In the world of blogging, your writing style matters more than ever. With over 600 million blogs floating around cyberspace today, you need a compelling style to stand out and be heard.
Plain, lackluster writing might have gotten you by 10 years ago. But in 2024, engaging writing is non-negotiable if you want to build an audience and see any success.
So what exactly makes for a “good” blogging writing style these days? And how can you make improvements if yours misses the mark? I’ll cover all of that and more in this comprehensive guide!
Why Writing Style Matters
Your writing style affects virtually everything in the world of blogging – from building trust, to keeping readers engaged, to converting them into email subscribers and customers. Here are some of the key reasons style matters so much:
1. Building Trust and Credibility
Engaging writing that avoids grammar mistakes and flows well comes across as more professional and authoritative. Readers are far more likely to trust you when your writing is polished and tight.
Amateurish writing with lots of errors and clunky paragraphs, on the other hand, undermines your credibility big time.
2. Crafting Compelling Content
Your writing style plays a huge role in how interesting and shareable your content is. Boring, dense paragraphs will never go viral or attract links the way captivating writing does.
Creative expression and a unique style help your content stand out. This leads to more engagement through comments, social shares and backlinks – fueling greater reach.
3. Improving Readability
Skimmable formatting with short paragraphs and ample white space allows readers to navigate and process information easily.
Effective headers, bullets and visuals likewise give readers access points to latch onto when scanning your content.
Optimizing readability this way results in lower exit rates and higher time-on-page.
4. Boosting Conversions
An engaging writing style helps convince readers you know your stuff. This builds the necessary trust to guide them down a conversion path to opt-ins, downloads, purchases etc.
Bland writing is unlikely to move readers emotionally or spur them to action the way captivating prose does.
5. Expanding Your Audience
Compelling writing gets shared by influencers and everyday readers alike if you nail things like helpfulness, entertainment value and uniqueness.
This expands your reach exponentially allowing you to pick up new site visitors through viral shares – not just your own promotion efforts.
Okay, hopefully you’re convinced that writing style matters! Now let’s talk about exactly how you can level yours up starting today…
Crafting an Engaging Blogging Style
Transforming your blog’s writing style into something truly special may sound intimidating. But implementing these proven tips will get you most of the way there through fairly simple tweaks.
Shoot For a Conversational Tone
Stuffy, overly formal writing might fly for a scientific paper. But it completely misses the mark for today’s blog readers seeking useful tips or entertainment.
Adopting a conversational style – like you‘re speaking directly with the reader one-on-one – is an instant way to come across as more engaging and trustworthy.
You can build a conversational style through things like:
- Using “you” and “I” frequently
- Asking rhetorical questions
- Using contractions like can’t, don’t etc.
- Throwing in informal language and slang terms
Take cues from top bloggers who have mastered this skill. The goal is to achieve a style that’s professional yet approachable – like an expert chatting with a friend.
Write Short, Skimmable Paragraphs
Attention spans today average just 8 seconds by some estimates. That means your paragraphs can’t be dense walls of text if you want anyone to stick around.
Paragraph length for blogs should follow the old journalism rule of thumb:
One idea, one paragraph.
Break up any sentences longer than 1-2 lines. And absolutely refrain from monster paragraphs exceeding 6-7 lines of text.
White space, headers and bullet points are your friends when it comes to improved skimmability and reader engagement.
Infuse Your Personality and Passion
The best writing leaps off the page because you can sense the author‘s enthusiasm and originality throughout. So don‘t be afraid to let your true self shine through!
Do you have a wry sense of humor? Quirky turn of phrase? Quaint expressions? Embrace them!
This is what sets your writing apart from the millions of other blogs. Lean into your unique personality and perspective to instantly boost engagement.
Vary Sentence Structure
Too much repetition in sentence flow tends to lull readers to sleep. Shake things up using short, punchy sentences along with longer ones that meander a bit.
You can toss in the occasional one-word sentence. Or get creative with structure like:
“Not just any laptop stand. The best laptop stand money can buy."
Playing around with cadence gives your writing style more character.
Just be careful not to over-complicate things. Variety for the sake of variety leads to confusion and frustration.
Choose Precise, Impactful Words
With blogging especially, every single word choice counts if you want to continually capture attention. But that doesn’t mean whipping out a thesaurus and inserting archaic terms at random!
The key is precision. Find words with exactly the right nuance to convey your meaning and compel readers.
Can you strengthen a point by substituting “utterly wowed” for “impressed” for instance? Or pack more punch by using “garner” instead of “get”?
Evaluate words not just on definitions but on their emotional impact, imagery and rhythm within sentences too.
Special Tactics to Level-Up Any Blog‘s Writing Style
Beyond overall principles like those above, there are special tactics smart bloggers use to craft knockout writing styles.
Let’s explore some of my favorites:
Include Engaging Headlines
Even if your actual blog post writing is tight, a lackluster headline turns many readers away instantly. But a hooky, curiosity-inducing header reels them in!
Master the art of headline writing and learn go-to formulas like:
- Numbers in headlines – 7 Ways to Hook Readers
- Questions – What is X and Why Does it Matter?
- Direct advice – How to Achieve Y in 3 Steps
- Intriguing angles on topics – The Unexpected Benefit of Z
Write Like You Talk
We already discussed adopting a conversational style. But an advanced way to take this further is by dictating blogs aloud rather than typing them.
Not only does this help you achieve a more natural cadence. But it taps into the more emotional, creative right brain missing from logical left brain-fueled typing.
Use a transcription service or dictation software to try “talking out” your next blog for a major boost in engagement and uniqueness!
Study the Experts
Deconstruct blog posts and even emails from influential writers you adore. Analyze what exactly makes their style work on a technical level.
Look at things like:
- Average paragraph length
- Variety in structure and pacing
- Word choice and precision
- Personality infusion
Then model their tactics in your own writing for rapid improvements backed by proven formulas.
Work With Sensitivity Readers
Having others preview your writing is wise in general to catch gaps in logic and clarity. But sensitivity readers specialize in gauging how inclusive and respectful your language and messaging comes across.
This helps identify unconscious bias and marginalizing terminology that alienates readers. Revising these areas makes your blogs resonate across more demographics.
Promote Skimmability
Reading online has conditioned us to skim everything rapidly thanks to infobesity. Cater to this directly by…
Highlighting key points in bold font – like this – to catch the eye
Including ample headers, bullets and numbered lists
Breaking up sections with images, quotes or videos
This allows the reader to digest and retain information better from short glances.
Avoiding Amateur Writing Pitfalls
Just as crucial as intentionally using certain techniques is avoiding mistakes holding your writing back.
Here are some hallmarks of amateur blog writing to steer clear of:
1. Overusing Filler Words
Filler words like “very”, “really”, “just”, “actually” rarely strengthen your point. More often, they suggest a lack of confidence making you seem less authoritative.
Mercilessly delete these fluff terms everywhere possible. Only use them intentionally for emphasis once in awhile.
2. Leaning Too Academic
While intelligent writing impresses, complex words and jargon go over most readers’ heads. They disengage and may feel alienated from your “expert” status rather than helped.
Aim for clarity and approachability tailored to an everyday audience first. You can always create technical content separately for niche industry readers.
3. Inconsistent Point of View
Head-hopping happens when you switch perspectives within a piece from first person to second or third person at random. This jars readers from the flow.
Pick “I” or “you” as the dominant point of view for most blogs. Use third person pronouns like “he/she/one” sparingly.
4. Excessive Hedging
While some hedging like “may”, “might” or “perhaps” is appropriate for dipping a toe into controversial subjects, too much undercuts your reliability.
Go through and eliminate wishy-washy language everywhere possible for a more authoritative air. Save these terms for truly speculative topics requiring a delicate touch.
5. Passive Voice Misuse
Using passive voice like “the sample was provided by…” rather than “I provided a sample…” fails to convey accountability. It also requires more words diluting impact.
Save passive voice for rare situations needing to downplay responsibility like instruction manuals. Active voice strengthens writing nearly always.
The Payoff: More Successful Blogging
If transforming your blog’s lackluster writing style into something truly special seems like a lot of work…well, it is!
But it’s 100% worth investing energy here before creating any more content.
Because even if you manage to score viral hits now and then through luck or controversy…
None of those moments can sustain a blog lacking substance and soul at its written core.
By sharpening your writing style first, everything that follows has a rock-solid foundation. This lets your blog evolve, flourish and make a lasting dent on the world.
So be ruthless in revision – no matter how talented you think you already are as a writer.
Strengthening the patterns, mechanics and artful manipulation that comprise your written voice…
This is what escalates you from merely competent to truly impossible to ignore.
What writing style shifts resonated most with you from this post? Are you itching to improve your headlines, work on brevity or infuse more personality right away?
Let me know in the comments! I may just address your specific requests in future articles…
