Is Your Writing Without Purpose?
Of course, you know that writing without a purpose is harmful.
Well, I’m stuck for ideas again. But I wish not to write my next blog post without any purpose. The worst thing that can happen to a blog is when you write with no real purpose other than to keep up with your publishing schedule.
A blogger mostly writes with some purpose.
You can write about your thoughts or opinions on a particular topic. And it necessarily does not have to be in sync with what many others feel about the topic. If you strongly feel about it, you already have the purpose for your writing.
You can write to initiate a discussion or whip up a debate. You can put on those horns and be the devil’s advocate to communicate your ideas, if you please. You can have the liberty to actually take sides on the issue and leave some food for thought for the readers to consume.
You want to educate your readers on a topic because you feel there’s so much misconception and myths flying around. There’s no one stopping you to write on it. That’s a real purpose.
So, you want to promote a product – your own or someone else’s – through your post? Fine. Go ahead and do it by all means.
But blogging simply to ensure that you do not fail in your a-post-daily blogging mission? That’s the pits!
Why do I say thus? Why blogging without any tangible purpose is bad?
It Makes You Look Selfish
I have to say this out. I mean, it makes you look no good when you expect people to gobble up your purpose-less content. Seriously, you cannot be thinking that people are actually unintelligent to not see through your writing. What are those words doing there? What are they trying to convey? It’s a bad netiquette, you see, to keep on manufacturing listless content and expect people to not only read them but to share them as well. It makes you look selfish.
The Writing Fails to Connect
This is actually what I said before. When there’s no purpose involved in your writing it fails to take off and to connect with the readers. It cannot help to foster trust with the readers which is the most essential thing for a blog.
The Writing Fails to Convince
Writing without any purpose cannot make people be convinced of the utility of the product you’re trying to promote. People do not readily take your words for it when you say that the product you’re promoting is amazing and all that. Some people are wary of superlatives in the expression, you see. You cannot convince people to click on your affiliate link when you yourself don’t sound so convincing. To turn readers into buyers, your being passionate in your writing is necessary. This is no rocket science. You just have to convey to your readers through your writing that you really believe that the product you’re recommending is good and ought to be a must-buy thing.
The Writing Does Nothing to Add to the Knowledge Base of the Readers
A purposeful writing has the power to sway the minds of the readers. Minds are changed when the readers learn something new, are shown new perspectives of looking at things and are made to shed old ideas.
So, next time you sit in front of your computer and before you start tapping away on those keys, just ask yourself what your purpose is for the post that you’re going to write.
Recent Comments
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I've actually found ideas for posts by reading through old magazines, as well as articles on various e-newsletters that I receive. It can help spark ideas you may not have thought of. But you are right, we all need to write with a purpose, because just rambling away our thoughts makes our blog more of a personal diary, than one designed to help others.
Great post! Writing for the sake of writing is never a good idea. You won't really be invested in it and it will show. Once you've turned off a reader with purposeless content, it's very hard to get them to re-engage.
A bit of soul searching there Sukumar, I guess when we first arrive at the bloggers front door we are full of purpose, There seems to be many phases on this writing journey, none the least when it becomes like a job. Keeping that spark alive can be hard as the stream of ideas becomes a trickle. I find Reading, researching and observing can help to turn the tap back on.
Agree with you, Alex. You need to read a lot to be able to write well is almost an axiom. Thanks for dropping by.
Hi Sukamar! Practice helps. The purpose of each piece of content is to escort the reader from a problem to a solution--that's the purpose. As such, you should identify problems within your niche and write solutions. As you practice, the ideas become easier and easier to come up with, but to be a pro, you have to sit down and learn about your niche and write as a discipline. You can't use "purpose" as an excuse if you want to be a pro. You have to be consistently ensuring you have purposeful content like a pro news or media company. Can you imagine if Huffington Post or a big news outlet or writer there used the excuse of no purpose? You find one: everyday, every week, or how ever often is your publishing schedule. Your publishing schedule is a commitment.
Thanks for your input. The other day I read this wonderfully-written post "Writing Every Day Won't Necessarily Make You a Better Writer" where the writer likens writing to learning to play a musical instrument.
He says "Writing is far more like learning how to become proficient at playing a musical instrument than learning how to develop into a skilled snowboarder."
Appreciate your points. You have some big ones there, actually. Anyway, just to see what the article I mentioned says, I hope you may want to have a look into it. Cheers.
https://writingcooperative.com/why-just-write-is-terrible-advice-to-give-to-novice-writers-a1e0831a93fb
I'll take a look at it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to write crap just because. I'm just saying that pros in any field sit down and do the work in a disciplined way: from sports to military to other top professionals. This industry (marketing and writing) is far too laced with people who make "purpose" and passion their leader. You can't follow your emotions all the time. They can lead you astray. Sometimes it's pure discipline that leads the way, but I'm a military veteran, so I'm a hard work and discipline proponent all day. Do something you love. Do it with purpose, but show up consistently and commit. And, do what it takes to deliver consistently and on time: research, read, go to a seminar, and sit down and fulfill. I'll read it and let you know my thoughts. Interesting topic.
Just read the article and I get it. They're saying practice isn't going to make a non-talented person talented. I've heard it said to focus on your strength and master your strength. I agree with that.
Many people need to be honest with themselves about whether this industry is for them. This industry is getting alot of hype right now because of the infancy of the internet, so many people who don't like writing and who aren't good at it are trying to force it because they see dollar signs. That's purposeless writing.
On the other hand, if you know your life purpose can be fulfilled thru your skill of writing, then you have to commit to that unrelentlessly and do the work without excuses.
I guess purposeless writing from my standpoint would be a person whose disconnected from their overall life purpose, with no business purpose, and whose simply writing to cash out.
My advice is targeted at people who know their life purpose, have a business vision and mission, and know the blog will help them execute it....those people need to sit down, focus, and do the work.
That article seemed to be targeted at people who may not have the skill but who are being encouraged to hammer out quantity to get better. It's like the person who isn't organized being told to clean more to get more organized. I agree some people will always have their weak areas. That's where we each need to be honest with ourselves about whether we're leveraging our strengths here or our weaknesses.
Yes, Sukumar, it´s a good question. I seek some guidance from looking at posts from the more successful members here about what they do and the way they do it, hoping that I can shape what I do towards a successful model, Best Alan
I try to keep two things in mind when I write. What do I expect to get out of it? That's my motivation. How will this help my readers? That's what they get out of it and why they might share my content. If I can't think of a way they would benefit from reading it, it doesn't get posted.
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Great post. Thanks for sharing.