In this post Dan Kaufman from Bar Zine shares some tips on writing Sharp Snappy Blog Posts.
When you write a story you’re lucky if you can get a reader beyond the first paragraph. This is true in print and it’s even worse online (a recent study by Jacob Neilson at http://tinyurl.com/mubtmr makes for interesting reading). After all, your post is just one out of millions online – and the difference can lie in how well written your copy is.
Writing is a craft that involves a continual learning process.
Having been a journalist and editor for the past 15 years (and I’m now a blogger as well) I still find myself learning – but there are some hard and fast techniques to make your copy snappier and more engaging. Here are some of the basics:
1) Write Short Sentences
Next time you pick up a book and can’t put it down, stop and have a look at the sentence length – you’ll often find the sentences are short and punchy. 32 words is the maximum for an article’s first sentence and while there are exceptions they ought to be rare. Aim to only have one point per sentence.
2) Use the Active Voice
Have a look at the following two sentences:
The cat chases the mouse
and
The mouse is being chased by the cat
Which one is punchier?
It’s the former because the subject (the cat) is doing something to the object (the mouse). As such, it makes sense to have the subject appear in the sentence before the object. In other words, the sentence is written using the active voice (whereas “The mouse is being chased by the cat” is passive).
Using the active voice is more direct and requires less words – and the less words, the snappier the sentence becomes.
3) Write in the Present Tense
Which of the following headlines seems punchier?
PM halts peace talks
Or
PM halted peace talks
Unless your blog post takes the form of a hard news story you should use the present tense. Even hard news headlines are written in the present tense to make them seem more immediate.
4) Use Positive Language
This means avoiding negative words such as no, not and didn’t when appropriate. You’ll see why when you look at the following example:
Troops have not pulled out of war zone
Vs
Troops stay in war zone
The bottom example reads better since, as with using active voice, making sentences positive often makes them snappier. We also changed the tense from past to present.
5) Write in a conversational tone
A lot of people don’t realise that good writing means using a conversational tone – albeit with better grammar than you would use when talking to a friend in a bar.
Avoid hype, pretentious words, jargon and acronyms – instead of impressing readers it’s a turn off. You should never talk down to your reader by using language they may not understand and you should never assume they know something they may not. Unless you’re trying to spin something or confuse, use simple, clear and direct language. As the old saying goes, if you confuse your readers you lose your readers.
George Orwell put it another way in The Politics of the English Language.
“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity,” he wrote. “When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.”
Dan Kaufman publishes Bar Zine (barzine.com.au), where he reviews Sydney bars. He also writes for The Sydney Morning Herald and teaches online journalism at UTS.
And that’s exactly how Orwell speaks in a conversation.
I might add that paragraph spacing and clean headings are a plus! Thanks for the post.
E.B. White (Elements of Style) might add, “Omit needless words.”
Lots of great Ideas. I am often too long winded. I battle to keep my posts and sentences short. I will indeed try and use your tips in the future to make sure that I write punchy posts.
BTW, not all posts need to be puchy, some, like tutorials are by nature long.
Oh, Dan you have been reading my blog and it has prompted you to write this. One aim of blogging for me is to engage with the writing process and thus progress my writing generally. Thanks for this post, tis so useful to the novice like me.
Thanks for this. Some good points for me as a novice blogger to bear in mind.
Thanks for the sharp and snappy post :) Solid, specific tips for any writer or editor to learn – or at least review once in a while.
Something I would add: Don’t be afraid to use sentence fragments for emphasis – as long as you do it on purpose, of course! Fragments might be grammatically “incorrect,” but they can definitely add some flavor and “oomph” to your writing. Think of them as spice for your literary soup.
I was going to say, “The girl is liking the post”. But instead I’ll just get to the point: “Love this one!”. But I also avoid long-winded blog posts, even if they’re written well. I don’t have the attention span.
Totally agree, writting for a blog is much more than correct grammar and vocabulary, it’s about communication.
Great post and well written!
I think Mark Twain said it best:
“If I Had More Time I Would Write a Shorter Letter”
Some of these writing tips are pertinent not just for blogging, but even one’s daily business life.
On a recent post on my blog, I ranked business communication skills as #1 to train for.
-Arif
Some excellent points! I started my last artice http://www.ratracewinner.com/beating-fear-will-help-you-escape-the-rat-race/ with a set of intriguing questions as follows:-
‘Do you fear leaving The Rat Race and your comfort zones, are you a afraid to take risk and undertake new challenges for fear of failure? Does the thought of loosing your inhibitions give you panic attacks, and are you worried all the time what people think of you?’
I am hoping these will ‘hook’ the reader in to the remainer of the article.
Reread your text and see if there is more you can trim since people say that less is more. Remove any superfluous or low generic words such as “also”, “like”, “often”, etc.
It is recommended that every blogger needs to take some writing lessons or read about writing. After all blogging is similar to journalism.
#5. “Write in a conversational tone.” Totally true. I’ve noticed more comments came my way when I did this, than when I wrote in a more formal, factoid-fomercial tone.
#1. “Write in Short Sentences.” This is tough one (as you can see in my response above!).
Your blog describes some important points that a blogger might be missing on.
I write a lot of info-heavy tutorials, but these same rules can be used for those as well.
Yet another article to print out and put in my 3 ring binder.
Interesting stuff although I’m inclined to disagree with it – I don’t think there’s a formula to follow for good writing. I think it’s a talent, natural or learned, that just flows from within. Teaching yourself to write in short, punchy styles may be good for certain things but it’s not necessarily the voice that every blogger is looking for.
Still, interesting article, thanks! :)
You also have to learn to let your own voice come through. Even if your blog is written with potential buyers in mind I am sure they’d rather buy from a person than a word perfect drone. Don’t so obsess about punctuation that you forget about personality. ;)
My 14 y/o daughter makes a good editor – if she doesn’t understand right away, I re-write it. :)
@thewebcoach
Good tips. However, you need the add few more points regards to usability. Such as font size, spacing, and also color. These things effects the readers to continue reading your article, if your site is full of text content.
Also, first impression is also very important. If you welcome your visitors with clean and simple design, they will be more interested with the content as well.
Great pointers. My rules are similar:
Write like I speak.
Vary sentence length, structure and vocabulary
Write in the present, write in active voice
Rewrite to simplify and pare down
Basic but yet very effective tips that we as bloggers sometimes forget to do. All useful ways to keep your reader engaged.
I’m always find it is hard to start the first paragraph and maybe I should try different approach to attract the reader’s attention when they come to the post. And, I find this post is very useful and is a good practice to let the reader continue reading and hopefully they will even leave their comments or thoughts on the post.
The iPhone Blogging
I need to write in shorter sentences and remember to use the present tense. I am conversational!
krissy knox :)
follow me on twitter:
http://twitter.com/iamkrissy
sometimes its need a long sentense…
However.. Thanks for the post.
Shajib
http://www.livecafe.co.cc/
A useful book I just finished reading is “Writing Tools” by Roy Peter Clark (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=78&aid=103937). He does a great job giving you ways to sharpen your prose and how to craft great sentences. It’s worth a look.
Jarie
@We Fly Spifires: I see what you’re saying about it flowing from within. I find, however, that those people with that talent and flow often follow those guidelines without thinking about it.
I especially like point #5. Being conversational is essential and will encourage others to join the conversation. Asking questions of your readers is a great way to get some comments and get the conversation going.
Thanks for #1. I will keep that in mind.
Great post. I find it’s not only easier to read something that way, but it’s also easier to write that way as well.
Excellent information here. I’m going to start blogging soon, little things like this really give me a good push. I never realized how news headlines utilize the “present” to get my attention until I read this post.
Thanks for the great tips! I write a few tutorials on my blog and have found them to be quite long so what I did was begin to divide them into series. This makes for a better post and creates return traffic. Thanks for all of the great ideas!
A favorite author of mine once suggested reading a few comic books to get into the “snappy” mindset. All action, no padding.
I’ll admit that I’m sometimes guilty of writing overly complex sentences.
You are absolutely right.
If we can say in few words and directly then why should we write
in longways?
Yeh, nice tips. Excessively long posts are a put off imo.
nice and good tips, thanks
http://teratips.com
Making note of these tips for my posts.
Great post. I feel like my writing isn’t where I want it to be. This will help.
Multiple sources are reporting Facebook is testing “Facebook Lite” – what some are calling a Twitter version of Facebook. Mashable, RWW have more, TC got an official response from Facebook, which makes it sound like it’s not a Twitter competitor. Interesting. Reminds me of my prediction on the two companies back in January.
Great reminders!
The short sentence thing was hard for me at first but after 2 or so I get the majority of them down to a good length.
I appreciate this post very much. Being a brand new blogger, it’s all very helpful to me! Thanks.
I think it is all the important tips you have to give up. I am very happy with these tips they are short and to the point. Easy to understand and mainly useful and have lots of value for us. Thanks for sharing.
Great advice, I’m new to blogging and still developingmy style so the pointers have and will prove useful.
This is very helpful because I can write, but grammar is not my thing. Thank you VERY MUCH for these tips!
I’m also a big fan of writing one topic per post. This helps me stay to the point and don’t beat around the bush to support my main idea. It’s been helpful so far.
I think this is requires practices…
Especially you, who use English language as a secondary language …
Like me using English language as a second language …
This is quite difficult to apply in blogging …
Anyone agree with me?
Mr. Mask
The Owner of http://www.Ultimate-Gaming-Laptop.com
Great tips!! I tend to write long posts and so trying to make my own posts shorter! Thanks!
Very nice.. looks like short and direct to the point is good, hope to implement it. Thanks for these wonderful tips Darren.
Great post. I feel like my writing isn’t where I want it to be. This will help.
Great tips! Thank you.
I am often told that write at a 10 or 12th grade level; that I should write at an 8th grade level. Why bother to learn “big words” and their meanings if I am never to use them?
A unique style combined with good writing structure seems to keep the readers coming back