Blog Post Writing

Before I started working at Blueprint, I thought I knew the proper way to write blog posts. In my time here, I have discovered some tips to serve as guidelines for writing blogs.

T.M.I. (Too Much Information):

My biggest struggle with writing is I am wordy. Writing well-written articles and sure they are not too long is difficult for some. The fact is only very few people want to read blog posts over 500 words long. The mission in writing a well-written blog post is just keep it simple and short. When I need help, I often ask friends to peer review, which is a great idea. There are times when I find that I have written the same thing more than once without realizing it, so checking for repetition can also help. While looking over the article, deleting facts that are not really needed can also help shorten the article.

Proper Grammar:

Terrible grammar is running rampant these days, and many blame texting.

What constitutes bad grammar? For one thing, incorrect use of a word. Also, the incorrect use of capitalization or not using capitalization when needed. Something else that constitutes bad grammar that I forget is not writing out numbers under one hundred.

Another would be the incorrect use of words. Homophones are words that sound the same yet have different meanings.

Examples:

Their–There–They’re

Your–You’re

To–Too–Two

Accept–Except

Read–Red and Read–Reed

Right–Write

Now here comes the more in depth part. Another factor to consider with using proper grammar is subject/verb agreement. This basically says that a singular subject (one subject, who or what the sentence is about) needs a singular verb (example: is), and plural subjects (more than one subject) need a plural verb (example: are).

Pronouns are another aspect in proper grammar. Pronouns, simply put, are words that take the place of nouns (example: he, she, it, they).

Spelling:

Spelling is something I am strict about with others and myself. There are several wonderfully written articles, full of well-researched information yet no one, but a few people read it. Why? The articles have several misspelled words and all the comments, if any, say that the writer needs to look into their spelling. Something I always do to make sure a word I’m using is spelled correctly, I will either check a dictionary (I use online dictionaries if my paper dictionary is not nearby) or I use Microsoft word.

Consistency:

Consistency is a complicated factor in writing which makes sure the main idea flows from the first sentence to the last. Without consistency, readers will be confused and lost because they are idea-jumping or worse thought-jumping, which forces the reader to decode the writer’s mind.

Another important fact with consistency is always using correct tense. This means when writing in present tense (is, are, am) then don’t switch to past (was, were, had). Keep it consistent throughout the entire piece.