The Perils of Sloppy Copy - Writing for Your Business Blog
There are very few rules when it comes to writing for a blog – almost anything goes – but you should always be aware of the impression your blog is making on your readers.
Decide what your blog is about, and who it’s aimed at. Blogging for your business needs to be given some thought: it must project the image you want it to and speak to the people you want to communicate with – your potential customers.
Make your blog a must-read by giving away useful specialist information, telling the reader that you’re well informed and helpful, or be topical – perhaps drawing lessons from current events. You can chat about yourself and your company, but avoid stories that make you sound anything but capable and professional.
Aim to leave your reader with the confidence that you’re the very best in your area of expertise. Sloppy copy won’t do that. Poor spelling and bad punctuation will disappoint at least some of your readers, reducing your company in their eyes.
Having decided to do your best, some writing tips:
- Use a snappy, witty or intriguing headline, but make sure the blog story warrants it.
- Don’t waffle. Blog posts must be concise and informative or very entertaining,
- Vary sentence length and rhythm, and generally stick to one idea per sentence.
- Keep paragraphs short - blocks of unbroken text are off-putting.
- Use bullet points when appropriate.
- Use the active voice. It makes you seem more dynamic.
- Use the spellchecker - anyone can make mistakes
- Watch your punctuation! If in doubt, ask for help.
- Try to finish with a call to action and your contact details.
Your blog is there to promote your business, however subtly. And do make it active: ‘Call us for more info’, ‘Email us today’, or ‘Visit the website’. Many thanks to Roy Everitt of Cinnamon Edge, for writing this article exclusively for Blogged Out.
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Filed under: Blog Promotion Tips on April 15th, 2007
Don’t forget to proofread! Spellcheck is great, but it won’t catch everything. Proofreading only takes a minute, whereas typos or grammatical errors can cause readers to stumble, question your attention to detail, or possibly even leave the site.
Good point - and even spellcheckers can’t help if you’ve just chosen the wrong word, or the wrong homophone, like there for their, for example.