Roland Millward

Posts Tagged ‘writing’

How can you write a successful blog post?

Writing does not come naturally for many people but with practice skills can be developed. Most readers of blogs are not reading them with a literary eye. They are looking for information and interesting insights. Your writing style does not have to match that of top writers and journalists. However there are a few things you can do that will make sure that your blog post is well received.

Theme and Title

Your blog post / article should have a theme and a title. Don’t confuse the two. The title is to capture interest. The theme is what your article is all about. Let me show you. Let’s say you want to write an article about training a puppy. This is quite a large subject so you need to narrow this down to a more specific niche. You decide to write about how to stop your puppy chewing things he shouldn’t. The title could be, “Who ate my shoes?” The title is intriguing and as long as it fits the theme when you write it then your job is done. Quite often it’s best to choose the title after you have written your blog post.

The Three Components

Once you have selected your theme, decide what the main points are that you will write about. Next compose that in note form Your blog post will need to consist of an introduction, the main section and a conclusion. These are the main three components that make up your blog post.

The introduction is to capture your reader’s attention perhaps by means of a question or illustration that will get him thinking and want to read more. It should be punchy and not very long.

The main section is where you deliver the meat of the article, answering the points that you set out to achieve. Try to be specific and do not ramble. Use easily understood words and phrases and if you have to use technical terms make sure that you explain them.

The conclusion or end of your blog post should tie up any loose ends and make sure that your reader has been motivated to action where action is called for. You could give a very brief summary of the main points of the blog post and invite the reader to now use the information you have given him.

So start thinking of some subjects and themes that you would like to write and then list the main points. Research your blog post where you need to and start writing. Don’t forget to write a good introduction and conclusion. These two elements are to some extent more important that the rest of the article. If readers don’t like your introduction they may not read the rest of the blog post no matter how good it is. The conclusion is the last thing they read and most people remember the last thing they read or see so it’s worth spending time getting this right.

Final Checks

Always read through your article several times before publishing, use a spellchecker and if possible ask someone else to read it. It pays dividends to wait a day before reading it again and you will be amazed how you will spot errors or find ways to improve your writing before publishing the blog post.

When we are writing we are thinking faster than we can write and you will notice that sentence structure can suffer because of this. So do take your time in going over your work later. Plan to write well ahead of any deadlines that you have set yourself so that you have time to correct any errors and to rewrite where better ways of expressing yourself become obvious.

One word of warning that I would add though is whilst you try to cut out the obvious or even plain silly mistakes don’t aim for perfection in your writing. If you aim for perfection you probably will not publish much and you will make your life miserable by trying to achieve it.

Above all enjoy your writing, don’t give up and keep learning as you write.

Also published at Factoidz

All writers will have periods when they find writing difficult if not impossible. For some reason it does not seem possible to think about a subject to write about or how to go on with something that we are already writing.

How can we overcome this problem?

Take a break

The first step to take may simply be that by taking a break from writing for a few minutes or even a day or two can refresh our minds. Going for a walk and getting some fresh air and breathing deeply can energise our brains and bodies to get back to writing.

Is there something on our mind?

It could be that we have a problem, possibly we have something that we need to do and are putting it off but are still allowing it to distract us. Wherever possible if we have something that needs our attention then go and do it, get it out of the way so that we can forget about it and get back to writing. For example if we have a toothache and are hoping that it will get better to avoid visiting the dentist can easily distract us from being able to write. Make that appointment, see the dentist and get the problem dealt with. Holding back from dealing with matters that are distracting us is only making life worse.

Are we lacking ideas?

This is a common problem for writers and especially bloggers who need to come up with different topics and yet perhaps within a defined theme. What else can I write about? A good idea is to make sure that when we do have an idea that we write it down either on a pad or in electronic form such as a note in our mobile phone. Ideas will often come to us when we least expect them and we are likely to forget them when needed. Having a list of topics can really be a boost. You may have ideas that you will not use until many months later, however if you had not recorded that idea it would perhaps never get written.

If your list has become exhausted take a look at the latest news items. Is there anything there that can give you an idea? A search on the Internet for different topics can help. Check Twitter and see what are the most common things being tweeted. With these methods not only may you find a good topic but it will be very relevant to many people right now and could attract many readers if you are going to publish it quickly.

Talk to people

Writing by nature is a solitary business and we can lose contact with people. Meet up with people, possibly at network groups or in chat rooms and find out what people are talking about now, what their concerns or problems are. All these are potential subjects for a good articles and blog posts.

Don’t strive for perfection

Whilst writing an article we can spend too much time on spell checking and grammar, the layout and content and so on. However this can cause our minds to lose the momentum. Write you article then spend time afterwards going back over it and making corrections and any fine tuning. However don’t seek perfection. It does  not exist. If the article reads well it is pointless spending hours checking out many versions before deciding on ‘the perfect one’.  We will be discouraged and find writing too difficult if we are overly critical of our own work.

Enjoy

Above all things make sure that where ever possible you write about subjects that you find interesting and enjoy. That is not always possible for professional writers but when you take on assignments that are not so enjoyable in your eyes try and write them between ones that are. I hope that you have found these tips helpful and would welcome your comments on how you overcome writer’s block

Roland Millward