Make Your Blog Stand Apart From the Crowd

Does your blog need a makeover? Perhaps you are burned out on great ideas or maybe your blog is missing that dynamic factor that makes readers want to tune in? If you’ve ever wondered what you can do to make your blog more interesting and fun to write, I have a few ideas. There are a few ways to captive your audience and also make the writing more enjoyable for yourself.

Keep a List of Topics on Hand

When you sit down to write your blog, have a list of topics on hand and ask yourself “why should I write this?” and “who would want to read this?” The answer to those questions is often a good springboard. As you write one blog, you will likely have ideas for others—so keep that list handy. There will be days when the creative energy is low, so that is a perfect time to find your list and charge yourself up.

Be Curious About Everything

Just like an investigator, answer the questions of who, what, when, why, where, and how. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a journalist, go ahead and pretend you absolutely have to get to the bottom of your topic. Each of these questions will get you deeper into a subject matter.

Mix it up

Often, as you begin to write you’ll end up deleting your first few sentences and starting your writing somewhere in the middle. This is normal. Writing is not necessarily a linear process. When you get to the end of your blog, however, go back to the beginning and do a check for repetitive words and read it out loud. Also, don’t underestimate the power of the thesaurus. Your readers’ eyes are going to glaze over if you don’t vary your vocabulary. So mix it up!

Get to the point

Do you use long sentences over and over? Try challenging yourself to write shorter ones. Readers like it when we get to the point and do it quick. If a sentence is getting out of control, turn it into a series of bullet points.

Choose active verbs

One last bit of advice about the mechanics is to use active verbs instead of passive ones. Try to avoid “was” and “were” followed by the “ing” verb form. Staying in the present tense keeps your voice strong. And above all, have fun with writing and encourage commentary from readers to get comments for feedback.