We’ve been working through all the mechanics of getting a post published, with some context about what makes for good content, a captivating title, and hooks into powerful search engines like Google. Let’s take a moment and talk about style.
You’ve no doubt noticed that most websites (blogs in particular) and many other forms of online communication, such as email newsletters, have a distinctive style. Good ones are clear, punchy, interesting and quick to read. Mimicking the key attributes that make that sort of writing work can help you garner attention and deliver value in this age of information overload and social media. Here are six attributes that I think work well.
Six ways to embrace that bloggy style
1. Don’t bury the lead. Don’t build your point slowly. Don’t work out a surprise ending to your story. Nobody will be there to read it. Get to the point quickly, then flesh it out with details and supporting facts.
2. Use a conversational tone. The world (the online world, at least) has come to embrace the fact that, in the end, we are all people talking to other people. Stodgy corporate-speak does not work well on the web. Write like you speak. It’s as simple as that. (Ok, leave out swear words and edit your work before publishing, but you get the point.)
3. Be brief. Brevity rules on the web. A good range is about 300 to 500 words. Unless you’re writing something instructional or something meant to be a reference piece, just make your point and let the reader move on.
4. Break things up visually. Use a photo or subtitles to separate your piece into easily digestible chunks. Put blank lines between your paragraphs. If you’ve got a bunch of stuff to say about something, try using a numbered list or bullet points.
5. Vary sentence length. Use a mix of long and short sentences to give your writing a natural conversational tone. It works. See? Mixing up sentence lengths makes your post more readable, and short sentences can help to emphasize a point.
6. Loosen up the grammar grip. Starting sentences with “and” and ending with prepositions is ok. Loosening the grip will help your writing sound more like a conversation. And, ignoring some grammar rules can help you be more concise.
You already have style
You speak to people every day. Listen to yourself the next time you’re in a conversation with someone. Take notice of how you speak, your natural voice. Incorporate that into your writing with the 6 rules above in mind and you’ll be in fine shape.
This is post #11 in my Website 101 series; all posts in this series are tagged website101. Subscribe now so you don’t miss future posts.
