What do all 113 million blogs on Technorati have in common? Writing. Bloggers write. Readers will judge your content, capability and credibility as a blogger by how well you communicate in writing. Misspellings, grammatical mistakes and misusing words make you seem like a careless, clueless amateur. Chances are that’s not the impression you want to make. Your brilliant ideas may be discounted and your blog dismissed because your writing sounds dumb. And online, you are what you write, right? Why, then, do so many bloggers spend so little time perfecting writing skills?
The emphasis is clearly on content in the blogosphere. Everyone advises everyone else to have fresh, original content. Write about something you know, be passionate about your material. Well, yes, that’s certainly good advice. But publish a poorly written post and no matter how passionate you are, your mistakes make readers doubt your product and you. Worse yet, they may even get some laughs out of it. Nobody likes being laughed at, even in cyberspace.
Why not spend a few moments revisiting what English teachers preach? Here are 10 common mistakes I’ve noticed most frequently on blogs. Click links for details.
- Inappropriate capitalization. Only capitalize proper nouns. “Search engine optimization”, “blogs”, “readers” and “directories” are just plain old words.
- Use periods. Period. Don’t string a bunch of separate thoughts together in one colossal sentence. Run-on sentences are confusing.
- Spell check. Most blogging software and word processing programs have spell check. Use it. I’ve seen “neccessary", “oppinion", “probally”, and “impordent” too many times to count. Oh, and “afiliate" doesn’t help matters, either.
- Misusing words. Should you use "anymore" or "any more"?
- IM speak. Instant messaging lingo is cool and cute, if you’re 12. Nothing ruins an interesting, intelligent post more than “LOLs” at every turn.
- Possession. Decide correctly between “its”, “it’s”, “your” and “you’re”. Do you see why "stay at home mom's can make good money online" is wrong?
- Exclamations!!! Showing emotion with punctuation is good, but use sparingly. Excessive exclamation points make you sound juvenile or inappropriate.
- Homophone hell. No, not homophobia. Homophone. Using the wrong word that sounds like the
writeright one. Remember, compliment the blogger and complement your template's colors. Is this "to", "too" or "two" (please, no...) confusing yet? - Useless words. Shorten your sentences. Wordy posts make you sound like a windbag.
- Don't let subjects and verbs disagree. Verbs has to agree with subjects, right? Wrong.
No one' s perfect, not even me. But give yourself a running start by reviewing these common mistakes. Improve your writing and sound smarter. That notion goes beyond blogging. Lastly, click here if you'd like to see nearly all of these mistakes made. Aside from parenting philosophies, what impression did this writer make on you?
19 drink the potion:
This is a great tip list. It's true that poor writing skills damage your opportunities for success in so many ways. I see it at my work constantly. People don't generally write well and worse, most don't really think twice of it. I hear my managers make decisions on applicants based on writing ability a lot. It's one of the first things they look for. I work in university administration, by the way. Nice blog!
But I _am_ a windbag ;)
Hi Justinar, thanks for stopping by, reading AND commenting! Wow, the blogging trifecta. Yes, I hear you. It's common to look upon poor writing as simply a dislike rather than a deficiency. Hey, those of us who enjoy it are few and far between. My friends find me pretty odd in that sense (and a few others).
Alan, muwahahah!
Great tips and nicely written! Thanks for sharing.
Excellent, Vienne. I hope every blogger reads this.
(Even though, like Alan, I can be a windbag, too.)
Excellent points. You touched upon some of my most-hated peeves.
In reference to points 3 and 8, some people don't realize that just using spell check isn't enough. Spell check won't help "homophone hell", as it cannot recognize mistakes of context. People have to learn to not rely solely on spell check; they must also proofread the old-fashioned way.
Thank you Jamie and Bobbie. And of course, I've been known to spew air myself, too, Bobbie! I try my best to make it the exception, not the rule.
Very good point, Libertine. That should be on my list. Spell check is certainly a friend and foe in that respect. Perhaps you've mentioned one of the clearest demonstrations of mind over machine. We do still have to think for ourselves every now and then, thankfully!
Grammar Nazi war-- engage!
Correction: No one's perfect; not even me."
:P
... and I forgot to open the quotation. Wow.
I see "it's" and "its" used incorrectly ALL the time, in print and on television. That nearly drives me crazy!
"It's" is a contraction of "It is."If what you're really saying is "it is," "there is," or "who is," then use the apostrophe version. So, it's, there's, and who's.
Its is the possessive form. The dog chewed its bone. (You would never say "The dog chewed it is bone," would you?
Use its, whose, and theirs for possessives. How do you remember this? Just remember that possessive pronouns have everything--except apostrophes.
There's is the other word I read misused ALL the time. There is an apple on the table. There are some apples on the table.
There's some apples on the table is just flat WRONG.
There's ten people outside!
There's is short for there is. “There's a fly in my soup” is correct, if disgusting. But “There's flies in my soup” is just plain wrong.
Good piece, Serendipity. Perhaps you should consider a "grammar war" post, too (as VoodooKobra puts it). I'm happy to engage one, as I think half the writers making these mistakes are simply unaware. The remaining, well, enough said.
Anyway, another mistake that irks me is using "theirselves" or "hisself". I don't know the proper name for that error, aside from "That's really lame," which is what I call it.
Hey Viv, great idea you have! Good luck with the new blog
great, helpful tips on grammar. more people should read it. i think the whole culture of earning through blogging pressures some bloggers to churn out posts in quantity, so they tend to overlook quality. then again, maybe there really are just lousy writers out there who don't care about what they post. :P
I'm prone to a couple of these. I think all writers should constantly strive to improve their language and grammar skills. You never know all the rules or all the reasons to break them.
Thank you for a fantastic list of tips and tricks. I'll keep an eye out for them my writing and will begin to notice them elsewhere as well. :-)
Hi Claire, I think both of your points are true. There's so much emphasis on writing good content and hardly any on writing it well. Those with a critical eye for grammar are the minority, so I suppose nothing will shift until that changes.
Welcome to the lab, Rebecca. I have to keep myself on my toes, too. It's impossible to be perfect (that's why editors have jobs, right?), but I try to be mindful of good writing as much as possible. There's always room for improvement in my book.
The problem I have is that I got what is commonly known as "well, at least you tried" in my English exam, which means that sometimes my writing can be a little off. The question is: When I was at school I was rubbish at it, so how would I change it now?
This is a good post. Wish I wasn't so tired. Will be back to see more.
I really hate when people sound dumb on the internet. It ruins the reading experience, if you will. When I begin reading, I always start with an open mind. The second "he stands their" or something of the sort pops up, I lose interest and dejectedly head to a different blog. And not using spell check is just being lazy, especially when you have access to it.
Well, these tips are good, i 'll keep them in mind next time i post.You can check my blog at http://flightsofantasy-enigma.blogspot.com/
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