I've been thinking lately about the importance of good writing principles when writing a blog entry. When people visit your blog, they expect content that is clear, concise, and thoughtful. Sure, pictures can help convey meaning and a nice design can project an air of professionalism, but at the end of the day you have readers, therefore you must write.
I did some research on writing tips today and found a couple of good articles on problogger.net. The first article contains a list of ten principles to follow when writing entries. Some of the author's suggestions were good, such as making your opinion known in few words, editing your post for errors, and keeping your style consistent. However, some, such as "link like crazy" seemed a little more context specific (for example, if I'm blogging what happened throughout the day, I'm probably not going to have a ton of references). I completley disagree with his suggestion to limit posts to 250 words (read more here): some topics warrant longer discussion to get the point across and have your audience understand. In all, however, this article was fairly helpful, although it does contain some humorous typos.
The second article was much better. This is a longer list of 30 tips, many of which can be applied to different types of writing. This author places strong emphasis on clear, concise writing, no matter the length; she also has some great blog-specific tips such as treating blog comments as more content. The downside is with 30 tips, the article is fairly long. That is why I created a printable, two-page version of just the tips, not the article itself, with the important points highlighted. I currently have it hanging in my cube, and am attaching it for anyone else who is interested.
After reading these articles, I looked back at my old entries. Some I liked (such as this, this, and this), but others could use more work (this and this). To start my writing improvement process, I wrote this entry in my Moleskine before typing & posting it. This will help me think more about what I'm writing. I will note what tips I'm following (if applicable) so I can evaluate my progress. I would also like, as time allows, to go back and edit some of the entries that need it.
Blogging is about writing. It is important to follow proper writing technique to keep visitors coming back to your blog. I hope to use these tips to solidify new habits for myself, and I hope you get some use out of them as well. Best of luck with all your future writing!