5 Basic Writing Tips for Bloggers

This is a guest post by Patricia Garza from online university rankings.

Bloggers devote a lot of their time to the business side of blogging. This makes sense, of course, as most of the business side helps them bring in an income. But that doesn’t mean that the writing aspect of blogging isn’t as important.

The writing is what allows bloggers to develop a business mentality! Without content, there’s no traffic, and without traffic, there’s no revenue from ads and so on.

This means that sometimes bloggers need to get back to the basics and make sure they are writing as good as they possibly can.

In order to do that, they should consider some of the following writing tips. These are tips that have been extremely helpful to me when I sit down to write, so I’m happy to share them with you!

1. Read Something to Inspire You

Before I sit down to write, I usually read a short story, a poem, or I listen to a song with particularly good lyrics. This process helps get me in the creative “zone” by priming my mind to use words in ways that I admire. It’s a nice way to relax right before you sit down to the sometimes frustrating process of creating your own work.

2. Always Pre-Write

I always have to pre-write, otherwise I just can’t get anything done. Pre-writing really helps me organize my thoughts and keep everything together in my head. Without pre-writing, usually what I write turns into a disorganized mess.

There are plenty of pre-writing strategies you can use, though I usually just use outlining. Whatever you do make sure that you have a plan for your post and that you use pre-writing techniques, such as outlining or mapping or brainstorming, to keep your post focused.

3. Revise Your Work

Next, you should really consider revising the writing that you actually do, especially if you want it to be easily read by your readers. Revising is actually one of the most important parts of writing. You should revise a post after you’ve had a little bit of time to let it sit.

This allows you to gain some distance on your writing and evaluate what you have written with a fresh eye. Often, you can catch little errors and adjust big thoughts during revision periods. The revision step is basically the icing on the cake for your readers; it’s what makes the writing it’s very best.

4. Show Your Work to a Friend

This tip is something of an extension of the previous tip, but it’s just as instrumental a part of the writing process.

Ideally, the friend you pick to serve as an objective judge of your work is someone who is acquainted with your blog. This editor-friend should also not be afraid to criticize—you want someone who can call the shots as they see them. Meet with them after they’ve read your post and have a discussion about how it can be improved both content-wise and stylistically.

5. Save Everything

As a writer, I’ve found that it’s really important for me to save all the writing I’ve done, even if I never used it earlier in another post.

Why do I do this?

Well, because I can sometimes go back to the old unused writings later on, and if I reread them, I can inspire myself to revisit an old topic. Sometimes what I used to think wasn’t a good topic actually becomes a great topic later on.

So, remember: if you don’t use a post immediately, you should save it and come back to it later one. This is especially helpful when you’re feeling blocked, as these old posts can really inspire you.

This post is a part of SmartBloggerz’s guest blogging contest where you can win cash prizes for earning the most points. Don’t forget the mandatory task that is required to be eligible to win in these cash prizes.


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42 thoughts on “5 Basic Writing Tips for Bloggers”

  1. I think showing it to a friend before publishing it is the best method. I do not write on a regular basis but whenever I do the best mantra for me has been to take a break after I finish writing and then re-read it, say, after and hour.

  2. Many times bloggers may forget that blogging means to write valuable content which will help other people find what they are looking for, and just focus on writing something which has good SEO, this may work for a short time but in the long run blogs will lose readers

  3. I definitely listen to music to get into my creative zone, there are certain songs that just seem to uplift me and give me the motivation to myself that I can do it! Showing your work to a friend can be a great thing but just dont show it to him too many times otherwise he might get annoyed, only use it when necessary in my opinion!

    -Jean

      1. For me its quite the opposite Joseph, I function better at night and get pumped up with music then. For some reason I just dont get going in the morning, takes me awhile to get going.

        -Jean

  4. A great reminder, especially after the Google panda update, it is always important to provide quality content for your readers. If you post re-hashed garbage or useless articles, people will have no reason to visit your site!

  5. I never outline. Instead I write it all out first. Then, I’ll rewrite the passages and then go from there. Once complete I will ask a friend to re-read my work because I trust their eyes better than mine. Lastly, I read it aloud.

    As for saving everything? I never delete my blog posts in my system (even if it’s drafted) because you never know when it’ll come in handy.

  6. Very good tips. I especially agree with the one about revising your work. I read and rewrite every post I publish about 12 times, maybe that is a bit too extreme but I want to make sure my readers ‘get’ what I am trying to say. 🙂

  7. I have one more tip to add, though this tip is for copywriting but I learn to write because of learning this technique and here’s how it work…
    Find a post from your favorite blogger or any marketer and write exactly every word of it, and then rewrite them a few times…. this is to let you experience the writing skills of your favorite blogger or marketer, though it takes time but once you master it, you will eventually feel like as though you are the person writing and this give you neurological imprint of the writing skill.
    Trust me, how does great copywriter sells, well… they sell from their words and for you as a blogger you are selling your content to your readers and that’s how I learn.
    I would highly recommend writing newsletter written by Gary Halbert, and if you do not know him, search in Google.
    Trust me, writing takes practice and to master it, you got to practice it, remember practice makes perfect…

  8. Thanks for the post Patricia! I especially like the pre writing tip…the thing is, I used to be so lazy that I thought writing an outline for my article would just be a waste of time and make me do extra work. It totally isn’t! I quickly discovered that it really helps you organize your thoughts, creates a better article and actually helps you write faster, because you know what direction you’re headed in. Definitely worth a try.

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