The Only Writing Tip You Need - Have a Solid Knowledge Base!

Do you follow blogging tips? The Internet is chock-a-block with pages that are giving tips on how to write the best copies and engaging blog posts. These posts are there because at any moment, there are people looking for tips on better blog writing and how they could write copies that sell like hot cakes. These could the newbie bloggers or even the established ones looking for that extra-something to improve their writing based on other bloggers’ experiences. Fair enough. But how many of you really follow the advices there?

As bloggers, we have to read a lot. And if you have been a voracious reader even from your pre-blogging days, then you will be reading a hell lot. Whether it is to get the ideas for your next blog post, to check other people’s writings on the very stuff you intend to write or to research for topics to write, you read. That’s how we work. That’s how we are.

We read to connect with the outside world and so that we could get ourselves immersed in written words that provide the energy for our creativity. If you look closely, you will notice that from the very moment we wake up, we have been reading. The morning newspaper, emails, the social media notifications and updates, the new posts from the blogs we have subscribed, well, we do read a lot.

Coming back to the original question – do you follow blogging tips from other people now that you are a blogger yourself? You will say you follow some but not everything because they mostly write about things that we already know. Obviously.

Write in a conversational tone. Write in short paragraphs to increase readability. Insert relevant pictures or infographics. Avoid sounding too salesy or desperate. Avoid expletives or slangs. Write in the morning. Follow a blogging schedule. Keep a small notebook (or an app in your mobile) handy to jot down immediately every idea that comes to your mind. Write every day. Do this. Do that. We have all seen that, haven’t we?

Those are all valid tips. But after a certain point, you realise that writing is something apart from all these. It’s about finding that elusive voice in us that immediately connects with readers from the first few sentences in our posts and keeps them pinned on the page.

Experience? Skill? Knowledge? A gift from above?

Some people do seem to be gifted with the special ability to connect words that flow in the most beautiful manner to enthral us. The writing equivalent of the gift of the gab.

Most good writers (read bloggers) are believed to have some common traits. They

• are highly inquisitive
  
• read a lot
  
• have good imagination
  
• are very observant
  
• can look at things analytically
  
• have a better understanding of people’s psychology
  

Can we ‘teach’ ourselves to be all the above? Do we already have these traits in us? Remember, we are not aiming to produce great literary stuff for English majors. We are just trying to communicate the things we already know and feel to people seeking to learn about them. We are only relaying information.

I hope this did not sound like a “tip” post. My point is – there’s so much to learn. We need a solid knowledge base before we are able to write posts that readers like. Unless we know our stuff, no tips are going to be actionable. Huh! As if we didn’t know that.