Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Blog Like a Writer, Write Like a Blogger

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The other day, I met with a woman who happened to be an ex-journalism student. While we were chatting about how she might make the transition to online writing and blogging, I commented that she had a great starting point by already being a writer. To which she exclaimed, "Oh, I can write, but I'm not a writer!"

We have so many preconceived notions of what makes someone a writer. Is it only someone who's published (and if so, does self-published count)? Is it only someone who writes every day (or week or month)? 

And then what's a blogger? Is it only someone who blogs about a personal topic? Or is it the opposite – someone who just blogs for business? Is it only someone who sells/makes money from their blog?

I actually got chills when Charlie Gilkey stood up at the Wealthy Thought Leader event (Vancouver, March 2010) and said, "I'm not a blogger with a business. I'm a thought leader with a blog as a vehicle."

Because to write your way to more clients online, it really doesn't matter what you call yourself. Your writing is simply another platform from which to share your expertise, establish trust, deepen relationships and achieve visibility.

Just for fun, let's see what writers and bloggers might be able to learn from each other.

To blog like a writer, try to be more:

  • Clear – "When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing." – Enrique Jardiel Poncela 
  • Concise – Give yourself a word count limit (I recommend 500 words) and don't waste any precious space
  • Creative – Challenge yourself to expand your vocabulary and play with your words
  • Careful – Self-edit your work, or borrow another pair of eyes (hey, we do that!)

To write like a blogger, try to be more:

Even if you don't feel like a writer OR a blogger, take heart. Once you get started, keep going and build some momentum, your writing identity will find you – and so will your ideal clients!

Social Media Writing Sin #5 – Streaming and Spewing

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Streaming

Because social media is a conversation, it's easy to start writing as if everyone "out there" is actually "in here" – right in your brain, following along with your train of thought. Or, if they're not right "in here," surely they've been reading all of your conversations as they've unfolded – haven't they?

social-media-writing-sin-spewing-personal-updates
Of course that's not the case, and it can make your stream-of-consciousness updates pretty indecipherable to someone who is just discovering you on a social network.

Your social network profile page (and everywhere else you display your updates, e.g., a Twitter feed on your blog or website) may be someone's very first impression of you. What will they find there?

Spewing

Twitter has gotten a pretty bad rap from people who say they have no interest in hearing what their friends or colleagues ate for breakfast. And that's understandable when some people spew out overly personal updates or drawn-out private conversations.

As with everything else, balance is the key.

Warning: Indulging in this two-headed social media writing sin can made your reader feel excluded and disconnected.

My Top Five Social Media Writing Sins – Revealed!

Social Media Writing Sin #4 – Baiting and Switching

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Bait150w225h There are two ways I've witnessed a "bait and switch" in social media writing:

1. An attention-grabbing headline with a story that fails to deliver

I once clicked on a link to what sounded like a breaking news story. When I got to the page, I read all about how if there were such a crisis, it would be really important to have a great website (this person happened to build websites).

Getting attention is one thing – keeping it is another.

2. Taking credit where it isn't due

As Andrea J. Lee puts it, experts (yes, that's you!) have an opportunity and a responsibility to serve as the Google for your audience. You can be leading them to the best and most relevant content that will help with their specific challenges. And our social networks are designed for precisely this kind of sharing.

And yet, when you post a headline with a link, your readers are going to assume you are the author of both. In my view, this is a form of plagiarism, even if it's only for a second (the time it takes someone to click through and realize you're not the author of the post you're linking to).

Warning: Indulging in this social media writing sin can make you stand out for all the wrong reasons. Readers will remember you as the one who "tricked" them into clicking to a page that was either misleading, disappointing or someone else's work.

My Top Five Social Media Writing Sins – Revealed!

Social Media Writing Sin #3 – Keywording Instead of Writing

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Search150w113h If you've been reading this Content Mastery Guide blog for awhile, you know where I stand on search engine optimization (SEO). After all, this series is all about social media writing, and social media is all about building a network of people who enjoy reading and sharing your work with their networks.

Yet, I also know there is lots to be said for using SEO techniques to get your work into the hands of more people who need it.

While it's important to use the same language your ideal client might type into a search engine, SEO should never come at the expense of quality writing.

Trying to force particular keywords into a blog post or title can result in awkward (or just plain bad) writing – especially if you're trying to slip them in after the post is written.

Writing for the search engines, trying to get clicks or traffic at any cost, defeats the purpose of content marketing because you will repel your reader instead of attracting them. What is the gain of getting more clicks if people only leave again because you've failed to make a meaningful connection with your writing?

Warning: Indulging in this social media writing sin will diminish the quality of your content, and can make the writing process much more difficult and time-consuming for you. 

My Top Five Social Media Writing Sins – Revealed!