As a blogger, it's important that you continuously strive to improve your writing skills. While no one is expected to be perfect all the time, you'll want to focus on a few key things including:
- decreasing spelling and grammatical errors;
- making sure your writing style and language choices are appropriate for your audience;
- keeping your blog posts clear and concise.
It's true that some bloggers succeed without strong writing skills. But you shouldn't assume you'll be an exception to the rule. Here are some of the things improved writing skills will give your blog.
Readability
Blogging isn't about reaching one-time visitors. You want people to keep coming back. To do that, you have to make your posts readable.
In the case of blogging that includes writing "scannable" content with lists and subheadings. If you're an ESL blogger, your blog posts shouldn't make that obvious. And you'll break up longer sentences and paragraphs with shorter ones.
You don't need a degree in English to write readable content. One of the best ways you can improve the readability of your blog is to read your posts aloud before publishing them. If it sounds awkward coming out of your mouth, it will probably sound even more awkward to your readers.
Trust and Authority
Your writing skills can also influence how much readers trust your blog. If you can barely string two sentences together, readers will notice. And if you don't demonstrate competence in writing your posts, why should readers trust you put any more effort into the substance of that content?
You might not think it's fair, but you will be judged based on your writing. If you want people to think of you as an authority source in your niche, you must be able to communicate effectively. Specialized knowledge isn't always enough.
"Shareability"
One of the biggest keys to your blog's success is its "shareability" factor. This is how worthy your content is of being shared by your readers, such as through social media.
When people trust your content, consider you an authority in your niche, and they find your content easy to digest, they're more likely to pass it along. That's what you want. You want readers to tweet your posts, Like you on Facebook, or otherwise spread the word. Your writing skills play a role in that.
In an upcoming post we'll look at some of the things you can do to improve your writing skills as a blogger. In the meantime, how do your writing skills measure up? What are you doing to improve them? And why do you feel that's important? Share your thoughts in the comments.