Comments on: Why Being a Better Writer Affects the Performance of your Blog

By: German romance

German romance — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:49:52 +0000

Because your site is full of well written post’s, I just come back fro more and more. The quality of writing and usefull information I get from your site is just great. Thanks!

By: Trixie

Trixie — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:38:17 +0000

All the things that you wrote are true, for me as new blog writer I don’t have a formal study I just write everything on my mind and what I want to tell to my reader. My blog is not that popular and hoping that soon it will be. I appreciate all the tips you posted in here it is really helpful for a beginner like me.
http://fresh-web-content.com

By: Julien Denoyer

Julien Denoyer — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:38:55 +0000

Interesting post…not being a native speaker of English, I do find myself stuck sometimes as I try to correct stories that are submitted on my blog before posting them. In my own language (French) I would be able to do so with no problem at all. I also find myself scraping for words or expressions I used to know, but I now live in Spain, so thinking in three different languages on an everyday basis is screwing me up…Are there perhaps any good online courses in writting???
Great posts…

By: Timothy Shields

Timothy Shields — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:48:31 +0000

I enjoyed reading this article. Thanks!

By: INconstantIN

INconstantIN — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 06:16:01 +0000

This is a great post, I must say. However, I somehow felt the diminished role that videos and pictures got here. Let’s not forget that sometimes expressing yourself through other means than words is by far harder.

By: Nic

Nic — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:04:49 +0000

I so agree with this. I have over the past 2-3 years been linked into a group on yahoo 360, who are basically writing ‘Mommy/trying for a baby’ blogs….it was very hard to remain engaged with the litany of ‘then we did this, then we did that, junior cut his xx tooth, what a cutie, he weighs….’ yaaaaaaawwwwwn. Tell meabout the exploding nappy! Tell me how tired you are! Tell me what thoughts go through your head when you wake up for the 8th time in a night cos the binky has fallen out!
Someone said my blog was ‘very detailed’ I guess not writing ‘I went to the shops. I bought groceries and then drove home’ but discussed how annoying the checkout person was instead.

By: John Pash

John Pash — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:28:58 +0000

The photo that you’ve chosen for this post is very appropriate to my writing style. It has more to do with deleting(erasing) than it does writing!

But then again…doesn’t every genius say that perfection is in not what is there, but in what has been taken away? Or something like that.

By: Joey Daoud

Joey Daoud — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:18:37 +0000

Good writing is good, but you run the risk of setting such high expectations that you don't write at all, out of fear of not meeting a great standard. Art and Fear had an interesting example of quality vs. quantity. Two student classes made pots. One class made one 'perfect' pot for the semester, focusing on quality. The other focused on quantity, making as many pots as they could. At the end of the semester, the quantity group's pots were judged superior.

By: Ben Moreno

Ben Moreno — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:29:30 +0000

I am not sure how well of a writer I am. I am developing it overtime in my blog, but I wish I could write as well as Scam.

He primarily only writes on Myspace blog and I have been tellnig him to build a real blog.

You are an excellent writer and I am curious to know what you think about his writing. You can check out his blog on myspace.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=31675599

By: Chris Marshall

Chris Marshall — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:18:32 +0000

Ari Herzog,

A good writer cannot be spotted like a purple cow in the field of Holsteins. To recognize them, you have to go in and actually read the thing.

Moreover: people stare at the purple cow, but they milk the normal one!

By: Hendry Lee

Hendry Lee — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:34:20 +0000

Btw, zenhabits is .net not .com :)

By: Hendry Lee

Hendry Lee — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:33:31 +0000

I’m sold! Now tell me how to improve my writing. This is something I’ve been struggling with for years.

I’m all excited. Is there going to be a sequel to this? :)

By: Andrea J. Stenberg

Andrea J. Stenberg — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:55:37 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with your comments. And it’s not just about writing well, but writing in a way that conveys your personality. As a professional writer, I can write in a variety of styles. When I get into “journalism mode”, I write concise, well-written pieces that are “just the facts”. These posts are well read, but don’t generate a lot of comments.

However, when I add a bit of myself into the post, that’s when I’ve gotten some real traction. I get comments, links from other sites and much higher traffic.

Thanks for the great post.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:35:54 +0000

In January 2008, I was very fortunate to find a blogging opportunity with a travel company. Recently, I was involved in the development of our new website. I wrote 99% of the content for it and continue to write the posts. The writing experience and exposure helped me with obtaining other writing opportunities. Even the traffic to my blog has increased!

I will continue to improve my writing skills. Practice makes perfect! Rebecca

By: Natalie Norton

Natalie Norton — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:33:10 +0000

Amen.

By: Syed Balkhi

Syed Balkhi — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:03:01 +0000

Well said Darren. I have always been for simplicity in the writing and adding personality to it. My grammer is poor, but my readership is growing daily and one thing I give credit to is the way I write the content.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:39:01 +0000

I have always been a strong believer in writing for people and not for search engines. I find that people enjoy it and return and this in the long run makes your blog more productive. Blogs that give no indication as to the personality of the writer are not going to last the test of time and your never going to see any real income from it.

I spend a lot ofhours writing and picking new things to write about, always with quality in mind.

Completely agree with the advice given here.

By: Ari Herzog

Ari Herzog — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:13:18 +0000

Chris Marshall: I'm unsure what you mean by the market, but on uniqueness, wouldn't you check out a purple cow standing in a field of white cows if only to determine if it was tie-dyed or natural? Sara: My latest post on the new world of blogging and how the future is catching up to the past very quick, is testimony to your belief of personal satisfaction and euphoria associated with great writing. If you haven't seen it, does this piece equate passion in your heart and want you to keep reading? Gary: Do you want tips to be a better writer or a better blogger? Thankfully, the line between the two is very thin but it's still a question for you to answer they sometimes have different motivations and outcomes. You may want to consider following the formula, T+P4=B. Jess: It's hard to write about the esoteric for a lay audience, indeed.

By: Amrit Hallan

Amrit Hallan — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:10:08 +0000

Hello everybody.

Thanks for so much positive feedback so far. Jess, I too prefer Charles Dickens and Albert Camus over Stephen King but I also feel that for every mainstream writer there is a market/readership. Having said that, people reading on the Internet are not always looking for “literary” writing. They are looking for content that is presented lucidly, and as Todd mentioned, concisely, and that is highly useful in one way or another.

By: Sean Mott

Sean Mott — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:45:15 +0000

I would agree with Todd, in each blog entry I try to get across the subject of that entry in an efficient manner. There is a fine though, been being to brief, but don’t need to write a novel for each blog entry.

Thank you for a very interesting post!