But I’m Not a Writer!

One of the main reasons my clients give me for not blogging is “I’m not a writer!” Here’s a little secret: Most people who have made names for themselves writing online aren’t going to be publishing the Great American Novel any time soon. And that’s not a problem, because beautifully written, heart-wrenching stories aren’t what the audience for blogs is there to read. Long, detailed blog posts can be great, but most people come to blogs expecting something a lot closer to a news brief. Writing a blog should be fun and simple, not an experience akin to writing a term paper that’s due tomorrow.

Keep Your Copy Simple

When your blog takes off, your readers may come from a wide variety of backgrounds and educational levels and you don’t want to alienate anyone or exhaust anyone with stuffy, overblown verbiage. Industry terms are okay (if you define them for newbies and non-insiders), but don’t load up on four-syllable words just because you think it makes you sound smart. More often than not, it will make you sound pretentious. All this simplicity extends to grammar and structure, too. Keep the parenthetical references, exclamation points, ellipses, compound sentences, and other distractions to a minimum.

Other Than That, be Confident!

Will you make a few grammatical errors or typos here and there? Sure. You may even make the occasional factual error and, if you have great readers, they will call you out on this. When errors crop up, fix them and move on. Don’t let them destroy your blogging mojo. Write as if you’re an authority, even if you don’t feel confident doing so. Confidence will come in time. After a few months of writing your blog, I guarantee you that you’ll be a better writer and a more confident one.

Photo credit: Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND