I have some experience writing a blog, and I have always strived to make it as engaging and readable as possible. My primary weapon of choice is humour. People like to laugh. I like to make people laugh. I figure it's a good fit. Use what the good Lord gave you, right? I may have a receding hairline, but at least I find it funny. Sometimes. I have received a number of comments about how engaging my writing is, and for me, this is a compliment of the highest order. The comments are always about either (a) how interesting the adventures are that I've written about or (b) how funny the entries are. Well, that's fantastic, because that's exactly what I was going for. And now I'll share with you (aside from humour) how I do it:
#1) Content is king.
This is the supreme rule. Actually, all other rules are sub-rules of this rule, and explain how to make your content king. But you must remember, without great content, people will just move on to the next thing. There is no such thing as web loyalty. Those days, are long gone.
#2) Be yourself - show your style.
People are either going to like your writing style or they're not, it's that simple. The style that I use while writing is heavily dependent on the content of the entry.
Generally, my style employs a lot of humour and I try and use as much punctuation and italic text as possible to help people read entries the way that I hear them in my head when I write them. I apply this principle to all of my entries, regardless of the content, and the demographic that I'm writing to (for the most part).
#3) Tailor your writing style to the content of an entry.
If I'm writing a factual entry, for example, explaining how to solve a technical problem or describing how to do something, I will use a lot of examples. I find that when learning a new concept, it's far easier for people to relate to it when they can draw comparisons to things that they already know.
If I'm writing an opinion piece, I will generally use a more creative and persuasive writing style, primarily written in the active voice. This helps the entry appear confident and like I know what I'm talking about (whether or not this is true). I try to limit the hard facts and quotations to a minimum while still conveying the primary pieces of information that I need to in an interesting and fun way. I figure that if somebody wanted to read an enyclopedic entry on the topic, they would go to Wikipedia.
#4) Interesting pictures.
When I'm writing about life or adventure, I spend a lot of time sorting through the pictures and carefully selecting the ones that I want to display to the readers. These are not always just the "best" shots that I've taken (although, admittedly, I will try and build a story around them to show them off from time-to-time), but ones that I can use to convey a funny or meaningful story. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I try and make the writing compelling enough that the picture gives a feeling to augment the thousand words around it. I have found that funny captions beneath the pictures can go a long way in adding to the value of an entry.
#5) Break up your content.
People get bored easily, especially in the age of blogging. In the so-called (useless) information age, there are two overwhelming attitudes that provail: entertain-me-now and I-don't-have-time-for-this. If you don't engage your readers immediately, they will scan through the content (unless they're there for a specific purpose, like they're your mother trying to keep tabs, or a friend that is prepping for the dreaded 'did you read my blog?' question) and if they don't find what they're looking for in a matter of seconds, they're on to the next blog.
Also, avoid walls of text. Embedding pictures and video are good ways to do this. But the easiest way to do this is to organize your thoughts logically and use whitespace liberally. A blank line between paragraphs goes a long, long way.
Finally, using enumerated or bulleted lists can make a huge difference. Enumerated lists are obviously useful if you're trying to show a linear sequence of steps, or convey an ordering of the content. Bulleted lists are a fantastic way of conveying a lot of information very quickly without overloading the reader with information. They're generally
#6) Encourage user feedback.
People like to feel important. People like to give opinions. Allow them to do so! Let users leave comments, and provide ways for them to feel like their opinions are valuable like having a sample poll in your navigation sidebar. These are great and simple ways to engage your readers.
Hopefully this blog entry has helped you think about your writing style, and you'll be able to take something useful away from it and apply it to your blog. I'd love to hear some feedback on my ideas and opions.
#1) Content is king.
This is the supreme rule. Actually, all other rules are sub-rules of this rule, and explain how to make your content king. But you must remember, without great content, people will just move on to the next thing. There is no such thing as web loyalty. Those days, are long gone.
#2) Be yourself - show your style.
People are either going to like your writing style or they're not, it's that simple. The style that I use while writing is heavily dependent on the content of the entry.
Generally, my style employs a lot of humour and I try and use as much punctuation and italic text as possible to help people read entries the way that I hear them in my head when I write them. I apply this principle to all of my entries, regardless of the content, and the demographic that I'm writing to (for the most part).
#3) Tailor your writing style to the content of an entry.
If I'm writing a factual entry, for example, explaining how to solve a technical problem or describing how to do something, I will use a lot of examples. I find that when learning a new concept, it's far easier for people to relate to it when they can draw comparisons to things that they already know.
If I'm writing an opinion piece, I will generally use a more creative and persuasive writing style, primarily written in the active voice. This helps the entry appear confident and like I know what I'm talking about (whether or not this is true). I try to limit the hard facts and quotations to a minimum while still conveying the primary pieces of information that I need to in an interesting and fun way. I figure that if somebody wanted to read an enyclopedic entry on the topic, they would go to Wikipedia.
#4) Interesting pictures.
When I'm writing about life or adventure, I spend a lot of time sorting through the pictures and carefully selecting the ones that I want to display to the readers. These are not always just the "best" shots that I've taken (although, admittedly, I will try and build a story around them to show them off from time-to-time), but ones that I can use to convey a funny or meaningful story. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I try and make the writing compelling enough that the picture gives a feeling to augment the thousand words around it. I have found that funny captions beneath the pictures can go a long way in adding to the value of an entry.
#5) Break up your content.
People get bored easily, especially in the age of blogging. In the so-called (useless) information age, there are two overwhelming attitudes that provail: entertain-me-now and I-don't-have-time-for-this. If you don't engage your readers immediately, they will scan through the content (unless they're there for a specific purpose, like they're your mother trying to keep tabs, or a friend that is prepping for the dreaded 'did you read my blog?' question) and if they don't find what they're looking for in a matter of seconds, they're on to the next blog.
Also, avoid walls of text. Embedding pictures and video are good ways to do this. But the easiest way to do this is to organize your thoughts logically and use whitespace liberally. A blank line between paragraphs goes a long, long way.
Finally, using enumerated or bulleted lists can make a huge difference. Enumerated lists are obviously useful if you're trying to show a linear sequence of steps, or convey an ordering of the content. Bulleted lists are a fantastic way of conveying a lot of information very quickly without overloading the reader with information. They're generally
#6) Encourage user feedback.
People like to feel important. People like to give opinions. Allow them to do so! Let users leave comments, and provide ways for them to feel like their opinions are valuable like having a sample poll in your navigation sidebar. These are great and simple ways to engage your readers.
Hopefully this blog entry has helped you think about your writing style, and you'll be able to take something useful away from it and apply it to your blog. I'd love to hear some feedback on my ideas and opions.
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