I don’t hold myself up to be the perfect blogger, when it comes to my writing style. That’s okay, though, because all of my posts are in my “voice.” Everyone who knows me can read the posts here and pretty much immediately tell that I, Bob Woods, wrote them.
When it comes to writing my posts, I write like I speak. That means lots of pauses (noted here with dashes and ellipses). Lots of crisp, short statements. And more than my fair share of sentences that start with “and,” but,” etc.
(By the way, my blog voice is very different from the writing I do for clients at their sites. For them, I adopt the CruxBridge Media style of simple, effective, tweet-like communication. Please keep that in mind when you’re thinking about hiring me. In other words, don’t let my blog-writing style scare you away.)
It’s pretty simple, actually. Your blog should be in your voice. It’s a big reason why other people can’t write blog posts for you.
Or … can they?
I want to be clear on this: If you have someone else ghostwrite your blog, I don’t think they have a very good shot at writing in your “voice.” Even if they’re very good friends with you. If they are, it still wouldn’t be easy.
Hopefully you have the time to write two blog posts a week. No? Then you should sub out the writing of what we’ll call the “meat” of the article. It can be done, to a point. If I couldn’t crank out two posts a week, here’s what I’d do:
- Hire someone good to write the post in a normal, sterile style (kind of like a newspaper article).
- That person submits it to you when they’re done, but they don’t publish it on your blog at that point—and neither should you.
- You read it over, and write in your own voice your own intro and conclusion paragraphs.
- Look through the “meat” of the post and change any phrasing or words you don’t hear yourself using in everyday speech.
- MOST IMPORTANT: Read the entire post aloud before publishing. If you come across a particular word, sentence or paragraph you’ve said that doesn’t sound quite right to your ear (and believe me, you’ll know it when it happens), rewrite it in your own words. After that, read it out loud again. You’ll notice the difference, believe me.
This is how the good TV and radio news anchors generally practice their craft—when they have the time. Usually, copy comes in from reporters and producers. If the script sounds like something with which they’d be comfortable saying, they’ll go with it as is. But if it is not tuned to their ear, and again, if they have the time, they’ll rewrite it.
When I was a field and show producer in TV news, it was my goal to try to write in the “voice” of my anchors, reporters or other “talent,” just to make their jobs easier. I’d like to think I succeeded more often than not.
The important point here is you need to be involved with your blog if you really want it to be successful. The degree to which you need to be involved, though, depends on both you and any ghostwriter you may hire.
By the way, here’s some advice on what to write. In a general sense, of course.
What do you think? Am I completely looney tunes on this one? Or do you agree? Discuss it in the Comments section below.