Comments on: Can Poor Writing Skills Overshadow Good Content?

By: nikhil

nikhil — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:12:01 +0000

well if u got the skill ……then u’r on……but if u got both then its a plus…..

By: fornls

fornls — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 07:57:46 +0000

I believe mastering the grammer basics actually is more important. Grammatical mistakes when present will be present throughout the writing of that particular author. Then it will make the reader think twice about going for other articles.

By: Punctuation, Spelling and Grammar - Quality Control for Bloggers

Punctuation, Spelling and Grammar - Quality Control for Bloggers — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:12:37 +0000

[...] Can Poor Writing Skills Overshadow Good Content? [...]

By: Martin V.

Martin V. — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:12:11 +0000

One quick proofreading tip:

When doing the last proofreading, change the font style and size.

We get so used to reading the same words in the same place, that we often read through our mistakes without noticing them. Changing the font style and size will change the location of the words inside the paragraphs, giving it a “fresh” feel.

By: Tara Jacobsen

Tara Jacobsen — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:31:18 +0000

It is just so wrong that all the grammer and spelling mistakes my Mother nagged me about when I was in school turned out to be so important! Thanks Mom

By: Shane: content writer

Shane: content writer — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:21:14 +0000

It comes down to having respect for writing as an art form or not… If you respect the art of writing, you shoud strive to do it as well as possible, or else disrespect yourself and everything you do..
If you don’t respect it as an art then it doesn’t matter how well you do it.. As long as you have something of importance to offer other than an enjoyable read.

By: ceblogger

ceblogger — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:17:24 +0000

Very true indeed!
And every blogger should strive to improve his writing skills.

By: Terry Finley

Terry Finley — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:57:45 +0000

There are exceptions to every rule,
but generally the rule applies.

By: Daniel Scocco

Daniel Scocco — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:18:38 +0000

Martin, here is what I wrote on the article:

“Now one could say: “well, but I know a blogger that has thousands of readers and makes thousands of dollars monthly, yet he does not have superb writing skills and his content is often crippled with grammatical mistakes.”

Similar cases do exist, but they are the exceptions that prove the rule. Additionally, if you pay attention to these bloggers, you will notice that their blogs do not represent their main business, and that they are seen as experts on their niches. The authority factor over-weights poor writing skills. “

By: Brian Clark

Brian Clark — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:19:34 +0000

>>tell Shoemoney about it. he seems to be successful despite his weak language though.

Yeah, but you’re not Shoemoney, and neither are most people.

People read Jeremy because he’s *already* successful in areas of online business that don’t require good writing. If that’s not true for you, write better.

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:15:47 +0000

tell Shoemoney about it. he seems to be successful despite his weak language though.

By: Sangeeta Sinha

Sangeeta Sinha — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:58:20 +0000

Yes, very truly said that ‘poor writing skills overshadow good content’. I am not saying one has to be master in writing but at least one must have some knowledge to good writing skills. Remember, grammar plays an important part here.

By: Shane: content writer

Shane: content writer — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:57:23 +0000

I have to agree, the truth of the matter is that when someone reads a piece written by anyone else they somehow expect it to be perfectly structured and professionallywritten everytime. It detracts from the importance of what you are saying when the reader sits there counting your mistakes.

By: kalpesh

kalpesh — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:42:09 +0000

I perfectly agree with you. Sometimes clients are unreasonable, it is us writers who have to decide whether to sell our talent for money or creative satisfaction. Most often writers write for paltry sums, this disturbs the whole equation of the industry. Even websites like Guru.com etc. should have certain bidding standards to protect writing industry in general.

By: Terry Finley

Terry Finley — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:01:11 +0000

Editing is boring and difficult, but necessary
for writing to be great.

By: The Crazy Colombian

The Crazy Colombian — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:59:22 +0000

Looks like everyone agrees that good grammar makes a significant and important difference. Within the comments, there were 2 suggestions worth highlighting:

Hire an editor
(suggested by Jay Wigley)

This seems an impossibility for any blog that is starting; but there may be a better way to achieve the same effect: Barter your skills. Find another aspiring blogger, and agree that you will proof-read each others’ posts. Of course, you will want to find someone that has decent grammar and proof-reading skills; but many of the mistakes we make go unnoticed because they ‘fall outside of our field of vision’ so to speak. A second pair of eyes makes a massive difference for these cases.

Time-shift your proof-reading
(Suggested by Tom Beaton)

Tom mentioned he writes his posts in a word processor, and then leaves them there ‘for a few hours or days’. A technique I have successfully used is to re-read published posts some weeks after they’ve gone live. Often times I find small typos and grammatical mistakes that, once corrected, give my posts that little bit of extra polish.

Hope these suggestions help those in their quest to successful blogging,

-The Crazy Colombian
http://roacc.wordpress.com

By: Justin Vaughan

Justin Vaughan — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:38:45 +0000

Good quality content always seems to make my viewers stay longer. When I view a site and it lacks quality writing skills I tend to leave the site.

By: CatherineL

CatherineL — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:59:52 +0000

Hi Daniel – This is so true. And you’ve proved that you can improve your writing skills – I would never have guessed that English wasn’t your first language.

By: nishu

nishu — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:54:46 +0000

thats very true Daniel.

At my blog .. some of the new visitors point out mistakes. It makes blog look shabby.

And it happens even after proof reading the content. Some simple ignorable mistakes just slip through.

By: Lex G

Lex G — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:04:03 +0000

I agree with Daniel Scocco on this topic … I feel it’s very important to try write correctly.

It helps you dive into the material as well, as usually you can lift conceptual mistakes out of your post which you didn’t even realize were there …