Five Quick Tips for Better Posts From a Professional Content Writer
Steemit is a blogging platform, but not all of us are born bloggers. In fact, very few of us are. Unless you're posting exclusively visual or audio content, it helps to be able to structure your text into something that is easy and comfortable to consume.
I might be spoiled from years or reading professionally written content, but I believe that the following tips might just help your (awesome) content on Steemit look and read even better.
Give a Good Title
Steemit doesn't cut off your title text unless it's monstrously long, so you can use a more descriptive title using up to 8 words. Perhaps even split it in two. I do this often with post titles like "Why I Domme - My Kinky Manifesto". If you're looking to draw even more attention, you can try to include an emoji in your title.
Write Short Sentences
This is one of my problems that my editors (ahem @yayab ahem) tend to point out to me. My sentences can go on for a paragraph, making them pretty impossible to comprehend without extra effort. Avoiding this can be hard, but you really should try.
Start With Headings
A long chunk of text can be really hard to read. Not only that, it can be hard to write. It gets disorganized and, as a writer, you might find yourself going from point to point between paragraphs and confusing your reader and yourself.
Having headings doesn't only help readers navigate your blog post, but also help you navigate your own writing. My tip is to define the headings before you start typing in the mass of text.
Sprinkle Illustrations
Much like headings, illustrations help split things up a bit, adding breathing room between the words. Illustrations can also be used for subtext and elegant humor even in serious and professional posts. Infographics and charts are a great way to display data in a visual and engaging way, and you can usually find quite a few branded infographics you can legally use (with credit, of course) in your posts.
If you're looking for your basic illustrations, pixabay.com is where the steemians head to first. If you're looking to give your post that extra oomph, head over to canva.com to make a personalized or branded post image.
Personally, I am a big fan on using comics and memes because they're fun and because we're not the Washington Post.
Cheat
If I was a woman of faith, I would thank the Gods daily for automatic spell-checkers in browsers. But, alas, they have yet to reach a level of sophistication needed to eliminate typos and crappy grammar. To combat those, I strongly recommend using grammar.ly - either the website or browser plug-in. I am usually too lazy to do that, but so far no one has noticed.
If you're feeling particularly masochistic, you can try the Hemingway text editor. Just don't come crying to me after it tells you your writing is awful.
Got any more quick tips for better Steemit blog posts? Write them in the comments!
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Ha ha thank you I feel like my posts are beginning to get stale :)
Valuable information to the new and established Steemit poster, I am of course not following any of these guidelines but the first steps in improving yourself is admitting you have a problem. I can of course hide behind the fact my posts on Steemit are a hobby shoe horned in between my full time work and home life, and blame my posting being mostly being made late at night after a full days work for the tardy spelling and grammar. But really I know as much as anyone else that I'm a Bodgit and Scarper throwing together posts with reckless abandon. That's why a post like this is invaluable - simple tips reminding us that just taking a few minutes more to present the content a little better can pay dividends in the long run.
To be honest, there's a selfish reason to me writing this post. I just want to see better content in my feed. You're good. You have my permission to skip the grammar.ly and title styling. :P
Thank you, although I do know I need to keep upping my game - the competition on Steemit is only going to grow and making that little bit of an effort now will stand anyone in good stead for future. I'm still finding my way on here and of course the best way to learn is to invest your time reading and learning from great content creators you enjoy - like yourself.
:blushes:
No, you!
Great tips! I'm a content writer professionally, but it feels like I have to go to school all over again while writing in English - of course not the basics, headers and images work the same in every language, but since I'm writing in a secondary language my sentences seem to get longer. Oh, well, look at my comment for proof ;-)
(Oh, and tools! Thanks for Grammarly, these things are great to know about :-))
(My browser points out Grammarly is not correct. It should be Gram marly or Gram-marly ;-))
I write in Hebrew and English, and I tend to drag my sentences on and on in both.
I am sharing this with my group! Thank you so much for these wonderful tips!
I was laughing so hard with the joke you had on using the Hemingway text editor that my sides split. I think I will pass on it being judgemental.
Steemit is awesome on the things that you learn everyday. I would say I'm an average writer since I have been reading since age 3 and keeping a wordpress blog for a few years but I never had the degree of fun and learning as I had here in Steemit.
Incidentally I learned from someone else this nifty tool to analyze your title called CoSchedule Headline Analyzer
I give credit to @valerie15 for this one under her post To the Person Whose Full Upvote Costs $0.001 This is For You
I cannot stress enough to new people the new to have structure, good content and the value of editing and proofing.
I am not really a grammar nazi but I give them feedback on sentence and paragraph cuts. Nothing stops a reader faster than a whole block of sentences without any breaks.
Thank again!
OMG! I am so guilty of the run on sentences. hahaha! Thanks @maverickinvictus for sharing this to us. Of course, kudos to @techslut for writing about this. Enlightening.
Lol we could use some of the reminders haha
Hey @maverickinvictus , glad I bumped into you cos Ive been spreading your great article all over in a blog post I wrote, I know I should have asked first and I apologise, but it is bloody good ! Hope youre keeping well mate.
Hey mate I am doing good still creating and hustling to get me to a 1000sp haha.
Thank for spreading it!
Thank you for sharing it! Always happy to create content that is of use. And I will check the headline analyzer. I love cheating tools.
Tags tags tags and timing!! Ppl always tell me they hate that i post at 3 am. 😂 But idk i just do me n hope the universe responds but i def follow these tips ... i like using linebreajs sometimes but they can be hard to format. Luckily my style is super kitch and diy so im ok. But if i was writing for steemstem id take extra care.
It's always 3AM somewhere... :)
Can't tell you how important TAGS and TIMING are on this platform!! I'm gonna try the 3am thing next time lol see if I get any bites !!
Great, straight-to-the-point tips here, thanks!
If you don't mind my adding my two-cents, I would recommend that each user thinks about who they are writing a post for and what that reader will gain of value from the post (always think about your reader!).
In this post, it's clear that techslut is providing value by giving us quick tips (quick is in the title to help us know that she respects our time and can grab a few tips and leave) on creating better posts. And of course, the better our posts are, the more we'll earn.
Before hitting post, ask yourself "who is this for and what will they gain from it?" The clearer you can answer this, the more your post is going to impact readers.
Agreed. Knowing your audience is important, but can be hard on Steemit. Because the platform is so multinational and versatile, it gets tricky. Sometimes I go for a broad audience (like this post) and sometimes I fairly narrow one (my book serialization).
Thank you for this! I'm still new and have been trying to find my niche here and focus on a single subject, but it's been too difficult so far.
I am not even trying. My book has its own account where I resteem the chapters so they don't get lost in my endless stream of everything (@mistress). But my profile? From random photos to short stories to failed attempts at vlogging. Niche? What niche? :)
Heh, as I started to read your section where you suggest shorter sentences, I was going to mention that I had recently started using the Hemingway app. Then I noticed you mentioned it later in the piece.
It's great at highlighting the fact that my sentences are too long. Yet, still, I often disagree with it. :)
It is evil and it hates me.
i tend to make long sentences too, i have to make them shorter but the god doesn't allow my hand to do so :P what can i do it's above my powers :P
@techslut Love your tips here! love including emojiis in text as well :) Unsplash is another great photo resource as well
Oooh gonna have to check it then. :)
Finally!
Finally somebody has laid it on the line about blogs
KISS - keep it simple stupid
Think and write like Elmore Leonard. Not Tolstoy
Media traction is no longer a page as it was when Rupert Murdoch made fortunes with newspapers
It is 280 characters