Miklb's Mindless Ramblings

chronicling life in a digital world

Writing Style for Blogs

Interestingly enough, Owen writes about his blogging style; I was remarking the other night that no wonder no one reads my blog, the posts are too long.

I’ve been trying to blog more, but tend to write these long diatribes, which smack against the conventions of online writing that I’ve read. I used to tell myself that I blogged for my own benefit, and that I didn’t care if anyone read it, but I’m fooling myself. Every time I write something, I find myself checking stats and looking for comments, so obviously I do care. To that end I am also looking to tailor my blogging style to cater to easier digestion, regular readership and the potential for a discussion to ensue.

I have a few references (actually, Bleacher Report has quite a bit of good reference, be it sports related or not), but am looking for more. Do you have any quality references for online writing?

Update - I’ve found a few links that have some good information.

A collection of articles by Jakob Nielsen on writing for the web
Actually linked from the previous set of articles, but worthy of listing again, web writing for many interest levels, is very informative. I particularly like the methodology list.
A List Apart’s style guide

I’ll update this list as I find additional resources.

Writing Style for Blogs was published on Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 12:15pm and tagged blogging, writing and style. Share your thoughts by commenting on this article.

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7 Responses to Writing Style for Blogs

Owen of http://asymptomatic.net/

BloggingPro is a regular column that, while it focuses on making money with your blog, also offers some periodic suggestions on how to write so that your visitors read.

Posted at January 11, 2009 on 4:00pm

Andy C of http://nbrightside.com/blog/

I write for myself. My posts may be long, short or a a terse one-liner. I am not writing for my audience because I don’t have one.

Anyone who happens to read my blog is very welcome. If they enjoy it, brilliant. If they subscribe, I’m very flattered.

However, it would be the worst sin IMHO to alter my writing style (such as it is), content, frequency or length of posts in order to drive traffic or attempt to appeal to a wider audience.

Be true to yourself.

Posted at January 11, 2009 on 5:06pm

Michael B of http://miklb.com/

Hmm, I scanned through the posts going back to August, and couldn’t find any articles on blog writing. Actually one, that had a single tip—read. Suppose I need to search the site.

Posted at January 11, 2009 on 6:17pm

Michael B of http://miklb.com/

Andy, I have no intentions to alter things simply to drive traffic or appeal to a particular audience. Certainly that would entail a lot of To 10 lists, and writing about things I could care less about. It’s not to say that I won’t still write personal rants, however, my goal is to share experiences and information, and if I’m not putting the content in a manner that people will actually read and get something from it, then I’ve failed.

This is also germane to my cooking site, something I sincerely want people to get something out of. If my long, convoluted writing is passed over due to the style and format, then again, I’m failing in my goal, to help people make great food at home.

Posted at January 11, 2009 on 11:15pm

Owen of http://asymptomatic.net/

Hmm. That was my one (seemingly bad) suggestion.

On the topic of changing my writing style to achieve a readership increase — that wasn’t my intent. I have an imagined audience; a set of imaginary readers to whom I write every post. And so while I might not be writing to a real audience, I’m still writing for myself, but with purpose.

Posted at January 12, 2009 on 9:56am

Josh of http://joshix.com/

I dispute the premise that there are special rules for writing here, or writing there. May I suggest Strunk and White?

With the possible addition of the old “[KC] Star Copy Style,” that’s all you need.

Posted at January 16, 2009 on 3:19am

Michael B of http://miklb.com/

I’ll be the first to admit that my grammar and style in general needs refining. However, I’d argue that writing a novel, an article for Vanity Fair, and the lead story for the local sports page certainly follow different conventions.

I’d also argue that Jakob Nielsen’s research isn’t to be quickly dismissed.

As I mentioned to Andy, my goals specifically aren’t so much for this site, as another that I’ve toiled with over the years.

Thanks for the reminder on The Elements of Style, I’m sure I’ve got at least one dog eared copy around somewhere.

Posted at January 16, 2009 on 4:11am

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« A Headline Right Out… Protecting the iPhon… »

Just a guy wandering the intarwebs looking to make sense of life.

Note to self, check to see what time a store opens before driving there. Sidenote - 11am, really Ikea?

Side Notes

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Do you have any sites or feeds that you’d care to share? Tips on finding apps on sale?
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At least they didn’t just hotlink to the image in my post.
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