Afraid of the blank page? Not sure of yourself when you’re writing something down? These writing tips will change that. And even though they primarily apply to corporate blogs, these tips actually make any type of text better.
A good headline needs to be a jack-of-all-trades. Naturally, it must contain the SEO keyword you want to rank for. But of course, you don’t just want to catch Google’s eye; you want to grab your reader’s attention too.
Does your corporate blog have a certain news value? Then communicate that news. Is it an informative blog? Then address a problem or question your reader has. Avoid puns, but communicate a clear benefit.
Does your headline catch the eye? Then hold it with a good introduction. A technique that always works is making a promise in your intro. You do this by answering two questions: Why is this blog worth reading? How will this benefit my reader?
There is another reason why that promise is a good idea. It helps you as a writer to define your subject. This makes it easier to distinguish the main points from the details.
You write a blog from your own expertise. So don’t talk about your company or yourself in the third person, but use I or we. That also makes it a lot more personal.
And write your text for a specific type of reader. That’s why it’s so important to define your reader profiles in advance. They help you visualize who you are writing for and what professional challenges they face. Act as if your reader is sitting across the table and you are explaining the material face to face.
Our previous writing tip also helps against ‘passivitis’—the excessive use of passive sentences. When you write from your company’s perspective, you automatically use the word to be less often. And while you’re at it: cut as many auxiliary verbs as possible. Powerful verbs don’t need support.
Change We make your experience better to We improve your experience. And replace The porch was built by us with We built the porch.
Long – short – long. No, we’re not quoting a Morse code manual here, but we are advocating for sentences that vary in length. This creates a natural rhythm in your text and prevents your reader from getting lost in a tangle of commas and subclauses.
Never make a sentence longer than twenty words. Dare to use short sentences. Like this one. And always read your text out loud after writing. Do you run out of breath somewhere? Then cut that sentence in two.
Put these five writing tips into practice and your next text will thank you. Just like your readers. Good luck!