As a writer of a personal or commercial blog, surely you are concerned about delivering valuable content to your readers, in addition, with all the guidelines required by digital platforms.
To make your articles the best on the web, we will give you a list of mistakes to avoid and a writing guide for your articles.
These are the mistakes you should avoid when writing your articles.
Poor spelling
Have you ever heard that phrase that says that writing with bad spelling is like talking with bad breath? Well, it’s true. Spelling mistakes (and also grammatical errors) automatically take away your credibility at best, and at worst they can turn your notes into an object of ridicule on the net. An expert in certain subjects does not necessarily have the ability to write correctly, so if you do not feel confident in this field, look for a proofreader to check and polish your texts before publishing them.
The title does not match the article
This mistake is more frequent than you think. How many times have you clicked on a catchy title only to be disappointed because the development is not what you expected? More than you can remember. Probably the writer deviated from the main topic, the text doesn’t contain the incredible and exclusive information it promises, or the information appears terse. Either way, it’s a discordance you’re not going to make, right?
Using too much block text
The beginning of a comfortable and exciting read is the reward; in books, it’s turning the page; on the web, it’s skipping paragraphs or finishing a section. To keep the reader interested, there is nothing like bullets, numbered lists, subheadings, bold type and images interspersed with the body text.
Do not include internal and external links
Each one has a different function. Internal links help you to disseminate within the article other contents of the blog or site, related information or products and services; they are used so that the user remains browsing longer on the page, which means that, in addition to knowing you better, Google will give you a better rating. On the other hand, external links offer additional references for the reader’s consultation and are ideal for citing hard data sources, such as statistics. Both are part of SEO optimization and will keep your readers interested.
Not seeing the preview
This last point applies to those who, in addition to writing, are managers of their own content. There are many points to take into account when uploading a note with its images and SEO optimization on a platform, and not clicking the preview button prevents you from noticing probable alignment errors, extra white spaces or aberrations in the styles. The great advantage of digital publications is that they are editable… but you don’t want your readers to arrive at the wrong time.
A guide to authentic blog writing
As we have mentioned, blog articles are instruments to offer users valuable content and thus generate brand loyalty, blogs proliferate in the era of digital marketing and have countless benefits.
That’s why we have for you a basic guide to authentic blog writing, and we assure you that by following it your users will come back to read you much more often.
Define the territories of conversation
Before starting to write for your business blog (although many of these tips also apply to personal blogs) define the territories of conversation, i.e., what topics you will write about. These are determined in the marketing strategy and are related to your target’s topics of interest. Review them every year and eliminate and add new territories according to the preferences your readers show over time.
Create a style guide
If you think that creating a style guide for your blog is time wasted, imagine what would happen if another editor had to feed it. The editorial guidelines you establish will not only help other contributors to follow the same style, but will maintain users’ familiarity with your site. A style guide should contain details such as the tone, the way to address the reader (you, you, you, you, etc.), the type of concepts that will be highlighted in bold, the use of capital letters and the minimum length of the articles. You can refer to it yourself in case of doubt and, at the same time, you will help your proofreader to do his job better.
Learn the basics of digital copywriting and SEO
There is a big difference between writing for print and digital media, and it lies in interactivity. A blog allows you to add hyperlinks, images, comment forms and share buttons, among many other things that contribute to the user experience: you should never forget them when writing your notes.
Start with the title
You were probably told in school that you should write your essay first and then title it, and this is true for almost any text, but not for blog posts. There are two simple reasons for stating this: speed of publication and the fact that the title draws the line for the body. After all, the phrase you choose will be the hook to attract the reader, and more than once it will inspire you to keep writing without losing sight of the main topic or term, that is, without digressing. Obviously, the title must contain a keyword that will be repeated several times throughout the article in most cases.
Develop the topic without redundancy
The best blog articles contain between 800 and 100 words, but the standard is 400 to 600. The first measure is to fully develop a topic of interest, but the reality is that the average reader does not have the time or patience to read for more than 5 minutes at a time on the screen. Of course, the length depends on the topic you are dealing with; an analysis of the current world economy is not the same as a rumor about a celebrity, nor do they have the same type of target audience.
If you ever have problems extending an article, think about all the factors involved (if it helps, draw a diagram) and go deeper into each of the points. Not only will you develop the text better, but you will also offer more information to users. While writing, don’t forget to use all relevant related terms and foresee where you will place links and images.
Keep up to date
There’s nothing like staying informed to inject energy and timeliness into your blog. Check the trends of the season, the topics everyone is talking about (to look for areas of opportunity and points of view that no one has explored), international news and even Twitter’s trend topics and memes, as the latter will help you apply trendy grammatical structures to attract traffic to your blog. One app that will effortlessly keep you up to date is Flipboard.