At Grammar Chic, we often hear from business owners and individuals seeking help with blog writing. While we do manage various blogs daily, weekly, and monthly, I don’t want to turn away business. The truth is, blog writing is something anyone can handle fairly easily if they stay disciplined. However, it’s important to note that, as Olivia Root mentioned on Business2Community, “Within a 24 hour period, two million blog posts are written.”
Yikes!
Root discusses some important rules that every blogger or online marketer should keep in mind when creating content for the Internet. The concept of “content marketing” has led to a flood of generic or irrelevant information being shared. Although Google may favor websites or blogs that produce engaging content, there is still a vast amount of information to navigate.
Here are some simple rules that you must adhere to if you are thinking about managing and writing your own blog.
- Stop being a cliché. Do not use buzzwords if you aren’t going to provide specific guidelines. This means writing an article and having a catchy headline do absolutely no good if you aren’t also providing specific advice.
- Have a title that represents what the post is about. Oftentimes, writers can begin writing a blog post or an article with their headline already laid out; however, once they start writing, a new article emerges that has different content from what the headline originally promises. While there still may be some helpful advice in the post, readers will feel misled. Therefore, if you plan on writing about one subject, stick to it. If you are unsure about whether or not you actually wrote about what you had originally planned, I suggest you find an editor who can critique your work.
- Use stock photos with a purpose. Simply put, most Internet surfers are highly visual people and, as much as I like to talk about how writing is important, the same can be said regarding graphics. In her article, Root notes that eye tracking studies have actually shown that “people ignore big, feel-good images that function purely as decoration.” She also goes on to state that “people who looked at a webpage that featured a generic photo serving as pure filler, completely ignored the photo and focused solely on the text.” I think the point of the matter is that visuals and text must be compelling in order to convince a reader to stick around.
- Write in a way to which readers can relate. I’m not saying that you have to be overly simplistic, but if you use words or phrases that the average reader cannot comprehend you are not going to build your readership. Just as readers will reject you for being boring, they will do the same if your vocabulary doesn’t fit your audience.
If you are thinking about managing and writing your own blog, follow these tips but also commit to a writing strategy. If you are confused about how to do this don’t feel frustrated and certainly don’t give up. Give Grammar Chic, Inc. a call today at 803-831-7444.