Blog Writing: Don't Bury the Lead

There's a certain order to writing. To attract the readers or audience, and have them read the article or posting to the very end, the lead should be attractive, sharp and crisp. The writing should be to the point. Blog and news writing have something in common. Both follow the inverted pyramid structure of writing. The most important information is highlighted in the very beginning. The first sentence is known as the lead. It relays the main point of the article. Then the rest of the paragraphs lay out the other facts. It is because many readers don't have the time to go through the entire article. They just read the first paragraph and skim through the rest. They read the headlines and go through the main content only if they find it to be interesting. Writers should never bury the lead because if they do so, they will lose readers. The article will be boring and meaningless. The main point should be highlighted in the first sentence of the first paragraph. Writing is tricky. But with enough practice, a person can quickly grasp the skills. For every piece of writing, you have to keep the audience in mind. You need a good topic to start with. 

Writing Tips

Blog writing is not tedious if you know what you want to write about and have the right flow of ideas. If you are writing for the audience, you must understand them and see what interests them. There's no use writing a piece no one wants to read. Here are some useful tips:

•    Topic - you can write about anything. There are so many topics and personal experiences that you can share such as fishing trip, cooking for the first time, preparing children for the new school year, first-time mother; being a bridesmaid, what to buy as Christmas present, planning for a reunion; craving for crumbled cake; and girls day out etc.

•    Give it a personal touch-make it look like a diary entry except do away with the dates and timings, etc. What I mean to say is to give it a personal touch. When the reader goes through it, he or she will feel as if they have written it. They will feel part of the writing. Plus, it keeps the reader glued!

•    Length - it depends entirely on you. But keep in the mind that it should be too short or too long that the reader leaves it half way. Keep it in between - balanced. You are the writer; you get to decide how much you want to write!

•    Quality - if you want the writing to be quality, then you have got to give it time. You cannot get the work done in ten or twenty minutes. Set at least two hours maximum. Why two hours because you need time for the ideas to start flowing and writing takes a bit of time, then you have to go through it to do away with grammatical and spelling mistakes.

•    Read - to be a good writer; you have to read. You can read anything, newspapers, magazines, novels, science journals, recipe books and children's story books. It will make you think, and ideas will flow.

•    Write - the more you write, the better you will become. Practice makes a person better. The same is with writing. Try different styles of writing, first-person; second-person; descriptive; informative; and narrative, etc.

•    Body - make sure that the writing doesn't contain too much information. Sometimes, readers find this overwhelming. They are not able to process the facts. It takes time, and many do not have the time. Limit the facts to five but write it in such a manner that the reader grasps it. There's no point in writing something which no one can understand.

As a writer, you should have an open mind. You should be ready to hear what the readers have to say about the writing. Whether it's good or bad, you should accept it. It will help you enhance your writing skills. You should keep in mind that not everyone will support the idea that you want to highlight. They may be against it. Take it constructively and move on. You can build your vocabulary by reading and going through dictionaries. Use synonyms and antonyms; moreover, there are many word tools and applications that you can use. They are available online. Unlike what some people think, writing is not tedious. It's interesting and very useful. People who are passionate about it will agree with me!