Writing a blog isn’t rocket science, but it also may not be quite as easy as it looks. A successful blog’s conversational style either comes naturally or it doesn’t. So does that sense of what topics will hit the mark with the blog’s audience.
Writing a Blog
Blog writing is like an e-mail to a friend: short, on-topic and informative. (Entertaining doesn’t hurt either.) Posts are frequently addressed directly to the audience, and the blogger frequently refers to him- or herself.
Be careful, however. Informal language shouldn’t be confused for carelessness in analysis or opinion. Conversational writing can be difficult, especially for writers who have spent years cultivating a more formal, news style. You may find that columnists and feature writers have an easier time adapting to blog writing.
A blog post should be fairly punchy. Bullets, lists and short headlines help your readers track what information is important. This isn’t the place for a lengthy treatise on U.S. foreign policy that takes four weeks to write. Think short. Write short. A post might not take you more than 20 minutes to put together.
It is generally considered a good idea to blog “frequently.” You will have to decide what that means to you. As a guiding rule, consider adopting this: Post as often as is useful. This means you should post when you have something to post about, within the limits of what your readers want to consume.
Editing a Blog
Because blogs come out of a tradition of personal journals, many bloggers don’t believe a real blog is edited. This attitude usually doesn’t work for a newsroom or professional organization. Most media enterprises can be expected to institute a blog-editing policy. Take into account these considerations when setting up your blog-editing rules:
- Arrange editing to avoid delaying the posting of reader comments. Blogs thrive on timeliness and speed; stale comments kill the incentive to post.
- Make sure the editor has a firm grasp of the blog’s goals and style. It may take some adjustments to find a comfortable mix of breezy style and credibility.
- Avoid editing posts after they have been published. It’s not anathema but it’s uncommon and generally not a great idea. If you must make a correction to a published post, note the update or indicate the original material by using strikethrough text.
Editing Comments
Sometimes you may get comments that you are tempted to edit – to fix a typo or remove an offensive word. You may hear cries of “censorship” if you do make these edits.
It’s best to set up a comment policy that explains just when you will edit or delete comments and put that policy on the blog.