Whether it’s something you do in your free time, or how you make a living, we as digital writers can all agree that writing blogs can feel like an uphill battle at times. Like any other gig, there are parts of it that are less than enjoyable. The process can be brutal, frustrating, time-consuming and even discouraging at times.
But let’s face the facts – the worst parts of writing blogs couldn’t hold a candle to the frustrations, skilled laborers, technicians, and even doctors have to deal with daily. When you think about it, we’ve got it pretty good.
So if the men and women in the manual working force can find ways to get past the worst parts of their jobs, there’s absolutely no reason we can’t get past ours.
The following are 10 things most of us hate about blog writing – and, more importantly, what to do about them.
1. Writing Short Sentences
Writing for the web has writers working to provide as much information as possible in short sentences. With the web offering as many distractions as it does, bite-size bits of information are crucial to keeping the reader engaged.
Writing in short sentences is an exciting challenge. It pushes writers to find what’s important, leave anything else out, and keep the reader entertained. If you’re dealing with a complex topic or something you’re passionate about, it can feel even harder to accomplish. Throw in the fact that short paragraphs are king, and it can feel downright impossible.
Struggling to squeeze critical details into a little bit can be easily overcome by writing everything down and working it back. Reread your work, find what doesn’t fit or can be shortened, and address it.
You want to hit the audience hard and fast with the facts in a concise fashion. This means the flow is just as important as short sentences and paragraphs. If you’re struggling to compile a lot of information into a short format, don’t be afraid to organize critical points into bullet points. This is an effective way to squeeze a ton of information into a tight space.
2. Writing for SEO
As if short sentences weren’t enough, writing for SEO is yet another challenge blog writers need to deal with.
In the most basic terms, SEO ensures that a website, video, or blog can be found by search engines such as Google or Bing. When writing for SEO, your goal is to have your blog be one of the top results in the SERP (search engine results page.) To get higher rankings, we not only need to write on topics that are popular but also optimize them with proper keywords and on-page SEO elements, such as internal links and proper header tag usage.
This is only something we hate when we’re covering the unfamiliar territory. But it is easily overcome with researching a topic and understanding why it’s relevant to mainstream online culture. Also, getting access to a tool or program specifically designed to help you improve SEO rankings, such as SEMrush’s SEO templates, makes the process much easier – and much more enjoyable.
3. Researching Bland Topics
As a new or unestablished writer, you’ll take the opportunity to write about just about anything, not just to make a paycheck but to exercise your craft.
This means you’re going to write about a lot of different topics, not all of which are exciting to you. This makes the best part of the job, research, a total pain. In some instances, it might force you to learn the ins and outs of an industry you have little understanding or interest in.
At first, this can be very discouraging. You need to get past this. If you’re first starting, any opportunity is a good one.
The key is to remember that any information is essential to exciting to someone. Your job is to find out what makes it so. Once you figure that out, approach the remainder of the research with it in mind. If you can successfully do so, not only will the research become more exciting, but the quality of your writing will significantly benefit.
4. Grammatical Errors
The web is filled with critics, and it doesn’t take much for one to completely overlook your work. Even if they seem minor, a single grammatical error can be all it takes for readers to move on from an otherwise excellent blog.
This isn’t exactly a surprise, though. Most of us are hyper-aware of this issue. And because we are, autocorrect can seem almost to mock us as we write, disrupting our flow with every little red and blue spellchecker that pops up.
Finding a way past this can be done in several ways. The best method is to keep writing and editing separate. Don’t let grammatical errors disrupt your flow of thought. Instead, get the words down and when you’re ready, come back and hash out your grammatical errors. As a double whammy, this is a method that forces you to read your work (something we will come back to).
Also, invest in the paid version of Grammarly. It’s a serious game changer. (except for style).
5. Dancing Pictures
Maybe this isn’t something to hate considering must people are visual learners. Using images to enhance a blog post is an essential key to success. Proper images can emphasize a point, help illustrate a topic, or even set the tone for the readers. Pictures are incredibly helpful tools.
If you have pictures selected before writing, you might feel the need to tailor the writing to match the imagery. If you need to source images after the copy is complete, you might have trouble finding the right image to match the text.
Because pictures can be such a powerful tool, this can become frustrating very quickly.
The key is to remember that pictures are just a modifier, and persuasive writing won’t need to rely on them entirely to make a great blog. Build your confidence as a writer and let your words do the work. Then let the images lend a hand.
6. Subheading Struggles
I know right? How does something as trivial as subheading selection make this list? Well, subheadings are a staple of blog writing. Earlier on, I mentioned the difficulties of making short sentences and paragraphs entertaining and engaging. Subtitles are an excellent way to achieve that. They also double as header tags for SEO purposes. This simply means search engines will put more emphasis on them, so it’s wise to use keywords within them.
As you create an outline, knowing which subheadings will grab the reader’s attention can prove to be quite tricky and can jam the creative process.
If you’re struggling to find what works best, choose something general. Get your thoughts out on the subject first. After talking through the key points, what’s engaging about the said topic will become very apparent, and the perfect subheading will jump right out at you.
(For example, I originally went with the subheading “subheadings” for this portion and later came back and changed it to “subheading struggles”).
7. Collaborated Critique
If you’re lucky, you will have a team that edits your work. This isn’t to say it makes criticism easy to take, but you need it.
A key to writing a great blog is a focus. With all of the constraints of the format (web writing) paired with client demand and research, it’s straightforward to get too close to your work. This means the writer can overlook their errors and minor details. Having a fresh set of eyes overlook the work will only help strengthen your work.
This is something that can make any writer uncomfortable. The only way out is through. This is something you need to learn to be comfortable with. Someone else proofread your work, and taking the criticism that follows with stride is the only way you will get better. Luckily, the more you write, the more your work will improve, and this will lessen the feedback you will receive.
8. Reading Your Own Blog
Reading your own work is never fun. You have to do it, though.
There are millions of blog writers and readers on the web. This means that no matter what the topic is you’re writing about, chances are it’s already been discussed a lot. Finding a unique take or angle on a subject can be difficult. Just writing the blog with that angle in mind isn’t enough. You will need to go back through and make sure your work accurately represents your voice.
Speaking of accuracy, you need to be sure that facts back your key points. Anyone can jump on the web and write whatever they want; look at Wikipedia and how this impacted their reputation. For a shot at success, you need to be a reliable source of information. So you will always want to go back and read your work and fact check yourself.
This can seem tedious and time-consuming but at the end of the day, reading your work is how the wheat is separated from the chaff.
9. Pushing Yourself Too Hard
Whether it’s through a content marketing firm or for your blog, consistent content is vital. Not just in terms of posts per week or month either. Every time you turn something out, the quality needs to be better than the last.
Because of this, you may find yourself trying to dedicate every ounce of free time you have to your writing.
Even with killer motivation and a natural talent for blog writing, you can very quickly burn yourself out. When you do, deadlines and content will suffer.
How do you avoid burning yourself out? By giving yourself regular downtime. Remember, even if this started as a hobby, responsibilities and pressure come along with it. Make sure you’re taking the time you need to build the energy required to take it on.
10. Starting to Write
In any form of writing, beginning to write can be challenging.
If I’m completely honest, starting to write can be the hardest thing to do. And since I’m honest, these are the first words I’m writing in this particular blog.
With all of the things we discussed in mind, there are a lot of things that can block up thought flow and make it difficult to start getting words out. Balance critical points and try to solve as many problems ahead of time as possible. No matter what, you will still need to reread and revise your work. Just start writing. You can always come back and edit your work until it meets the criteria.
Concluding Thoughts
Blog writing is an excellent way to spread information, build your name as a writer, and even make some money. You can find negative aspects of all things, and it’s human nature to think negatively from time to time. On a good day, what we’ve talked about are all just small parts of the process. But on a bad day, they can feel like the end of the world. Be positive about working in this field. Because these “setbacks” are what you make of them.
