How Twitter Can Make You A Better Writer Even If You Never Use It

Photo by topgold

"Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" reads the explanation of the service on Twitter's website.

Twitter seems to be the buzz of the Internet right now, particularly for those who make a living full-time or part-time from the web, be they web content writers, graphic designers, blog consultants, technology bloggers, or any number of other professions.

A typical Twitter posting resembles a blog post stripped to its thesis alone.

That's how you can improve your writing with Twitter even if you never actually use the service.

Find Your Thesis With Imaginary Twitter Posts

By limiting each Twitter post to 140 characters or less (as Twitter does), writers are forced to get to the point, to say exactly what they want to say without any extraneous filler. So even if you don't use Twitter, perform the following exercise the next time you sit down to write a blog post or magazine article or whatever.

Pretend that you're on Twitter and you have 140 characters or less to say as clearly as possible what your blog post is about, what its message (or thesis) is. This will force you to define exactly what it is you're writing about, what precisely you want to say. Once you've got your fake Twitter post (thesis), then write the full blog post based on that. This exercise should help you to write a crisper, cleaner, and clearer blog post with less irrelevant rambling.

Simple Example

For example, yesterday I wrote a 1352 word post on The Real Secret to Making Good Money From Your Blog. That long post could have been written as a Twitter post with the thesis explicitly clear. I would have written something like this:

"The real money in blogs comes from selling a service or product, not from selling ads."

If I counted correctly, that above sentence has 88 characters and quickly, clearly, and accurately captures my full 1352 word post's message. Of course, you need a fuller post to set a backdrop to the message, to more fully flesh out the argument, and to include relevant and insightful quotes from authorities (which I did by quoting Skellie and Darren Rowse, among several others).

Bottom Line

I think it can be extremely helpful to force yourself to write out, in less than 140 characters, the central theme of each of your blog posts before you begin writing them. By pretending that the only way you can communicate the idea in the blog post is through 140 characters or less on Twitter, you can hone your message to its core, which should definitely sharpen your writing.

I don't even use Twitter yet (I may at some point, but right now I don't have a compelling reason to do so), but I think I'm going to start doing this imaginary-Twitter-post-writing-exercise before I write anything of significance so that I can define a more explicit thesis and write a tighter argument.

Give this writing exercise a shot--I think you'll like it.

The Real Secret to Making Good Money From Your Blog

Photo by liewcf

This is the third post in a roughly 10-part series I'm calling The Most Haunting and Profound Blogging Advice Series. I'm sharing blogging advice I've picked up from more established bloggers, different bits of advice which have haunted me profoundly since I came upon them. Read the introduction to this series here.

Many people are starting blogs these days in the hopes that they'll become wealthy through selling ads. Others are hoping that they can at least make enough money to quit their current job and make a living as a full-time blogger. Then there are those who just want to make some extra cash on the side.

If the business model is selling ads, then in most cases, only the last group (part-timers looking for extra money) will really be satisfied, as it certainly is possible to earn some additional income each month from the ads you sell on your blog.

Not necessarily so for those looking to get rich or make full-time livings from their blogs.

The Wealthy

Yes, there are some bloggers who make a lot of money--John Chow makes $300,000 a year and Darren Rowse made roughly $250,000 last year primarily from selling ads on their blogs.

But, those two guys were at the forefront of the making money from blogs scene and are now seen as authorities by bloggers all over looking to learn from them so that they too can become wealthy bloggers. Thus, Rowse and Chow have the internet traffic to generate lots of money from their ads.

Listen to these words of caution from Rowse, though:

"I've often used the analogy of Professional sports people to highlight that in any 'game' there are many who play it - less who make a little money from the game, even less who are able to earn a living from it (just) and just a small group who make big money from it. The same is true for bloggers. I've run many polls here at ProBlogger on how much people are earning from the medium (eg) and on every single occasion they reveal that the vast majority of bloggers are making very little per month. While it is possible to make amazing money from blogging the sad reality is that most don't make more than pocket money. Even some blogs who 'deserve' to make money blogging don't." [Emphasis mine]

Full-Time Incomes

There are also bloggers who aren't wealthy, but make full-time livings, primarily from ad revenue.

J.D. Roth runs Get Rich Slowly, a blog about personal finance, and as of last November, he was earning $5000 a month, which looks like it comes primarily from ads.

Get Rich Slowly currently has about 55,000 feed subscribers and J.D. recently became a full-time blogger.

But, listen to his words of caution, as well:

"Unless you're John Chow, blogging is no way to get rich quickly. It's no way to generate immediate cash for bills. Income is uncertain and variable....

I believe Get Rich Slowly is an atypical example. More normal, I think, are the results at my other blogs. My six-year-old personal site gets about 1100 visitors each day. It earns me an average of $120/month. I also run several minor blogs. They earn me about $20/month combined....

Do not start a blog expecting it to pay your bills. Blogging can be an excellent way to make money from a hobby, a way to earn supplementary income. But blogging will not make you rich." [Emphasis in original]

So, while it's possible to publish a popular blog with quality content that attracts lots of traffic and permits you to earn either lots of money (Chow and Rowse) or solid middle-class money (J.D.) from selling ads on your blog, the odds are really against you.

The Real Secret

So what's the secret to making good money from your blog?

That secret is the third bit of the most haunting and profound blogging advice I've discovered, thanks to Harrison McLeod of Men with Pens, a blog that offers "Web Business Tips for Writers, Freelancers, and Online Entrepreneurs," according to the blog's tagline.

McLeod and his business partner James Chartrand run their blog primarily as an advertisement vehicle for their web writing and design services.

McLeod explains:

"Blogging won't make you rich. What people fail to realize is that blogging is a way to be noticed. It brings opportunities that will make you rich - or at least able to earn a comfortable living.

James and I don't make much money from our blog, despite our monetization strategies. Our advertising, Amazon and ebook revenues barely bring in enough to buy a dinner for four once a month.

But through our blog, we achieve clients. People often contact us because they become familiar with us through our content. They see that we have integrity, that we're trustworthy and that we offer quality – even in free posts.

A blog should never be a sole source of income. It's simply a resource and a tool that helps achieve other revenues." [Emphasis mine]

I suppose you could make a full-time living by running a dozen blogs, putting up ads on each of them, and posting quality, interesting content on each of them every day--but, what kind of life is that? Besides, you still probably won't make that much, as you just won't be able to infuse any kind of real passion into any of the blogs, the type of passion that motivates readers to come back for more.

The real money in blogging is in establishing yourself as an authority or expert at some type of service and using your posts to demonstrate that, thus potentially bringing you new customers for your service (copywriting, web design, SEO consultation, gourmet food catering, lawn care, real estate, etc.).

Brian Clark says:

"Blogging is a great way to grow a business, promote a cause, or spread new ideas, because when you take an educational approach to marketing, you gain the attention and trust of people who might otherwise simply ignore old-fashioned advertising. Not only can those people become your customers or converts, they can also become your advocates." [Emphasis mine]

Perhaps your blog isn't currently constructed to effectively sell anything--while you figure out how to do that, there's still a very simple thing you can do to potentially earn far more money than you probably ever will from your ads.

Put Up a 'Hire Me' Page

It's really quite obvious, but this advice never really occurred to me until I read it from Skellie, a popular blogger who blogs about blogging.

She says:

"If you sell your skills and you run a blog or website, you must have a hire me page.

An About page which mentions you're available for hire isn't enough. The information will always be too broad: it has to cater to new visitors, people who want information about the blog/site, people who want general information about you, as well as clients. It also doesn’t indicate from the main page that you're looking for work. A page called 'Hire Me', 'My Services' or 'Consulting' is much more likely to attract the interest of prospective clients — though it doesn't hurt to link to it from your About page, either.

If a 'Hire Me' page sends you just one client every few months, it pays for your time (a basic page will probably take half-an-hour to write). In my experience, a Hire Me page can do a lot more than that."

By simply putting up a brief bit about yourself and what services you offer, along with contact information, you can increase the odds that people will get in touch to hire you for something.

If you position yourself as knowledgeable and skilled about something, and your blog posts are well written, reflecting your knowledge and skills, you may get more clients and you may even get some full-time job offers.

Bottom Line

Run ads on your blog if you want (if you have good traffic, you should earn at least extra side cash), but realize that the real money in having a blog comes from demonstrating your knowledge and skills through well-written, interesting, and informative blog posts.

Combine that with a good 'hire me' page and some products or services to sell, and you stand a much better chance of making good money from your blog, much more than most bloggers will ever get from their Adsense impressions.

Jesse Hines is a freelance writer. He has written company profiles, press releases, marketing copy, and investigative articles. If you have any writing needs, contact him at jessehines@hotmail.com

Related Posts

Speak TO Your Readers, Not AT Them: Good Bloggers Persuade Rather Than Simply Assert and Command
The First Rule of Blogging
The Most Haunting and Profound Blogging Advice Series: An Introduction

Speak TO Your Readers, Not AT Them: Good Bloggers Persuade Rather Than Simply Assert and Command

Photo by katiebate

This is the second post in a roughly 10-part series I'm calling The Most Haunting and Profound Blogging Advice Series. I’m sharing blogging advice I've picked up on from more established bloggers, different bits of advice which have haunted me profoundly ever since I came upon them. Read the introduction to this series here.

A couple of months ago I stumbled over the following simple, yet profound, advice on writing that has haunted me from the moment I read it.

Matt Keegan, a freelance writer and blogger, wrote a post in which he offered some tips to "intrepid writers everywhere," as he put it. He explained his motivation:

"Over the past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to review some submissions from fellow 'writers' and have come to an important conclusion: a lot of people need to spend some extra time improving their work while others simply do not have the talent."

Persuade Your Readers

Keegan listed seven tips based on his observations--the one that jumped out at me was this one, which is the second bit of most haunting and profound blogging advice I've encountered:

"Speak to me, not at me — Conversational writing is fine, but you are missing an important point: I don't want you to tell me what I should do, rather you must persuade me. I hear your opinion, but you don’t back it up with compelling reasons. Instead of saying 'you must' use 'consider this' and you may keep my attention." (Bold emphasis mine)

I've seen a good number of bloggers who just declare things, just command their readers to do this or that, just say that thus and thus is the truth and the best way, the only way of doing whatever it is they're advocating--as though their perspective is THE perspective and they're some sort of authority to whom we ought to defer.

Often, the bloggers doing this aren't authorities or experts on the subject at all; often, they're just some guy who put up a blog and learned fairly quickly that the way to attract readers is to use bold, catchy headlines such as, "THE Top 10 Ways to Accomplish Whatever," or "You MUST Do These 12 Things to Be Successful at Whatever."

Whatever.

Novices and Authorities Are Both Doing It

So you have two basic types doing this:

1. Utter novices who just declare things as though they were the Gospel Truth in the hopes that readers will view them as experts and they can thus gain a readership.

2. Bona fide authorities who are in a position to write on their chosen subject and have something legitimate to say, but--they've bought into the idea that they have to use bold and loud titles to grab eyeballs and then, in the body of the post, they continue to just declare things (often without any acknowledgment that they could be wrong or that there are other valid views that contradict theirs), commanding but never really persuading.

Novices: Get Real

The former need a healthy dose of reality and humility and to realize that they have to earn the right to make such bold declarations, by demonstrating real experience, achievements, and qualifications in their chosen subject matter before anyone should pay any attention to their pronouncements.

No more just shouting at your readers that they should do this or that--as people who are more experienced and have achieved much more in real life in certain arenas begin to enter the blogging world, the posers will be pushed out; the truly accomplished folks will attract the readers.

For example...someone calling them self a "professional writer" but the only place they've ever published anything is on their free blog or at Associated Content...if that person starts declaring that "real writers" do this thing or that other thing...I'm not paying attention. Especially if you're just declaring; at least, try to persuade me, try to convince me, try to argue your point and make your case through persuasion instead of just saying "this is the way it is." You're not qualified to just declare things yet. Just sayin'....

By the way, that's not being elitist--it's just expecting you to give me some reason to listen to you other than that you have a blog and can say whatever you want. There's too many people shouting in the blogosphere (and on TV and radio and most everywhere else) to pay attention to it all. It's all about writing about what you actually know.

Another example:

I've been freelance writing for some local health and business publications for over a year now (getting published and paid), I wrote public relations and marketing copy for a local science non-profit during an internship before that, and I earned a Bachelor's degree in English, with a concentration in writing before all of that. Thus, I do know something about writing well and even getting published a little. I can blog about that because I've done it and have actual knowledge of it.

But if I tried to emulate Brian Clark and starting doing posts like he does at Copyblogger about online marketing success, I'd look like a foolish amateur. I haven't had any online marketing success yet and don't really know much about it. Thus, I keep my mouth shut about it. That's what I'm arguing here, to blog about what you truly know and have some authority to speak on, but if you insist on blogging about things you don't know much about so that you can explore it and learn through the experience--at least be clear that that's what you're doing and don't pass yourself off as any kind of authority, just declaring thus and thus. Be real.

Authorities: Relax

As to the true experts--just chill out. You don't have to stake out such hardcore positions and make such dogmatic, universal declarations about everything. Sometimes, it's enough to simply make your case clearly, yes, but also persuasively--show your reader why you think you're right and give tangible reasons. Even, gasp!, interact with opposing viewpoints, acknowledging their existence and potential validity, and then point out to your readers why your position trumps those of your opponents.

Even if you are an expert with some great information to share, it's not necessary (and actually it's increasingly a major turnoff for me) if you write a title like, "The Top 5 Things You Must Do...."

Really? You're certain that those are the top five things and that nothing else could possibly supplant one your top five whatevers? You've done extensive research, comparing all of the possible options and found, through rigorous examination and thorough analysis that these are the top five things and there are no others?

More likely (though I'm sure in some cases there are only five main things) you've fallen prey to the temptation to write a bold, outrageous, eye-catching title because that's what so many of the blogging experts say is necessary to attract readers in the first place. Problem is, you're stating a definitive when sometimes it's highly debatable that these are the most important points and there are no others. I'm advocating more realistic, honest, yet provocative titles.

Yeah, it takes more effort to write one of those, but it'll gain you credibility. It's worth it.

Bottom Line

In short, bloggers, remember that you're not necessarily the first or last word on any subject and that you could be wrong.

So, I'm hoping I can persuade you to adopt a more realistic assessment of your views and I'm hoping to persuade you to speak TO your readers and not AT them. Just like you would if you were pontificating to them in person.

How'd I do? Did I persuade you or did I, too, succumb to just speaking at you, just declaring my view?

Jesse Hines is a freelance writer. He has written company profiles, press releases, marketing copy, and investigative articles. If you have any writing needs, contact him at jessehines@hotmail.com

Related Posts

The First Rule of Blogging
The Most Haunting and Profound Blogging Advice Series: An Introduction

Rewrite this Ad Copy to Make It More Personal and Colorful

I recently received a postcard mailer from a local business. Here's a block of the main copy:

"We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to the new ... of Newport News. New owners with an all new attitude. Stop in and experience our new approach to sales and service."

Two quick observations:

Cut the Excess and Get to the Point

1. The first sentence buries its main point behind a bunch of unnecessary preceding filler: "We would like to take this opportunity to...." should just be eliminated.

There's no need to tell the customer that they would like to take this opportunity to do anything, nor is there a need to tell the customer what it is they want to do. Just say it outright.

Here's how they could have made that first sentence more direct and personal, by writing:

"You're invited to the new ... of Newport News."

That puts the customer front and center, addresses them more clearly and directly, and gets the main point out more quickly.

Use More Colorful and Evocative Language

2. The company used the word "new" four times in three sentences. Repetition can be good in persuasive writing, but the word "new" is too vague and cliché to really elicit interest anymore.

They have new owners who have a new attitude and a new approach to sales and service--so what? Newer doesn't equate to better.

Rather, I think this company should have used more precise and descriptive words to explain why we should stop in, words such as "warm," "friendly," "detailed," "25 years of experience," "award-winning"--something like that. Yes, those words can be cliché too, but at least they evoke something in the mind that goes beyond simple newness.

Perhaps the facility previously had bad owners who had a bad attitude and a bad approach to sales and service and that's why the company is stressing the word "new" so much. Perhaps.

But, "new" is still too empty; they should have used more colorful words to describe all the new stuff they have going on, words that will really entice customers to come by, words with more specific meanings that convey appealing images in their readers' (and potential customers') minds.

What do you think?

Looking at the above block of copy, how would you rewrite it to make it more effective and enticing for customers to actually go visit the company?

22 Words Can Help Make Your Blog Stand Out and Grab Readers

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday to pick up a few items--deodorant, toothpaste, and laundry detergent.

Three simple items--no problem, right? I'd be in and out quickly...just grab the items and go.

Not so simple, actually.

As I looked at the shelves of laundry detergent, I started to get overwhelmed with all of the choices--Tide, Purex, Xtra, Arm & Hammer, etc. So many brands, some of each offering several different types: small bottles, large bottles, with bleach, without bleach, cold water versions, and so on.

Same thing with the toothpastes (Colgate, Crest, Aim, etc.--all offering whitening, cavity protection, tartar protection, mouthwash, mint flavor, cinnamon flavor...) and the deodorant (Old Spice, Speed Stick, Right Guard, etc.--antiperspirant or regular deodorant, fresh scent, sport scent, musk scent...).

Having tons of options is great in one sense--you can often get exactly what you want--but having tons of products to choose from can be so overwhelming that you're tempted to just grab the cheapest item off the shelf and go.

Blog Overwhelm

Same with blogs. With Technorati currently tracking 112.8 million blogs, what are you doing to make your blog stand out, distinguish itself, and entice readers to check you out--and continue to do so, by returning regularly or subscribing through RSS or email?

Here's how one guy is doing it:

Abraham Piper, son of popular pastor and author John Piper, is Web Content Editor at Desiring God ministries.

Abraham has a blog, 22 Words, and he's doing something really unique and appealing, so unique and appealing that it grabbed my attention and compelled me to sign up for his feed.

Here's his blog's tagline:

"Exercises in getting to the point (or avoiding it) by saying what I have to say in twenty-two words, not counting titles."

Abraham normally writes each of his posts in twenty-two words and this forces him to make his point clearly and (extremely) concisely.

He gives seven reasons why he chose that number, among them these two:

"It’s not so brief it's meaningless, nor so long that I seem to have started talking before I knew what to say."

and

"To say something worthwhile this short, you have to pay attention to little things.

Then these add up to big things.

Hopefully."

Notice that each of his reasons contains only twenty-two words as well.

Here's a couple of his actual blog posts:

"Regularly, when I tell Molly, 'I love you,' there's a 'too' tacked on the end.

I should say it first more often."

and

"Let's aim for goodness. If we succeed consistently, great.

But why value consistency itself? We could just as easily be consistently bad."

Distinguish Yourself

Check Abraham Piper's blog out and see just how he fits compelling points within just twenty-two words on a regular basis.

I love the idea. That's why I signed up for his feed.

What are you doing to entice readers to sign up for yours?

The First Rule of Blogging

Photo by Joe Shlabotnik

This is the first post in a roughly 10-part series I'm calling The Most Haunting and Profound Blogging Advice Series. I’m sharing blogging advice I've picked up on from more established bloggers, different bits of advice which have haunted me profoundly ever since I came upon them. Read the introduction to this series here.

There are many, many rules of successful blogging that many, many people will tell you that you must do.

Such as:

Post everyday (even several times a day!), you should use WordPress and if you have WordPress you must have these plugins, wait, actually, Blogger is better than WordPress, network with other bloggers to grow your site audience, you should use social media sites
(Digg, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter...aagh!)--no, actually, don't use social media to promote your blog, you should have a blog commenting strategy, writing short posts is a secret A-List bloggers employ--no, write long posts!, your blog design matters--no, it doesn't (well maybe a little), you must do SEO for your blog, but realize that SEO is a waste of time, you should read other blogs on a regular basis to stay up to date on the latest blogging trends--well, don't read something until you actually need to, blog about your passion--but don't rely on your passion alone, do lots of guest posts on high-traffic blogs, write catchy and witty headlines--use lists! (the top 5,000,000 keys to a better life...the 8.5 trillion things you must do to get blog readers), use lots of images, use videos, buy advertising for your blog, write a press release announcing your blog, participate in web events (pull an April Fool's Day joke on your blog, do a "what I'm thankful for" roundup on Thanksgiving), use Entrecard!--don't use Entrecard (actually, if you value your time and care about real return on investment, you won't use it), put up ads from day one--no, wait until you have 1000 daily visitors first!, offer a full RSS feed--no, offer a partial one so that readers will have to click over to your site to finish reading the post, thus increasing your Adsense impressions!, link out to lots of other bloggers so they'll notice you and maybe help increase your profile....exhausted yet?

**Note: I know I should link out the second half of this paragraph for consistency's sake, but in keeping with the spirit of this post--the first rule of blogging--I'm not. I'll explain at the end of this post.**

Do this (could be anything) to blog better, every single time!...but never do that (could be anything)!

Chill Out

If you've recently started blogging, you may have gotten caught up in this never-ending quest to build a highly successful blog, searching out information from sources the world over, constantly looking for the latest blogging tip.

Some of the advice is actually very good; some of it isn't. But, you could look at the avalanche of blogging advice, both good and bad, from both successful bloggers and completely unsuccessful bloggers, and begin to feel utterly exhausted. There's so much stuff that you think you have to do now to make your blog a success; problem is, you don't really enjoy your blog much anymore, as it begins to feel like a job.

On a typical day you might be saying to yourself, "Today, I have to write a home-run post with thorough SEO, I have to comment on 10 blogs and get actively involved in those conversations, constantly checking back for replies so I can reply back, I have to Stumble and Digg for a half-hour, I have to drop 100 Entrecards, I have to begin that guest post"--and you've forgotten just why you started a blog in the first place.

If you started a blog to drive traffic to your business site or to establish yourself as an expert in a field to open up job opportunities, then a certain base amount of these activities is vital. But...I bet you there are many people with "personal" blogs who have found themselves turning their part-time hobby into a second full-time job, perhaps thinking they're going to make plenty of money off their ads or gain their 15 minutes of fame. For most, it's an unhealthy pipe dream--time to wake up.

Get a Life

If that's you (or you're a serious business blogger who's getting burned out), you need to keep in mind the first rule of blogging, courtesy of Tim Ferriss, author of the 4 Hour Workweek.

"You don’t HAVE TO do anything," Ferris says.

That is the first rule of blogging, the rule that trumps all others, and one that you should probably write out and post somewhere near your computer.

Ferris explains what he means in response to a question from Mr. Problogger, Darren Rowse, in an interview:

Darren - "Many of the bloggers that I interact with have anything but a 4 hour work week - how can we make ourselves more productive in the day to day of blogging?"

Tim - "Just remember: you don’t HAVE TO do anything. Set the rules of the game so that you can win and have a life at the same time. If you set the expectation that you’ll post 12 times a day, it’s going to overwhelm you. Focus on quality over quantity and the critical few vs. the trivial many. How do you do that? You first define precisely what you want yourself and others to get out of the blog — why are you doing it, and what are you doing it for? It is vain to do with more what can be done with less (that’s quoting William of Occam, originator of “Occam’s Razor”), so if you can get your readers to where they need to be with one post a day, or one post per week, establish that as your rule."

Get a Focus

If you're feeling nauseous from the torrent of blogging "musts" you've come to believe you have to do, the following two takeways (which Ferriss points to) are ones you should address before you go any further:

1. Why do you have a blog?
2. Whatever the reason, make sure you're enjoying yourself.

Yes, there are certain things you should do if you really want to be successful, but what's your definition of successful? Do you really care if you have 20,000 RSS and email subscribers? Or do you just want to write on a subject that you enjoy exploring and sharing with others?

If it's the latter, then don't worry much about how to use social media to your advantage--it's probably a waste of time for you, as is spending much time learning SEO.

If you have a business blog, then you really should do some of these things, but then again, you don't need a blog for your business to be successful...it may actually hinder it if you spend too much time writing on your blog and marketing it instead of actually doing the work that your business is supposed to be about.

I read this advice from Ferriss months ago, but it's only recently begun to penetrate profoundly into my soul and I'm all the better for it. I've been helping another blogger out for awhile now, and I'd find myself chastising him for not doing such and such and exhorting him to do some other such and such--once I realized that's it not necessarily that big a deal, and the only blogging rule is that there are no rules, I lightened up on him and let him start enjoying it again. He's actually enjoying more success with it than ever before. Now, I recommend certain things here and there, but always try to remember that it's his blog and he can (and should) do what he wants, even if he is looking to me for assistance.

Be Professional, But Have Fun Too

I do think you should be professional (but you don't have to be) in whatever you post and how you write--don't post something that you would be ashamed for a potential employer to see and try to always write clearly, with good grammar and punctuation, etc.

Again, though, you don't have to do anything. It's your blog; do what you want. Enjoy it.

Don't be surprised, though, that if you just throw up boring, badly-written content, and never promote your blog, you will probably have very few readers (although you might be cool with that). You do have to do things to create a successful blog, and the successful bloggers do those things consistently.

While you should do certain things for success, just remember that you don't HAVE to do anything. Don't let others impose their standards on you.

Bottom Line

Quit worrying so much about finding the latest "secret key" to successful blogging and simply enjoy yourself. Pick a topic that you enjoy exploring and write as well as you can about it. Blogging is fun so have fun doing it.

**Note Update: I intended to link out the second half of that monster blog rules paragraph, but after having found 23 or so links, I got sick of it, so I quit. It's my blog after all--I don't HAVE to do anything I don't want to. This advice from Ferriss haunts me so deeply that when I got up to take a break, tired of getting all those links, I realized, "Hey, follow the advice you're sharing with the folks," and I started to relax and enjoy myself again. And that's the point of this post, to do what you want, to enjoy your blog, and not to let it (or other bloggers' standards) rule you. Set your own blogging rules. Peace.**

I've Moved--Please Read

My new blog is Robust Writing, at robustwriting.com/blog

Sign up for the new feed at:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/RobustWriting

The Most Haunting and Profound Blogging Advice Series: An Introduction

I'm launching a 10-part series on the most haunting and profound blogging advice that I've picked up on from fellow, more established bloggers in my five months or so of blogging.

This won't be your typical blogging advice series--"how to use Digg" or "this affiliate marketer is the best" or "how to increase your Adsense revenue"--because it's a much more philosophical, yet highly practical, look at ten powerful insights on blogging that we should all probably keep in mind constantly and should inevitably elevate our blogging to a higher level if heeded.

I chose to call it "haunting" and "profound" because this is the advice that regularly crops up in my mind whenever I'm about to write a post or thinking about how to maximize my blog's purpose.

According to Dictionary.com,

Haunting means: remaining in the consciousness; not quickly forgotten.

and

Profound means: originating in or penetrating to the depths of one's being.

Thus, I'm calling it The Most Haunting and Profound Blogging Advice Series because, as I thought about it, these are probably the 10 bits of advice that have affected me the most profoundly, that have haunted me continually, that have stayed with me ever since I came across them--and they're the ones that I feel a need to implement.

I'm styling this series similar to my Writing Advice From the Greats Series--I'm going to feature a quote or idea from an individual blogger or bloggers and then explore that advice, examining what the advice means at its fundamental level and then how to use it practically so that you can become a more effective blogger.

I'm not much on blogging about blogging--it gets quite boring quite fast for me--but I realized that I'm constantly referring to these bits of blogging advice whenever I'm thinking about a post or my blog itself, so I thought it would make for an interesting series. Plus, you'll get to see what bloggers have most influenced me so far.

I'll let you in on this much: the bloggers I'm featuring are Tim Ferriss, James Chartrand, Harrison McLeod, Skellie, Dosh Dosh, Michael Masterson, Matthew Keegan, and perhaps a few others. We'll see how it goes. There might even be an eleventh bonus article.

Commas Matter--A Lot

A few days ago I posted a rebuttal to Penelope Trunk's declaration that "Writing without typos is totally outdated," and in the comments over at Ms. Trunk's blog, there were people who firmly agreed with her that rigorous proofing of one's work is not necessary and that typos are basically "whatever"--it's the ideas expressed that really only matter.

Well, in addition to the reason I believe eliminating typos is essential--namely, it demonstrates a commitment to excellence--there's another reason, a reason that everyone ought to be able to agree on. Proofing your work and eliminating typos helps clarify your meaning, making your point clear to your readers.

Commas and Cannibalism

Here's an example of how such a seemingly small thing as forgetting to use a comma can greatly distort your meaning:

If you write,

"Let's eat, children!"

it's clear that you're telling the children to come eat.

But if you forget the comma, the sentence becomes,

"Let's eat children!"

in which case you should be thrown into jail.

The appearance or absence of a tiny comma radically changes the meaning of this sentence.

(HT to Martha Brockenbrough)

I've Moved--Please Read

My new blog is Robust Writing, at robustwriting.com/blog

Sign up for the new feed at:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/RobustWriting

Related Posts

Choose Your Words Carefully: Your Reputation Depends On It
Bad Grammar and Punctuation in Emails Can Hurt Your Career...or Worse

Writing Trends From Africa, America, and Canada

Photo by meyshanworld

I scoured the news headlines for some of the most interesting stories on writers and writing and found four articles that caught my attention--one from Africa, two from America, and one from Canada.

Here are the titles and links, with excerpts from each. There's plenty of thought/discussion provoking material here.

Africa:

African writing is dying

By David Kaiza in The East African

"CHINUA ACHEBE IS PERHAPS the biggest man in African literature. As was once said of the British poet John Betjeman, it is now true that if you want two African readers to physically fight, mention Achebe’s name.

Or like it is said of Shakespeare, Africans don’t have to know Achebe, he is in our blood.

But a fierce Internet and newspaper war has broken out. It is not new, for younger writers have for years complained that publishers would never touch a book that did not present Africa as exotic."

America

The next writing revolution

By Jessica Riegel in The Daily Pennsylvanian

"Some educators fear the advent of new technology signals the collapse of written expression. But others consider it a new frontier of communication that gives students more practice and pleasure in writing.

As instant messaging took off over the past decade, a slew of studies and articles bemoaned the death of English composition. 'Txt speak' shortcuts would replace students' grasp of proper grammar and punctuation and they would lose the capacity for refined critical writing."
...
"But [University of Pennsylvania Critical Writing Program Director Valerie] Ross said today's advent of technology requires new ideas about communication and its purpose. She compared the transitional phase to the introduction of the printing press, which also required new ways to think about writing."

Westlake teacher finds blogging can boost writing skills for students

By Kim Wheeler for WKYC-TV

"The Westlake School District is finding that kids' literacy skills are flourishing when they blog.

Kathleen Bartos is the elementary technology specialist in the Westlake Schools, and is using podcasting and blogging to help her students meet Ohio Content Standards.

"We have to make school as interesting as playing Playstation, and I think we have," says Bartos."

Canada

Facebook provides a site for emerging novels, short stories

By Sean Steels in The Vancouver Sun

"The short story and the novel, once the sole domain of paper and ink, are finding new life on the Internet, where they've become much more than a one-way conversation between authors and their audience, much more than static words on a printed page. Fiction as we know it is being reborn."
...
"Authors Evan Quirk, an Edmontonian, and Bassem Kurdi, a medical student in Saudi Arabia, are both using Facebook as a tool to weave serial stories for an audience of appreciative readers. Despite the astounding distance separating them, they have both used the website in the same way, posting chapter after chapter of their writing to the site."
...
"Facebook threads have a limited capacity which has created the need to post the stories chapter by chapter, recreating a new, online incarnation of a writing style that has tickled the curiosity of readers, and created suspense since the days of Dickens."

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The New Writing Economy: Typos Are Okay?

Photo by victoriapeckham

Penelope Trunk, a career columnist at the Boston Globe and author of the Brazen Careerist blog, says, "Writing without typos is totally outdated."

Since she makes a living from her writing, perhaps we should listen to what she has to say--perhaps.

Trunk says:

"There is a new economy for writing. The focus has shifted toward taking risks with conversation and ideas, and away from hierarchical input (the editorial process) and perfection.

As the world of content and writing shifts, the spelling tyrants will be left behind."

It's All About Excellence

I doubt it. Nor do I agree with disparaging people who advocate correct spelling as "spelling tyrants." Correct spelling, punctuation, and overall grammar reflect on one's commitment to professionalism and competence. Period.

You can throw up all the protestations you want that the most important thing is getting your well-formed ideas out there and that the grammar you use to do so doesn't matter nearly as much as your great ideas, but the micro commitment to excellent grammar is a macro commitment to excellence overall. I'll take excellence across the board every time.

As well, clear grammar use derives from clear thinking; the more coherent and precise one's grammar, punctuation, and spelling, the more likely one's argument is to be well thought out. To me, the more intelligent and thoughtful people also have some of the best grammar around.

Trunk gives five reasons "why complaining about typos is totally stupid and outdated," and if she had just left it at complaining about typos in blog comments, she'd have a valid point. But she goes beyond that, essentially saying that typos and incorrect grammar are okay in all types of writing, including resumes.

Typos In Resumes Are Okay, Too?

She says, in the comments section,

"I actually think that a few typos in a resume are fine. It’s too hard to not have typos if you’re customizing your resume to every job. And, it takes such insanely careful proofreading to catch typos in your own resume, that maybe an error-free resume is a sign that someone is an obsessive-compulsive and not a good hire. Just a thought."

She's a career expert and she's suggesting that someone who puts together an error-free resume might not be a good hire because they're committed to excellence?

Trunk's five reasons why carping about typos in blog comments are passé are sound, and I actually agree not only with her point on that (blog commenters should focus on the issue being raised and interact with that rather than trying to find some small "gotcha" to harass the author with) but I also agree with some of her five points. The problem is, she extrapolates from this valid argument to an invalid one about how excellent writing just doesn't matter.

Trunk's Five Reasons

1. Spellchecker isn’t perfect. Of course not; that's why you should thoroughly proof your own work on top of spellcheck. If it's important enough to publish, it's important enough to proof.

2. Spelling has nothing to do with intelligence. Maybe, maybe not. But, that doesn't excuse incorrect spelling.

3. You don’t have unlimited time, so spend it on ideas, not hyphens. All time should be used wisely, both time spent on forming an argument and time spent on presenting it.

4. Perfectionism is a disease. There's legitimacy to this--if you're so hung on getting everything perfect every single time, you may not accomplish much at all. But...one shouldn't equate "perfectionism" with excellence. Perfectionism may be a disease, but excellence isn't.

5. Use the comments section for what matters: Intelligent discourse. I agree with this one. I'm a proper grammar enthusiast, but I don't waste anyone's time with carping comments on their blog about a misspelled word.

Appearance Matters

Like I said before, if Trunk simply argued that commenters on blogs shouldn't worry about correcting the author's grammar, I'd be in her corner. But, she took this legitimate argument and ran with it to an unattractive and dangerous place, namely that it's okay to use incorrect grammar in most kinds of writing because the only thing that really matters is the argument.

As a career advice columnist, Trunk certainly has to know the importance of a job interviewer's appearance and presentation. A candidate may be highly qualified (similar to a strong idea) but if he doesn't present himself very well (similar to a post with several grammar typos), then he's hurt his chances at getting the job (similar to people ignoring your great idea because they're distracted by your typos).

Bottom Line

When Trunk says, "So stop wasting your time in the comments section parsing grammar and start contributing to the discussion," she's absolutely right.

When she says, "Writing without typos is totally outdated," she's absolutely wrong.

I've Moved--Please Read

My new blog is Robust Writing, at robustwriting.com/blog

Sign up for the new feed at:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/RobustWriting

Related Posts

Choose Your Words Carefully: Your Reputation Depends On It
Bad Grammar and Punctuation in Emails Can Hurt Your Career...or Worse

Successful Writers Embrace Rejection

Linda Formichelli is successful at writing--she's a magazine writer, book author, writing teacher, corporate writer, and speaker.

In an interview with FreelanceSwitch, Formichelli offers this advice on rejection to aspiring writers:

"My advice to new writers is to not let rejection get you down. We all get rejected. Heck, I’ve been doing this full-time for 10 years, and I still get rejections; I’ve probably gotten thousands. A rejection doesn’t mean you suck; it can mean that the magazine already has your idea in inventory, or the magazine is taking fewer freelance pitches, or the editor didn’t get her frappuccino that morning."

If you really want something, you've got to develop a thick skin and keep pushing past perhaps a torrent of rejection to be successful some times.

The best line of the interview--you should read the whole thing--is coming up, which you might want to print out and paste near your work station.

Formichelli says:

"If you get no rejections, it means you’re not trying. If you get rejections, it’s because you’re getting your work out there. Eventually, something will stick."

Looking to Become a Newspaper Writer?

Writers looking to make a living as a newspaper journalist have to realize that with declining newspaper subscription rates, the opportunities to land a good reporter or copy editing job continue to decrease.

Plus, the entry-level pay is quite low. I interviewed for two entry-level newspaper staff writer jobs right out of college and the pay ranged from $8.50/hour to $12/hour. You can make more at bigger city newspapers, but good luck fighting off the intense competition, and the pay still won't be that great given the cost of living that big city might demand.

Two recent newspaper/news magazine jobs stories:

Over 100 Staffers Leave Newsweek
Angry journalists vent their frustrations to the world

The Wall Street Journal is growing though:

Wall St. Journal Makes Politics Its Business

The web may be your best career option in some fashion.