Do you want to join the ranks of bloggers who post material online for the whole world to read? It's an art that anyone can learn. You don't have to be a naturally good writer to be a successful blogger. Even if you have struggled with language in the past, you can make a go of it. You need to use the right tone and style, and also choose your topic carefully. To be a successful blogger here are a few tips to help you:
Tone: Remember, blogs are meant to have a casual, informal feel. You don't want to come off like you are writing an article for a newspaper or an essay. That's way too stilted.
When you write your blog posts, you are looking to come off like a friend. Your readers should get the sense that they know a bit of the 'real you' from your posts. You want to use a casual tone. Don't try to sound like an authority.
Short is sweet. Remember, people's attention spans aren't all that long these days. Nobody surfs the Internet to read lengthy articles. If you want to make your potential readers disappear, just put up a handful of single-spaced 2000 word posts.
Long posts simply won't get your blog a readership. Aim for a maximum length of 500-600. Posts that are longer are going to reduce your readership. See if you can't divide them up into more than one post, each within the maximum world length.
Content is king. Don't get so caught up in the look of your blog, the graphics and layout and so on that you forget to actually deliver on the writing. All other concerns are secondary to content and only serve to highlight your work. You can't turn a boring post into something of value by tacking a cute graphic onto it.
Go easy on the ads. Nobody wants to come to a blog and then have to avoid bunches of ads or deal with pop-ups and pop-unders. Making money with your blog is one thing, but there should be more content than advertising. Ads also need to fit with your blog and should blend in reasonably well with the design.
Always check spelling and punctuation. I know, I know. I just finished telling you that you should be informal. That means that your tone should not be stuffy - but you still have no excuse for spelling errors or problems with punctuation. Mistakes just look like you don't care and are sloppy.
Tone: Remember, blogs are meant to have a casual, informal feel. You don't want to come off like you are writing an article for a newspaper or an essay. That's way too stilted.
When you write your blog posts, you are looking to come off like a friend. Your readers should get the sense that they know a bit of the 'real you' from your posts. You want to use a casual tone. Don't try to sound like an authority.
Short is sweet. Remember, people's attention spans aren't all that long these days. Nobody surfs the Internet to read lengthy articles. If you want to make your potential readers disappear, just put up a handful of single-spaced 2000 word posts.
Long posts simply won't get your blog a readership. Aim for a maximum length of 500-600. Posts that are longer are going to reduce your readership. See if you can't divide them up into more than one post, each within the maximum world length.
Content is king. Don't get so caught up in the look of your blog, the graphics and layout and so on that you forget to actually deliver on the writing. All other concerns are secondary to content and only serve to highlight your work. You can't turn a boring post into something of value by tacking a cute graphic onto it.
Go easy on the ads. Nobody wants to come to a blog and then have to avoid bunches of ads or deal with pop-ups and pop-unders. Making money with your blog is one thing, but there should be more content than advertising. Ads also need to fit with your blog and should blend in reasonably well with the design.
Always check spelling and punctuation. I know, I know. I just finished telling you that you should be informal. That means that your tone should not be stuffy - but you still have no excuse for spelling errors or problems with punctuation. Mistakes just look like you don't care and are sloppy.
About the Author:
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