Improving Your Blog Posts through Editing

Every written word needs to be looked at by an editor. The editor will look for errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, sense, flow, and style. Editors tend to view content differently than anyone else, which is why the editorial process is so important and so necessary. You want your content to shine and to be the absolute best that it can be. After all, it is a total reflection of you and your business.

You shouldn’t edit your own content

It has been said many times that you should not edit your own writing. The reason for that is that you know what the content is supposed to say so you easily miss any errors that are in that content. However, if you insist (or must, out of necessity) edit your own content, there is a specific approach that you should follow so that your content is edited appropriately and the end result is preferable.

There are a few sensible rules that you might want to follow when it comes to editing your content (or editing any content). Those rules will help you to keep the content tight and effective and it will help you to hit the mark every time you write. 

• Make sure that your main point comes first: In a world in which people generally don’t have time or patience to read long, involved pieces of content, it is important that you state the main point of what you want to say right away. Your content article is not a place in which you want to tease the reader into anything. Give them the important concept(s) right away. Of course, in that case, you run the risk of the reader losing interest and walking away quickly.

  However, if you are presenting a topic on something that is of interest to the reader, the chances are very good that the person will keep reading to the end. If you don’t give them the concept right up front, establishing a relationship with the other person will be much more difficult. 

• Keep your promise: The title of your article gives the reader hope that you are going to do what in the article what you say you will do. You need to make sure that you follow through with that. The reason that the reader has read beyond the title is because they want to learn more. You have a responsibility to make that happen. For example, if you say that you are going to give them seven tips to convert more leads to clients, you better give them those seven tips in the body of the article.

  On the other hand, if you make a promise in your title and don’t deliver on that promise, you will have grown whatever credibility you have been able to establish right out of the water. Establishing credibility takes time and a lot of work. It just doesn’t make any sense to ruin that before you have actually been able to make any progress at all.

• Ensure that your content is all connected: It is essential that your content flows and has a continuity that is solid. Of course, it should also be well-organized and compelling. Each of your sentences, paragraphs, sections, etc, must be connected in a logical order that makes sense to everyone. It goes without saying that your content should be very well-written but it must also be cohesive. That rule applies to short content articles (blogs, for example) as well as longer pieces of content. You want to make sure that your writing is appealing to your readers. 

• Give credit where credit is due: If you are quoting another writer or any other source, you have a responsibility to give attribution for that source. Otherwise, you are plagiarizing. Additionally,  you will want to provide a link to the source of your information. Not only is giving attribution the right thing to do but it also gives you the perception of being credible. The more you do that, the more credible you will become. 

Conclusion

The editorial process is an extremely necessary part of writing content. If you don’t feel comfortable editing your own writing (which is common), you should get someone else who has a really good grasp of the English language to do it for you. What is most important is not so much who is editing the content but that the content is edited by someone. You must build time for the editorial process into your strategy and make sure that you never skip that step or you will come to regret it. You should ever think that you will get the writing perfect the first time around because that rarely happens. It is a piece of art that must be polished and perfected over time.

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