Whether you are an advanced SEO Copywriter or a business owner with a blog, you will read a lot of articles on how to write great headlines and great content. And sure, they’re helpful little refreshers on what you were taught in grade school, there’s no denying that. But articles that you won’t find a lot of are informational tidbits on how to edit your writing. I don’t doubt that you always spellcheck and maybe you’ve even remembered a grammar lesson or two. But the editing process should extend beyond the very basics that you need to get by; editing should be thought of as a vital organ that without it, the body of your work would fail to survive. You don’t have to be the best writer out there for people to read your content and pass it on; you just have to sound competent. After you’ve used spellcheck, here are three more things you should be doing to ensure the quality of your blog
<strong>1.Measure twice, cut once.</strong>
I am by no means a “shop girl,” meaning building birdhouses or chairs out of wood has never been or never will be my specialty. However, I particularly like a saying those handymen and women use to emphasize the importance of checking your work. “Measure twice, cut once” refers to the fact that you can never be too careful before you’re about to make a permanent change. Writing should be no exception to that precautionary mentality. Often when we get caught up in the writing process and hours pass before we look up from our computers, we can accidentally miss grammatical errors or spelling snafus. Therefore, after you have finished writing your blog, read it over at least twice…you’ll get some editing done before you even start the real editing process. Furthermore, I can’t stress enough the importance of revising your work because not only is your reputation on the line, but so is your blog’s message.
<strong>2. Don’t fluff and don’t bluff.</strong>
It’s time to learn one of the most important facets of blogging: your readers are not stupid. They might be thousands of miles away and they might like “lolcatz” a little too much, but they most certainly are not stupid. In fact, you should think of your readers as BS-sniffing hounds that won’t hesitate to rip your work apart to shreds if they feel duped. After all, the have the entire Internet as a resource to tell if you’re lying or not. Keep this in mind when you are revising your blog. If you find sentences that are just “fluff,” meaning your work will still be perfectly understandable without them, get rid of them. If you find sentences where you’ve poorly explained a concept or left loopholes for some reason or another, cut those out as well. Your audience will quickly be able to identify the fluff and call your bluffs. Again, it’s your reputation on the line, as well as the message of your blog. Are you willing to risk that for a few unnecessary sentences?
<strong>3. Read out loud</strong>
. When you’ve finished revising your blog, crossing those T’s and dotting the I’s, you have one last read-through to do. Reading your work out loud is a great way to weed out any grammatical mistakes or confusing syntax, simply because it just won’t sound right to you. This is a trick I taught myself back in high school when studying for the SATs and ACTs, and it worked! Sometimes when you just stare at the words on the page and never hear them out loud, you lose the human-side of the English language, which is an adaptive and emotional language, after all. As long as you don’t sound stiff and robotic, readers will at least give you a few seconds of their time.
Blogging is a great way to promote your ideas and your business, and it’s no secret why every SEO is so adamant about having one. When they’re regularly updated and providing useful and relevant information, you can make both search engines and people happy, leading to a wider readership and potentially larger income. But the burden doesn’t lie within the words by themselves. In fact, the same emphasis should be put on editing because the largest vocabulary won’t matter if the blog doesn’t read well. But once you hurdle the revisions of your blog and have come up with a smart and intriguing post, your readers have nothing left to worry about other than the message you would like to get across.
<strong>1.Measure twice, cut once.</strong>
I am by no means a “shop girl,” meaning building birdhouses or chairs out of wood has never been or never will be my specialty. However, I particularly like a saying those handymen and women use to emphasize the importance of checking your work. “Measure twice, cut once” refers to the fact that you can never be too careful before you’re about to make a permanent change. Writing should be no exception to that precautionary mentality. Often when we get caught up in the writing process and hours pass before we look up from our computers, we can accidentally miss grammatical errors or spelling snafus. Therefore, after you have finished writing your blog, read it over at least twice…you’ll get some editing done before you even start the real editing process. Furthermore, I can’t stress enough the importance of revising your work because not only is your reputation on the line, but so is your blog’s message.
<strong>2. Don’t fluff and don’t bluff.</strong>
It’s time to learn one of the most important facets of blogging: your readers are not stupid. They might be thousands of miles away and they might like “lolcatz” a little too much, but they most certainly are not stupid. In fact, you should think of your readers as BS-sniffing hounds that won’t hesitate to rip your work apart to shreds if they feel duped. After all, the have the entire Internet as a resource to tell if you’re lying or not. Keep this in mind when you are revising your blog. If you find sentences that are just “fluff,” meaning your work will still be perfectly understandable without them, get rid of them. If you find sentences where you’ve poorly explained a concept or left loopholes for some reason or another, cut those out as well. Your audience will quickly be able to identify the fluff and call your bluffs. Again, it’s your reputation on the line, as well as the message of your blog. Are you willing to risk that for a few unnecessary sentences?
<strong>3. Read out loud</strong>
. When you’ve finished revising your blog, crossing those T’s and dotting the I’s, you have one last read-through to do. Reading your work out loud is a great way to weed out any grammatical mistakes or confusing syntax, simply because it just won’t sound right to you. This is a trick I taught myself back in high school when studying for the SATs and ACTs, and it worked! Sometimes when you just stare at the words on the page and never hear them out loud, you lose the human-side of the English language, which is an adaptive and emotional language, after all. As long as you don’t sound stiff and robotic, readers will at least give you a few seconds of their time.
Blogging is a great way to promote your ideas and your business, and it’s no secret why every SEO is so adamant about having one. When they’re regularly updated and providing useful and relevant information, you can make both search engines and people happy, leading to a wider readership and potentially larger income. But the burden doesn’t lie within the words by themselves. In fact, the same emphasis should be put on editing because the largest vocabulary won’t matter if the blog doesn’t read well. But once you hurdle the revisions of your blog and have come up with a smart and intriguing post, your readers have nothing left to worry about other than the message you would like to get across.
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