5 Powerful Self-Editing Tips to Boost Blog Engagement
Tips to avoid common blog writing mistakes:
Self-editing is a challenge for most bloggers. When you are writing on a topic, it’s easy to lose yourself in the flow and make some mistakes. Some writers even develop certain pet peeves that are hard to get rid of even after years. That’s why self-editing is a crucial measure for every blogger.
It helps marketers, bloggers, and other professionals who aren’t writers to create crisp, engaging, and error-free content for their readers. You can polish your writing skills by reading this blog or grab a crutch by hiring blog writers.
Tips to avoid common blog writing mistakes:
1. Don’t flex your vocabulary with SAT words
When you’re trying to get a perfect score on the SATS, you may look into improving your vocabulary. Use words like ‘effluvia’ or ‘jettison’, and you sound fancy and elegant and sometimes they act as social proof of your college education. However, complicated words that are rarely used in real life aren’t good for your blog.
You may impress a few readers. However, most would be unwilling to open up a new tab and look up the meaning of a new word in every paragraph. That’s why bloggers are surprised when they get blog content writing services. While you may be surprised with blogs that sound simple and easy, that’s the point. Higher readability keeps your audience engaged and keeps them from going back to the search results.
2. Read every line instead of skimming through the content
Writing new content is very exciting and editing is as boring as it gets. However, if you want to publish content that’s free from errors, you need to allocate more time to edit your content. Don’t just skim through the content and rely solely on the spellchecker of the Word editor or AI tools like Grammarly to catch your mistakes.
Professional website content writing services have dedicated editors who go through each piece of content thoroughly. They read every line to hunt down every typo, grammatical mistake, and sentence that doesn’t make any sense or stray from the topic. If you don’t have a dedicated editor, hire professionals or put more effort into self-editing before posting content.
3. Use a confident tone
Great writing always comes from confidence and isn’t unnecessarily hesitant. It’s authoritative and should evoke reader confidence in your content. Use active voice, and avoid passive sentences. Don’t use phrases like:
‘This may be a good’
‘That might be a reason’
‘Seems like’
Focus on the facts and get rid of the apologetic tone in your voice. When you read the content aloud, it should sound authoritative without arrogance. Stand behind your statements instead of questioning them at every opportunity. Blog writers for hire have honed this skill for years and would be able to provide you with the right guidance.
4. Don’t misuse words
The English language has several words that are frequently misused regularly. However, even seasoned writers fail to avoid those words. For some, it has turned into a pet peeve while others are simply aware of the correct use. Self-editing can help you avoid this mistake to a certain extent.
For instance, people often confuse:
Sympathy and Empathy – The former describes someone’s ability to relate to another person’s feelings while the latter shows one’s ability to show compassion for another person.
Reputed and Reputable – The former adds a trait to a person or organization. For instance, ‘that school is reputed to be a good one’. On the other hand, reputable suggests that an organization has a good reputation in its field or industry and is trusted by users. For instance, ‘that’s a reputable school’.
The best blog writing services know that these commonly misused words may tick off the wrong people. The last thing you want in an engaging blog is comments from angry people who care about trivial details. While they make up a small minority, their words may influence the bulk of users to form the wrong assumptions.
5. Don’t assume anything
No one likes baseless rumors or assumptions and the same holds for your audience. For instance, beer has several assumptions revolving around it. Some say it helps to reduce cholesterol while others claim it’s as effective as the apple at keeping the doctor away.
Unfortunately, there’s no evidence for either of those claims. Make sure that you back your claims with facts in your content instead of regarding them as widely known assumptions. You don’t want to lose user trust and engagement with rumor mills.
Self-editing helps writers become better at their craft and the best editors have extensively edited their own content to be at their position. It also makes you more aware of your strengths and weaknesses and work on them consistently.
