Discover the Easy Way to Write a Blog

Recently, MoneyAhoy.com showed you how easy it is to set up a blog from the technical side, using tools like WordPress and Bluehost. And the good news is that by using just a few handy blog writing tips and learning to relax and be yourself when you write, you’ll find blogs are as easy to write as they are to create. Here’s how to get started.

Blogging is fun!

Blogging is one of the easiest and most fun forms of writing because it is just writing like we talk. And we have no problem talking to friends or even strangers about our favorite subjects. In fact, when you get us started on our pet passions, it can often be hard to stop us. So, to create an entertaining and engaging blog, we just need to apply that same passion and enthusiasm to our writing.

Don’t Fear the Blank Page

Many of us feel intimidated by the blank page, and let’s face it: it can feel scary. Not knowing how and where to start can end up stopping us dead in our tracks. If this happens to you, then the best advice is to just write something, anything you like, to get you going again and break the hold of all that endless emptiness. Even if you end up deleting most of what you have written once you hit your stride, it’s still worth doing to get you going.

Also, try to get into the habit of writing something every day, such as a diary or a review of last night’s movie or restaurant meal. That way you’ll find writing becomes second nature and it will feel like less of a special occasion when you come to write your blog. The more you write, the better you’ll get at it, too, and you’ll soon find your natural tone of voice emerges.

Find Your Tone of Voice

The tone of voice is another thing many of us worry about, but we shouldn’t. If you write like you talk, with a friendly, approachable enthusiasm, then your tone will come naturally. Picture yourself talking one-on-one with a reader who is interested in you and wants to hear what you have to say. You don’t need to force it or use big words to impress your readers, just be yourself.

You can be the chairman of a huge corporation, but when it comes down to the relationship between writer and reader, you’re still just a person, talking to another person. When we stay away from jargon and business-speak, we find our blogs become easier to read and flow so much better. Remember, this isn’t a report to the board; it’s a chat in the elevator, so keep it light and informal.

Break It Up

If we’re honest, when facing a huge, intimidating block of text, chances are we’ll decide not to bother. So, we should break up our blogs with subheaders. Doing so not only helps to make your text look more attractive, it also helps the reader to scan your piece before they start so that they know what information it holds and want to keep reading to the end.

Choose Your Title Carefully

Don’t worry about your title at the start because you can always come back to it later. Your title is much too important to rush because it is the hook that gets people to read your blog in the first place among the melee of other articles bombarding them on a daily basis from across the internet. Look at the title of this blog, for example; rather than just saying something like “How to write a blog” or “Blog Writing 101,” I included the words “discover” and “easy way” to tempt you in (and apparently, it worked!).

Think of your title as an advert for your blog and make it as appealing as possible to your target audience. For example, the PokerStars blog title “Want to win a #TurboSeries event? Team Pros have some advice” is sure to grab the attention of anyone who wants to win a slice of the $15 million on offer and wants advice from the pros to give them the edge. It is much more personal and tempting than a blog titled “poker strategies”.

The more personal and engaging you can make your blog, the better. We need to talk to our audience in a way that sounds like we know and understand them and try to show as much empathy as we can. We need to talk with our audience, not at them. If we share our experiences and be open and honest about our struggles, we’ll soon win our readers over to feeling like we are on their side.

If you look back through this blog, you’ll see that I talk about “us”, “our” and “we” rather than stating facts and dictating rules to follow. The more involved and engaged our readers are, the more likely they are to come back for more (increasing our advertising revenue) and the more likely they are to buy our products and services (building our businesses).

Give It WHAM!

Engagement is especially important if you are writing a business blog. The fact is that people just don’t care about your business; they only care about what is in it for them. So, we need to make sure we see every piece of news or product launch information through our customers’ eyes and explain the benefits to them in the most friendly and approachable way. Test your business blogs with the acronym WHAM — Why and How does this Affect Me?

Check Your Facts

Your blog should always be interesting and informative, but make sure that the information is correct. One of the keys to writing a successful blog is gaining the trust of your audience, so make sure you always check your facts if you are in any way unsure. Even if we are writing about our favorite subject, it’s still worth taking a minute to Google our information and check if it is accurate, rather than having our credibility thrown into doubt. We need to choose credible references and cross-check wherever possible to be doubly sure because if we are wrong about one thing, readers will assume that we could be wrong about everything else, which undermines our authority and erodes the reader’s trust.

Easy Writing = Easy Reading

At the end of the day, if our blogs feel hard to write, then you can be sure that they will be hard to read, too, so relax and take it easy when you write. You are not going to have your writing marked by your college professor or your grade school English teacher, so you can afford to break a few rules here and there to keep it flowing and show some personality, just like you do when you talk. Set out to make friends and have a chat rather than trying to impress people and you’ll find your blogs will become more accessible and much more effective.