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How to Write Beautiful and Popular Blog Posts

Over the past 7 years, I have read several articles on various blogging resource portals proclaiming bullet-proof methodologies behind writing that ‘perfect’ post. The truth is most bloggers conceive writing as a methodical practice in the following order: pick a topic, research, compose and finally publish. These steps are effective procedural guidelines but they will never ensure a quality post. The reason is simple. Writing for an online audience is an ‘art’, it is almost instinctual and it requires a very unconstrained thought process. Publishing online articles is a dimension of design, the ability to fashion your content in an original and thought provoking manner is an acquired skill. I’ve compiled a few pointers which I hope will be useful for fellow blog editors. 

Transform Your Mindset – You are expressing a viewpoint but also giving something to the Community

This is tricky. Blogs are platforms for expressing specific viewpoints, but like all media outlets, an article must be relatively ‘useful’ to the community. It must enlighten, provoke and incite excitement. A long post on your disgruntling experiences with the public transport system will sound like an ill-tempered rant. A post detailing particular faltering aspects of your local public transport service and inviting people with similar experiences to write in would be more constructive and useful. There is a thin line separating mindless rambling and strong opinionated content. If you fall in the latter category, then it’s time to alter your mindset.

You are not Infallible

Humility is a noble and more importantly an appealing trait. Writing about your perceived weaknesses in a measured tone will certainly show the more humane side of your personality and it would definitely pique the interest of an engaging group of readers. To put it bluntly, we tend to forge a closer bond with writers who experience similar obstacles and problems as their readers; it strikes a common discursive space for deliberation and reflection. While you can maintain an authoritative stance on certain topics, it is equally important to strike a familiar emotional chord with your readers. As an editor of a design blog, I would certainly like to see more designers writing about their own challenges faced when designing. We have seen multitudes of “inspirational” posts of top class web/print design masterpieces, but what about a top ten list of “ frustrating design headaches”? 

Be Original: Nobody wants the best copy of the Original

Being original is not easy. We live in a contemporary world of ‘derivative work’. To a certain extent, everybody’s work is based on other previously published material. It is impossible to be wholly original but nevertheless, there should be a unique element in every post, an embedded style that epitomizes your personalized flavor. Reproducing or paraphrasing an article from another blog will only show your weaknesses more conspicuously.

Your Writing Should Not Hide Behind the Design

As I mentioned earlier, writing is an art. Having a beautiful design will never mask your inaptitude in the writing department. Writing and designing are interlinked. If you are a poignant writer, then the beauty of your design will be accentuated, not vice versa. Express yourself in writing the same way you would in design. There should be an adventurous element to your writing style, adopt new and varied topics and do not shy away from unconventional viewpoints. Taking calculated risks is crucial in staying original, if you feel differently about something; let your views be known. To put things in perspective, I’ve always felt that CSS frameworks are useful in saving time as they provide a solid coding platform from which you can base your design on. I know a considerable number of designers who regard CSS frameworks as a degradation of good design practices. I have written articles on the usefulness of CSS frameworks in several publications, quoting specific instances when other writers might have felt otherwise. I was not prepared to adopt a mainstream view. 

Read First then Research

Researching before authoring a post is never a good idea. In the first place, if you are ‘researching’ to know more about a topic, than it is highly likely that there will be other expert practitioners of the same discipline writing far more in-depth pieces about it. My rule of thumb is, read exhaustively first before engaging in any research work. Reaffirming a strong grounding knowledge of your chosen topic will then put you in a better position to actually find similar articles or formulate opinions. Researching and reading are not the same. With researching, you have a primary purpose to extract particular bits of information that you deem as useful inspirational material. Reading extensively will simply sharpen the research process. 

With that, I conclude my “crash course” on writing for an online audience, which as I’ve mentioned before has an uncanny similarity to the industry of design. What are your methods for writing quality postings? I would certainly love to hear them!

 

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