Poor baby Brody! At only 18 weeks old the little tyke is already getting an earful. You see, since I am only capable of singing childish songs to him for about an hour or so before I get stir-crazy, I’ve come up with a more “adult” approach. The solution? I read Brody my draft blog posts before they get published. Soon he’ll be a career advice and blogging expert!
Of course the main goal is to soothe the baby with my dulcet tones. But the practice of reading your blog posts aloud before hitting publish has several important benefits.
A BLOG IS A CONVERSATION. If you write the way you talk you have a better shot of connecting with your audience – and keep them coming back for more.
REDUCE AWKWARDNESS. Even the best writers churn out some funky thoughts. Reading your words aloud is the quickest way to ensure that the sentences you are stringing together will make sense to ALL readers.
TONE CONSISTENCY. As a blog owner or blog manager, it is your job to enforce a consistent style on all posts. How else will you differentiate your blog from the gazillion others? Whether you are edgy, funny, informative, or all of the above – be sure that it shows in every post – even guest posts written by other bloggers!
GRAMMATICAL ERRORS. Run-on sentences. Sentence fragments. Confusing semi-colons. Punctuation that requires a reader to stop in their tracks must be used properly. Read your work aloud and see if you are “grammatically correct.”
I strongly believe that one of the attributes a good blogger must have is to write the way they speak. There is no better way to engage an audience and get them to come back for more.
I don’t tell my freelance blogger clients that Brody gets to “read” drafts before they do, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind. Everyone can use a second set of eyes.