Originally posted on https://blog.iwriter.com/how-to-craft-awesome-blog-content-the-anatomy-of-well-written-articles/

 

We all know someone who is well spoken and knowledgeable but terrible at writing. That’s because writing can be hard and doesn’t come naturally to most people. It requires a little time and effort, and everyone can benefit from improved writing skills.

Whether it’s a matter of organization, language, or spelling, there’s something about good writing that breathes respectability. On the other hand, poor writing discredits the writer in a certain sense. If you’re looking to start a blog for your website or business, you need to focus on creating well written articles.

We’ll cover a few surefire ways to improve your content and leave a great impression on your readers.

How to Craft Well Written Articles

There isn’t too much that separates a decent writer from a great one when it comes to blogging. It’s all about identifying a few things before you even begin writing.

The first thing that you need to understand is your audience.

Who is Reading Your Work?

Whether you’re writing for a personal blog or a professional business website, you should have a decent grasp of who will be reading it. The language that you use will change greatly from one audience to the next, so it’s important to know who you’re talking to.

It’s common for people to write in the same tone that they used in high school research papers. The academic tone has its place, but blogging should be more conversational. The reader should feel as though the writer is someone that they could have a beer with.

If your audience is a group of elderly people, your tone is going to be vastly different than it would for a group of teenagers. It’s not always as simple as knowing the age of your audience. In many cases, the audience doesn’t group by age, but by topic.

There’s some reason that this group of people is interested in your website. There’s also a reason that you are the one they’re interested in learning from. Find out how to speak to those people in a tone that they will relate with.

Quality Research

You have to know what you’re talking about. Knowing what you’re saying is probably more important than knowing how to say it. If you’re writing for your own website, it’s likely that you understand the subject matter well.

That being said, we often have small mistakes in our thinking that develop over time. It’s essential that you fact-check yourself, so as not to make glaring mistakes and lose readers. If you’re even the slightest bit unsure about something, use research to back up your statements.

One way to verify the claims you make while writing is to add a link to the text. An anchor text can be placed on a few keywords, linking the reader to the source of the information you’re talking about.

If you’re freelancing or writing on a topic that you don’t understand that well, things are a little bit different. You’ll need to research the subject from the bottom up, learning the main points of the topic. Your tone will also have to be slightly different.

Those who are authorities on a subject or, at the very least, understand it well, can use a knowledgeable tone in their writing. They can make confident statements about theories and facts. When you don’t quite understand everything about a topic, you need to base your article more on foundational ideas.

It isn’t that you can’t be confident in your writing, just make sure that you aren’t stepping out of your bounds. Claims made in error could discredit the reputation of your blog.

Having a Grasp of Mechanics and Usage

While sites like Grammarly can help the poor writer tune up his or her work, automated editing software doesn’t do the full job. There are still elements of the English language that must be understood to produce quality writing.

Things like em-dashes and semicolons are extremely useful when you know how to use them. There are also a lot of words and phrases that are oddly punctuated. Even English professors sometimes confuse “sometimes” for “some times.”

The point is, there are a lot of errors out there just waiting for you to make them. Even the best writers make mistakes, which is why it’s alright to let one slip here and there. You should be constantly developing your eye, though.

Whenever you’re not sure of something, check it out and see if you’re spelling or using it correctly. There are a lot of tools that can help you be certain about usage. The Chicago Manual of Style, for example, is one of the greatest resources that every writer has.

It provides answers to nearly every question of English grammar, spelling, usage, and punctuation. There are other tools like it as well. Whatever your tool, make sure you use it.

Be Engaging!

At the end of the day, people aren’t going to read something they don’t enjoy. The brilliant thing about blogs is that you have the option to say anything you’d like in whatever way you’d like.

Try to write an article that you would enjoy reading. Enjoy the process of thinking about and describing ideas to people that want to learn from you. You’ll be hard-pressed to write an engaging article of you dread the thought of sitting down at the computer to type.

Make sure to run a tight ship, but allow for some fun and games. Use your voice to your advantage and try to refine your style in a way that engages and inspires people. One way to practice this is by letting loose on your first draft.

Just type whatever comes into your head about the subject and say it in your own words. Once you’re done, go back over what you’ve written and edit. You’ll probably find that what you wrote was pretty engaging.

Get More Help With Your Blog

Trends are constantly changing and it’s essential that you keep up with the world of blogging. Whether there’s a new way to optimize your traffic or adjust the language in your posts, there’s no harm in learning new tips and tricks.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to create well written articles, we have everything you need.