You’re up against millions of other blogs when you post, so it’s hard to make an impact. These tips will help you stand out among the crowd. Keep in mind that people skim, so use lists, bullet points, headings and a good font size to make things easy for your readers.
- Readability: Most people read at about a fifth-grade level. Before you hit “publish,” check your readability level. You can use a software program like Grammarly, or just utilize Microsoft Word’s spelling and grammar check. A) If you have a PC go to File > Options > Spelling & Grammar > Click the “Show Readability Statistics” Box. B) If you have a Mac Go to Word > Preferences > Spelling & Grammar > Click the “Show Readability Statistics” Box. Run the Spell Check and you will have your readability.
- Avoid passive voice: Instead of saying “A deal was struck by the author and the publisher,” say “The author and publisher struck a deal.”
- Write in simple past tense: Avoid using “have,” “has,” or “had” unless you’re actually using the verb “to have.” Instead of “She had gone to the pool,” write “She went to the pool.”
- Stick to one tense: Don’t switch from past tense to present (or vice versa).
- Have lots of white space: Check the shape of your post. You should have sentences of varying lengths, lists, images, and plenty of space instead of long blocks of text.
- Avoid modifiers and qualifiers: Examples of these include “a bit,” “some,” “almost,” “a lot of,” “very,” “nearly,” “every,” and “quite.”
- Write from one perspective: pick a point of view and stick to it. If you write from several different viewpoints, you’ll just confuse the reader.
- Write shorter sentences: This goes along with Number 1 and Number 5. Keep it short and simple. Avoid linking words like “as,” “but,” or “then.” Avoid excessive punctuation (commas, semi-colons, colons) and just write shorter sentences.
- Remove the words “the” and “that” whenever possible: Instead of saying “If you feel that you should be using the educated speech and longer sentences, you may assume that you will annoy your readers,” say “If you feel you should use educated speech and longer sentences, you’ll annoy your readers” or even “Using educated speech and longer sentences will annoy your readers.”
- Avoid clichés: Examples include “thinking outside of the box,” “touch base,” or “ignorance is bliss.” These phrases just “get under your reader’s skin.”
