How to Write Gooder Articles and Blog Posts

Yikes, I haven’t written in awhile here. I got caught up doing other things and, well, I just haven’t had much time to keep JOMO going full steam. I’ll try to be better about that :)

Anyway…

So, I’ve been operating in a vacuum for the past two years when it comes to this whole internet marketing thing. However, after meeting some pretty high-profile bloggers over the past few months, I’ve been complimented on my writing style on more than one occasion.

It’s kind of a strange thought for me hold in my mind: I’m a good writer.

After all, I got horrible grades in my high school English classes. Every essay I wrote, I would get the lowest possible grade you could get if you actually finished the essay. I’m horrible at speeling. Plus, common sayings elude me. For the longest time I thought it was a “doggy dog world,” “taking it for granite,” “buying time,” and that things were “deep seeded.”

Yeah, I’m not the brightest crayon in the box, huh?

But I guess if all you do is write every day for two years, you’re bound to improve, right?

Why should you even care about writing? I mean, can’t you just put up a bunch of slop writing and blast ten billion backlinks at it and, boom! all your traffic problems are solved, right?

Well, writing is important for reader engagement. People are swayed by words and they’re not just going to buy something because it’s there. It’s a myth that $1 articles and half-assed auto-spins are all it takes to succeed at this.

Sure you might get a few visitors, but what good is it if they realize that your website isn’t actually built for humans and they leave immediately?

PS: for you SEO nerds out there, this also increases your bounce rate, which will make Google punch your site in the gut and toss it back to page 20.

Here are a few tips that I have to offer that have helped me (who knows maybe they’ll help you too):

First, Write Short Paragraphs.

Maybe your English teacher told you that a paragraph is 3 to 5 sentences, and maybe a few brave people who tried to read Franz Kafka’s The Castle encountered that 19 page paragraph (!) somewhere in the middle of the book. But online (and offline, I’d argue), you need to capture people’s attention.

You aren’t going to get someone interested enough to read those big bulky paragraphs. People will see them and think “WTF! I don’t want to read this! I think it would be easier to watch stupid videos of people crashing their bikes on YouTube instead.” And you’ve just lost a visitor.

I first got this tip from Travis Sago. I’m on his email list and I noticed that his average paragraph is about one sentence.

(I wonder if his English teacher hated him too?)

Second, Write as if You are Drunk (Easier for Some Than Others…)

So, in my continued diatribe against academic writing, not only do you need to forget your highly-structured essay writing format, but you also need to get away from that cold and impersonal academic tone.

People like things that are easy to understand. And funny too. Writing a blog post on “Contemporary Discourse in Pluralism and Autodidactic Educational Models” is going to scare a lot of people away (at least people like me, who stopped using their brains years ago).

Try something more conversational like “Dude, This Guy I Know Accidentally Taught Himself Some Weird Tricks.”

Basically, you want to write as if you are drunk. Ideally, you want to do this without actually being drunk (a major challenge for some). This allows you to write something at least somewhat coherent and insightful without completely devolving to drunken banter (or passing out on your keyboard).

Third, Write for One Person

Have you ever heard of the term “avatar” before? It’s more than just a blue space smurf that they make movies about.

An avatar is someone that you are targeting all of your marketing, writing, and other hijinks towards. I have an avatar for this blog. He actually reads it, too!

Don’t be worried that writing toward one particular person will be off-putting toward other readers. After all, if you’re reading this, you probably know that your goal isn’t to appeal to anyone and everyone.

A lot of big named marketers use this concept of the avatar to help them create a unified marketing message. Don’t worry if there is only one person in the world who matches your avatar (or even no one at all). As long as your marketing message is laser focused, you’ll appeal to more people. They’ll see you as consistent and they won’t feel any sort of doubt about what you stand for.

Find Your Natural Voice

Everyone has a writing voice. Sometimes it just takes time to find it. If you read some of the first posts on this blog, not only did they suck big time, but they also seemed too cautious. That’s because I didn’t have my voice yet.

I believe that your voice will naturally start to shine once you have your avatar and you start writing as if you’re drunk (or are actually drunk).

After doing this for a while, that filter in my mind that tried to be overly cautious just dissolved. Suddenly I didn’t care so much about appealing to everyone or not ruffling feathers.

To be honest, I’ve always felt like my natural voice was extremely cynical and jaded. Sort of like a Dr. Greg House (new season starts this week!). But for some reason, when I go back and read through some old stuff I wrote, it actually seems optimistic and–dare I say, inspirational!

Who knows, but one thing is that I really love writing in this voice.

Anyway, that’s how I write. Have you found anything that helps you write your blog posts or article better? If so, please share in the comments below.

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