The Benefits of Reading for Bloggers

Many a blogger has aspired to become an impressive writer. Some people think writing is a skill that can be attained by a set of rules; the technique-based tips help but too much focus on technique or steps sometimes fail to capture the artistic facet of weaving thoughts into words. On the other hand, some people go to the other extreme and say that writing is only a talent of the gifted few.

Yes, there are writing geniuses, but that’s no excuse not to try to be a decent writer at the very least. There is nothing more offensive to your intelligent reader than having time wasted because of reading poorly written content.

Somewhere in the middle of extremes lies the truth of writing– it’s both a technique and an art that exists at the very intersection of your passion, personality, and strategy.

There is both magic and sheer work involved.

How do you write well enough to call it passable or good for reading standards?

A lot has been previously written about techniques. I can write about finding one’s writing voice or getting compelling content that retains readers, but that is not handling the problem of poor writing by the roots.

This post is not about techniques. But I would like to share something that has worked for me for the last 10 years of my work as a freelance writer.

Here’s the one tried and tested tip that all professional writers can swear by:

A wide reader has a higher propensity of becoming a good or competent writer by sheer osmosis.

Osmosis is when you do not try to just play by the rules strictly. Osmosis is when you practically immerse yourself in a habit of reading good content on a daily basis. With a good reading habit, good writing eventually becomes a natural by-product of your constant exposure.

It’s inevitable that if you want to contribute something good for your readers, you need to first NOURISH yourself mentally with the work of writing masters. No, you do not need to understand the entirety of literature to be good or have a degree in comparative literature, but you need to be well-read. And if you are writing online, it pays to stay fresh. Read about various topics, not just topics in your niche of choice. You might be surprised that in writing a news article, you can find yourself using some lively words from a sports feature or a food review, or even a 19^th century novel.

In my own efforts to improve my skill, I only do two things: I write daily without fail on any avenue available to me (blog or on paper) and I sharpen myself mentally by reading the works of fabulous writers all over the world. I have such high reverence for published authors. I try to read at least one book per day about various topics. It is helpful to read about topics that are of natural interest to you, otherwise you will find the task boring or a giant chore. But eventually, you will not limit yourself to one industry but read about many topics to give a unique perspective to how you see the world and how you depict it in your writing.

But you do not just read without filters, because bad writing is very much contagious. Read the good writers/bloggers you want to emulate or be like. Study their writing style. And in studying other people’s styles, you soon assimilate and find your own writing voice eventually.

A caveat: There are many wide readers who are not confident about their writing skill because they feel so small compared to the masters they have read. It can dampen your self-confidence to read the pros and find that your technique cannot be as good as theirs. But at the very least, you can discriminate good writing from bad and it will really help you a lot over time although it’s not the shortcut that others might hope for.

Without knowing it and whether they believe it or not, these disheartened bookworms might be surprised that when they do write, it’s in fact of a different calibre compared to those who are just focused on improving their techniques.

Does it sound like a lot of work? It is, I readily admit that reading is not naturally enjoyable for some people. But it’s a necessity for any aspiring writer. Over time, it does not seem as tiring or as bad as the first time.

So take a chance. Open your mind. Grab a good book, read it for as long as it takes, then get another good book after for yourself to enjoy. Do it until such time that the good book you find is your own.

You can revisit the writing tips or techniques anytime, but in the end, you can only learn how to provide a good reading experience if you have experienced it yourself first. Know that when you provide good content, it’s not just words on paper or screen but it’s, in fact, an open door to provide a different kind of mental experience for your reader.

[About the author:

Engr. Helen Mary S. Labao is the blogger behind Helena, a general information personal blog that touches on various topics. She is a geodetic engineer and freelance writer by profession. She had the daily hobby of writing on her diary since age 7, won some contests in high school that boosted her confidence, and finally began writing professionally in 2004.

Philippine Daily Inquirer has published her piece recently in Opinion section Youngblood. You can read it here.]

The Advantages of Blogging for CEOs

CEOs may think that blogging is something best left to subordinates. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Blogging can benefit CEOs at the heads of both large and small companies.

One benefit this is that it gives a personal face to a company. This can make large companies seem more human and help to shape the identity of companies that are smaller and lesser known. People can begin to feel a connection to bloggers particularly if they have the opportunity to interact with them in the comments. This can go a long way toward building a positive image for a company and turning around a company that may have any negative associations.

Blogging as a Chief Executive Officer is an excellent opportunity to establish oneself as an expert in one’s field. This can be particularly important for people who are entrepreneurs or the CEOs of small companies. Building a reputation is important in raising the company’s profile. By providing valuable information and analysis, CEOs can position themselves as knowledge leaders in their field. This is an advantage for a company at any level of prominence. It’s worth keeping in mind as well that a blog doesn’t always have to be text. It can include media such as infographics, videos and photos.

Writing a blog can also be a way for CEO to keep a finger on the pulse of the company’s customers. Engaging with people via social media is becoming more and more important for businesses, and what better way to make customers feel as though they are a part of a company than by giving them a channel for engaging with the Chief Executive Officer?

A CEO’s blog can also be a way to reinforce the company’s brand. It’s best to think of it as one of many ways to convey information about the company. Unlike many other methods of communication, however, a CEO’s blog has an immediacy that other channels may lack. A CEO who blogs is able to convey a sense of a company that quickly adapts and responds to changing situations.

In fact, in times of crisis, a blog can be particularly helpful if a CEO writes frankly and effectively about the challenges the company is facing. Suddenly, a company is transformed from a faceless unresponsive monolith to a group of people dealing with a crisis in the best way they can.

Depending on the size of the company and the popularity of the blog, it may not be possible for the CEO to monitor the interaction on the blog. These factors along with the needs of the organization will help to determine what sort of a team the CEO will need to help manage the company’s social media image. However, getting assistance with the blog doesn’t mean that the CEO will be at a remove from the medium; this defeats the entire purpose of the CEO’s blogging.

An effective CEO blog will keep the him in touch with the audience including the company’s customers and shareholders and enable the him to communicate with the public more effectively than ever.

[This is a guest post from Jayvee at the Norwegian edition of The CEO Magazine. If you’d like a sneak preview of next month’s issue, jump onto their site and take a look.

How to Let Readers Read Your Content for a Long Time

It is not always easy to write an engaging content. You see the cursor blinking on your monitor while you think what to type next.

You try your best to include the enticing words in the title and in the beginning sentence, but still you readers can’t seem to be reading the rest of your article.

Why is this?

There are many factors why a reader doesn’t read the entirety of your article. Some of those that are beyond your control. You can’t force them to read your article if they arrive your page for different purpose.

Internet users are always on a hurry. That’s why the Internet is oftentimes called Instant gratification, regardless whether reading articles or making research is part of their gratification or not. It’s the Internet and there’s no way you can make them read for a long time if they don’t want to.

Even popular and reputable sites that are worthy to be read still are not read in its entirety. But these are at least the only ones that have contents worthy to be read. Yahoo is very good at this. They make articles that are so tempting for a user to click and read the rest of that. Perhaps look at the pictures or want to know what happened from one shocking news or controversy. They are always intrigued what’s inside the article after reading the title.

Of course they already have names and these are already established companies that already have a payroll in its employees.

Take for instance Time magazine, CNN, BBC, ESPN sports, Reader’s Digest and the rest of the popular publishing entities that have prestige offline. You don’t need to get them hard to find. You only remember their names and just type them and you find them and read them.

Or perhaps some that have gained Internet popularity like Mashable, SEOmoz, Problogger, Techcrunch, and among many other famous blogs. The contents in these sites are sure you are going to read.

So what do you notice from contents of those popular sites? What’s the difference between their contents from those that are mediocre? Well, pretty obvious is the quality of the contents. Which will you prefer to read? SEOmoz blog or some PR4 SEO tips blog that have slight difference in quality of its contents? Of course you’ll read SEOmoz blog wouldn’t you? You prefer Mashable from Huffington post. Or probably your favourite blogs you bookmarked that makes you keep on coming back for updates. What’s going on with the blogger? What will he or she write next?

So how will you write contents like of those popular sites?

First, is you have to evaluate yourself as a writer. How much is your experience in writing?

Did you have a proper education or training in writing? Do you read books about writing such as Elements of Style by White and Strunk?

Evaluate yourself whether you just read contents online or you also read essays, articles, in popular newspapers and magazines, novels, short stories, and some other forms of Literature without the aid of the Internet technology.

Do you have a good command in English grammar? Do you know about vigorous writing? Do you read writing magazines such as Writer’s Digest?

It all boils down to the writer himself. You can’t create a great craft if you don’t have sufficient experience in writing. Or at least don’t have the talent.

It all boils down to what you know about the field of writing. Writing is not just about blogging where you just write your thoughts plainly like a diary or a monologue. Writing involves lots of rules in order to create an excellent composition, in order for search engines to rank your page.

Nevertheless, there are some points to ponder that I’ve also learned not just from the many years of writing but from the mistakes I’ve done that made my articles not worthy to read.

Revise, revise revise

After finishing one article it is always best to revise it. Go back to its sentences. Reread your article over and over again. You will see the mistakes as you go back reading it again. Polish it by improving the construction of the sentences. Remove unnecessary words. Make it as brief and as clear as possible for the reader.

Think about the quality, not the quantity

It is always better to take time musing about a certain subject for an article than writing this and publish immediately. Worse if you do it again and again. Write a bunch of articles and publish them just for the sake of updating your blog.

Brainstorm. Ponder these questions: why am I writing this? To whom am I writing this? Why do they have to know about this? Why should they believe me when I write this? These are the points that you have to consider to be able to get all kinds of readers, especially the critical readers. You don’t just write for the average people, but to those highly intellectuals and well educated professionals.

Organize Your article

Organization has always been essential in writing. One of the tricks is to include the headings, the h1 and h2 tags. A good SEO I must say. This is so that readers will not be lost while reading the article. They are guides or topics what to expect next on the article.

After constructing your sentences and paragraphs, you will then need to put them in proper order, whether at the beginning, in the middle or in the conclusion. For a long, 1-000 word post, you just to need to put certain points orderly. This way the totality of your post is understood well by the reader, even praised by it.

Make Thorough Research

To make your article rich and valuable you will need to explore different aspects of the subject. Whether this be about a product, a person or issue. An article with complete information about what you’re talking about is always worthy to read.

Write at least a 1000-word post

Although this may not be a good idea because you bore the readers reading the rest of your long article, ironically it is the best idea for readers to keep reading the article.

You notice you read a first page of a novel, you can’t stop reading what happens next. It’s because it is the way the writer writes. You are easily engaged. A novelist sees to it every sentence and every word he says tell a hundred stories. He/she sees to it every page is a turner.

So a writing a 1000-word or 2000-word article is a wise idea to let readers stay and read your long article until the end. You just need to be a very clever and articulate to create a good craft.
And take note that a long, rich, and well crafted article is ranked well by search engines than those that are say 400, 500 to 600 words.

I share you one last quote from Robert Louis Stevenson:

“The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.”