Professional writing style, a no-no ?

[smith1012]

Is it true that when you write your posts for a blog, that its best to not be so professional, but rather just write how you talk. It brought to my attention that many readers hate having to read good grammar and professional writings. They easily get bored. Again, is this true?

[RT Wolf]

Depends on the tone you want to strike and what your audience is. I think people tend to think of blogs as personal expression so they expect you to write as if you're talking (I do). Personally I'm not bothered by good or bad grammer, etc. as long as you're authentic and engaging to me. I don't think this is a big factor in success/failure anyway. Having something to say that people want to hear and you'll be fine.

[smith1012]

Thanks for the response rtworlf. Yeah I sort of feel my posts arent as professional. About grammar, if you were to look real hard I bet you'd find some mistakes, but just reading casually seems to be okay, but again thats just me. Maybe im just being too negative again :P

[SimonaRich]

Considering you don't write about any scientific subject informal writing is much better. Blogs are more informal than other types of articles/posts. They should be more personal.

I always write the way I would talk to a friend.

As I have recently started my pd website (I've sold my retail company) I have been seeking top bloggers advice on writing style.

The first time they checked my website they said that the content was 'average'. I was unpleasantly surprised and looked over my content with as much objectivity as I could. And I saw that rather than talking to people, I talked at them. I was trying to educate people, and visitors hate that!

So I immediatelly changed my style from education-like to suggestion-like.

Then I asked for the same bloggers to look at my content and they were very surprised and they wrote that I'm doing great and I am on the right track!!! So that made me very happy and I keep posting new articles of the same suggestion-like-style.

You can check out my blog at Personal Development Blog to see what I am talking about.

I hope you will do just fine! You should remember that having a unique voice is what makes or breaks you in blogging

[funchy]

Like anything you write, how you write should depend on your audience.

Though even for a casual blog, I personally have no patience for lots of grammar mistakes. It slows down my reading when I have to stumble over poorly organized thoughts.

[smith1012]

glad to know uniqueness is key. When I read my posts I feel, in a way, entertained and educated.

By the way simon, when I compare your blog posts to some top100s... they look quite similar. Keep up the good work, man.

fumble, ill keep that in mind. If I were a reader of my site, how would I like the posts to be. Thats my mindset.

And thanks for the thoughts

[Trezker]

Writing in your own words is very in blogging because it makes your readers feel comfortable and it increases your uniqueness. Whether you should use personal or objective writing depends on the nature of your blog though. Some blogs might be better off being objective, but such blogs can easily be copied, you can't make them unique if others can write about the same stuff. So It can basically only be used for news reporting.

More important is structure. Paragraphs, sentence construction, grammar and so on needs to be professional to make your text easy to read. I'm guessing your question is not about professional vs personal. A blog should always be as professional as you can make it, the question is only whether to make it objective or subjective.

[Rebecca800]

A professional writing style simply means having correct spelling and grammar. I think this is necessary for any published work.

However, there is a difference in writing styles. You'll probably find the most formal writing in business communications (like an annual report), and the least formal in blogs since these are often like public diaries. With informal writing, there are some rules you can bend (like starting a sentence with 'and') but these are few and far between.

Slang and text message talk is rarely ok, unless you have a good excuse. LOL, ROFL, txt, msg, pls, brb, imo... etc. This is just lazy! Best save this for the chat rooms.

[Rebecca800]

Originally Posted by smith1012

many readers hate having to read good grammar

I had to read this twice!

Good grammar makes a sentence easier to read... I would have thought that most people are annoyed by bad grammar!

[magi13]

Originally Posted by smith1012

Is it true that when you write your posts for a blog, that its best to not be so professional, but rather just write how you talk. It brought to my attention that many readers hate having to read good grammar and professional writings. They easily get bored. Again, is this true?

Being professional while you write is okay. The problem is if it's hyphaluting and very long. ^^,

Those are the only things you need to look out for.

[borisg]

There is never any excuse for bad grammar. When you blog, you usually are trying to come out as an authority figure on something...you cannot have authority if you cannot spell...

don't mistake informal for careless.

I agree, write in a casual informal style. But use proper grammar.

When I see bad grammar on a blog I usually stop reading. It tells me that the writer is either careless or lacking writing skills. Either way, I lose the personal connection to the writer when that happens.