Great writing is essential to running a successful blog. When a blog’s posts are consistently well-written, readers will be more compelled to return for new posts as well as to look over old ones. Unfortunately, good writing is not something that comes easily to everyone. Writing well can be difficult and confusing, but bloggers who are struggling with their writing skills can adopt some time-tested journalism techniques for guidance on how to create informative and gripping blog posts.
1. The Inverted Pyramid
Writing using the inverted pyramid means that your post should start off with the most important information first and then gradually narrow down to less important details. In journalism, this ensures that the reader gets as much of the important information as possible early on so that even if the reader drops the news story halfway through, they will still have the basic gist of the news piece. In blogging, you can use the same approach by introducing each post with the most important information first and delivering the more unimportant information further down the post. This way, your readers will get a good idea of where your post is headed so that your ideas are more clearly understood.
To successfully create an inverted pyramid style of writing, your first paragraph will have to pack in a lot of information. Strive to answer as many as the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions as comfortably possible within the first two paragraphs. This will give your readers a firm grasp on your post topic. Following that paragraph, you can write on something less essential, such as using that paragraph to set a scene or further explain the post topic. You would end your post with a tidbit that may be entertaining or helpful, but not necessarily essential. Using this model will help you to hone your ideas so that you are more effectively communicating information in each of your posts.
2. Show and Not Tell
Vivid writing can be difficult, but it is not impossible. Journalists often must pack life into their news stories to elevate them from a dull collection of facts to a real news story. One way they turn boring news reports into entertaining reads is by showing and not telling the reader about all of the events that took place. As a blogger, you can use the same writing style to make your posts much more exciting.
Showing and not telling a reader about events means that rather than outright saying that someone was feeling something or doing something, you simply describe exactly how they are behaving so that the reader can see that feeling or action. For example, rather than saying, “Bobby felt guilty about eating all the cookies,” you could show your readers Bobby’s guilt by saying, “Bobby looked down sullenly and silently wiped the remaining cookie crumbs off his mouth.” This way, readers will have a more compelling picture of Bobby’s feelings and your piece will be much livelier.
3. Break Up Your Posts
It is difficult for readers to trudge through long blocks of texts, whether it is online of offline. For this reason, most journalists make sure that all of their paragraphs are only a few sentences long before breaking into a new paragraph. Online, bloggers can do the same thing and make their posts easier on the eyes by writing shorter paragraphs and including other visual elements like bulleted lists wherever necessary. A picture or graphic is also a great way to break up text-heavy posts, as it will give readers something else to look at before they return to the text of your post. This retains the reader’s visual interest and encourages them to continue reading.
Byline:
This guest post is contributed by Tara Miller, who particularly enjoys writing about psychology degree. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: miller.tara23@gmail.com.