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Common sense says that we must edit & proof read anything we want to publish or showcase to someone else. We were taught this in school and yet so many of us forget to edit our blog posts.
Blogs, like any published piece of work, needs to be edited. You need to re-read your post, perhaps even say it out loud so you hear what it sounds like to others before hitting the publish button. No matter what you use to actually write your blog – I’m sure it has a spell checker (unless its a basic note pad feature on your laptop); MS Word, Clarisworks, Windows Live Writer, Blogger, Wordpress all have a spell checker feature. Spell Check is there for a reason – use it !
Simple editing things that I like to follow that make for easy reading :
- Leave 2 spaces after a full stop or period
- Use capital case for a new word of a sentence
- Leave a space before a ? or ! (the auto spell check if in US mode marks this as incorrect but that’s up to you)
- Leave a line space for a new paragraph
- Don’t use all caps. Ever.
- Bold / Underline / Italics / different font sizes in a post are to make a point – not to decorate your post.
- Use a minimum of font size of 10 (or 12 if the font is a ‘smaller’ font)
- Mind your grammar (use apostrophes where required, commas, hyphens etc.)
- Step away from the post and read it again in half an hour – you’ll be surprised at what you end up doing !
Do you follow any of the above editing / proof reading techniques ? Can you suggest anything else ? Please note, that other articles on editing feature lots of other points – which are probably more relevant to authors / book writers and include suggestions like letting someone else read and edit your piece.
Expressing Yourself
Blogging is about freedom of speech and expressing yourself. One of the ways your blog comes across as ‘more you’ is if you blog the way you talk. Unless you have a business blog, your personal blog is meant to be more natural. This actually another form of editing your posts.
If you are going to say something – back it up with an incident, an experience, or actual facts. Sometimes I use quotes from articles directly in my blog posts if it is relevant to whatever point I’m trying to make. I like to use examples or really describe a scenario (my friends think I’m too descriptive when I speak) so that anyone reading my blog can feel like they are there at that time.
What’s your blogging style like ? Have you found your blogger voice ? What editing & proof reading tips would you suggest ?
