. I try to write stuff down, but normally don’t have paper. I think I’ll try carrying a small piece of paper in my pocket and a pen. I don’t like carrying around a lot of stuff.
Thanks for your tips! I’ve already been doing some of them. I really like your honesty and security…
Well, I’m just a new blogger still dying to see comments in my site. I have a network of friends who visit once in a while, but would rather comment by email or text. So right now, I’m a trying hard, lonely blogger who will have yet to learn to be web savvy to attract traffic.
But I’m a gifted and prolific writer. Come and visit my site http://www.wymn.net
The site will eventually be a separate branch of Webble You and I just couldn’t wait to have a new blog name. By then, and even now, I would appreciate in case you decide to include me in your blogroll. Thanks!
nice tips… it’s big help for us… thankz…
here’s my blog –>>> http://bloglife.cjb.net …
thanks again for the informations…
Thanks for the article, nicely written, great tips.
I’m still and always in the process of learning and trying different methods, styles – I wouldn’t mind some critiques if folks had thoughts about my weblog after viewing it.
The addy is:
http://rubyshooz.wordpress.com
Be gentle with me please!
By the way, there is a program (shareware) you can download called WordWeb that “can be used to look up words from almost any program, showing definitions, synonyms and related words.”
No, I’m not a salesman or trying to spam but sharing what has been a great tool for me.
Peace, love and understanding.
thanks for these tips. I am going to put them into action. Brillant
aww, great ideas! very helpful, your blog is very interesting. =) thank you for sharing!
I came here by way of a post on Darren Rowse’ blog, and I’m thrilled to have found you! Your first paragraph really had me going, laughing outloud, but it’s so true. I’ve found one more great blog to subscribe to, and it’s an honor to do so. Great stuff here! Nice to meet you!
My name is Lin, and I’m author of Telling It Like It Is.
If you like, you are invited to visit my blog at
http://www.tellinitlikeitis.net
I found your site through Anonymum, and I enjoyed sifting through a few of your posts today. Thanks for the tips ~ I found a few things to try out for myself.
Jennifer
I clicked on a link from Lulu’s blog and glad I did – so many tips and ideas. You’ve really got me thinking – about content, commenting, linking etc. Cheers ;)
I agree with you wholeheartedly, especially on two points:
1. Thesaurus.com is also my best friend! Describing food as ‘delicious’ (even when it is) gets a little bit tedious to read :)
2. Write things down – I also carry a notebook around with me everywhere, you never know what will give you inspiration and being so busy undoubtedly will forget your ‘best ever’ idea!
Thanks for this post, was very enjoyable.
nice tips