How to Improve Your Blogging in 5 Easy Ways
It’s the last day of July, and you’re likely already looking forward to August and the blogging that you’ll be doing for your company in the dog days of summer. As you begin drafting up your blog posts for August, consider elevating your writing style. Why? Because elevating your writing is the simplest way to improve the quality of your blog overall. Learn how to improve your blogging in 5 easy ways by reading on.
How to Improve Your Blogging in 5 Easy Ways
Write yourself out of the story
YOU, your emotions, how you’re feeling that day, your mood at the time of writing…none of that should make it into your blog post. According to the acclaimed writing style guide, The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, you should “Write in a way that draws the reader’s attention to the sense and substance of the writing, rather than to the mood and temper of the author.”
When you’re a strong writer, you’ll naturally reveal these things, but not at the expense of the work. Until then, keep writing yourself out of the story.
Write Naturally
I touched on this point a little bit in “Improve Your Writing: Simpler is Better in 2015.” Don’t stress too much about writing – just let it flow from you. Take this blog post, for instance. I couldn’t figure out how to start it, so I just started writing from where made sense to me. When you try too hard to write well, your writing comes across as stilted and awkward. Other tips that will help you to write naturally:
- Use words and phrases that you use in real life
- Read good writing often
Write without a focus on adjectives and adverbs
Instead, focus on nouns and verbs! They are the meat of your sentences. Writing a sentence for the sake of an adjective or adverb makes the result unsubstantial.
Don’t misunderstand: I’m not suggesting that you forsake adjectives and adverbs in your writing. They serve their role, and it’s a good one. It’s not to form the strength and character of a sentence, however. That’s the job of the nouns and verbs.
Revise
Did you think that you could churn out a blog post and post it (or schedule it for posting) without reviewing, revising and rewriting? Think again. One of my favorite quotes is from Gustave Flaubert: “I spent the morning putting in a comma and the afternoon removing it.” Experiment – what revisions would make your blog post even better?
Write exactly the right amount
Don’t overwrite – write as much as you need to. No more.
But, don’t worry if you do overwrite. You can always follow the advise from “Revise” and delete any excess.
There are many, many ways to improve your blogging a little at a time. These are just five quick and easy ways, but you’ll notice your writing becoming stronger and more colorful as soon as you put them into practice.