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Is Focusing On Good Grammar Detrimental To Your Blog’s Health?
by Eric and Sean on March 4, 2009
in communication
NOTE: This is s a guest post from Marc, a freelance writer at Welsch Scribe.
“Since the creation of the Internet, the Earth’s rotation has been powered, primarily, by the collective spinning of English teachers in their graves.”
- Author Unknown.
Today, Wednesday March 4th, is National Grammar Day. Apart from raising awareness of the fact, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the topic in general, with particular regard given to blogging.
Readers of the Blueprint are already aware of the 5 Surefire Methods For Effective Online Communication but as the comments show, the topic of grammar is HUGE and highly debated in the Blogopolis. It’s a fire that is sure to burn for a long time yet to come.
On January 13th I said:
“I believe that it’s our responsibility as writers to make use of correct grammar
I still hold myself to that value and still consider myself a stickler for correct grammar. Heck, I’ve even had work correcting someone else’s poor writing, but am I wrong?
What Is Bad Grammar?
Two of the earliest “rules” I can recall from English class were “never to start a sentence with a conjunction” and to “beware of sentence fragments.” But I break those rules on occasion. And I cringe every time.
Another one was “never to end a sentence with a preposition.” I think Winston Churchill said it best: This is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put
I have to admit I never really got that rule but it’s something to think about. 
Bad Grammar = Great Blogs?
Clearly I have no problem breaking some of the rules, particularly when it comes to blogging. In this writing medium patience is not a virtue, brevity is.
Readers tend to skim the content, slowed only by the need to scroll the page. I wonder at times if they see the webpage as Neo sees the Matrix! But I digress. (There goes another English teacher)
Many consider blogging to be an extension of conversation and as we all know, no one pays much attention to grammar during a conversation.
What’s Good For The Goose…
Still, this is the written word and one of the best ways to improve our writing is to read. How can we expect to improve ourselves or help others improve if the grammar we use is not up to scratch?
I’m talking about the things that can cause harm, the things that really ruffle my feathers. Things such as:
Incorrect use of the apostrophe, particularly its and it’s.
Incorrect use of their and there, your and you’re.
Using the word of when it should be have – “I should of known that!”
Oh, and here’s one that you Americans are fond of but really winds me up no end. Lose vs. loose. “A person wants to lose weight so their clothes feel more loose.” You didn’t loose the game on Monday night!
Over To You
Bad grammar can detract from your intended message, cause you to lose subscribers and even sales, but where should the line be drawn?
At what point does bad grammar overwhelm the quality of the content? Or does grammar contribute so much to the content’s quality that the two are inseparable? Does bad grammar make you sic? Comment and let us know.
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When Content Isn’t King
by Sean Platt on February 12, 2009
in blogging
We’ve all heard content is KING. It’s a maxim chanted through the blogosphere from our first post to our most recent tweet. Is it true? I’ve been writing every day, in multiple places, and I’d have to argue that no, content isn’t king. At least not without a few conditions.
There seems to be a formula to social media popularity. If it doesn’t fit, the chances of content taking off are barely half empty.
Writer Dad has generated almost 5000 comments off 150 posts.
Cool? Yes. Am I proud? Absolutely.
But let’s dig deeper.
Writer Dad, in six months of high quality daily posts, has never:
- Had a single post take flight from the runway of StumbleUpon. The highest number of hits ever from StumbleUpon traffic was around a hundred hits, for Sliding Doors, one of the best pieces of writing I’ve crafted.
- Never once had a post go anywhere near viral. I’ve had posts that have blown up within they’re own community. Posts that have generated amazing discussion before drifting over to different doormats, but nothing that could hope to throw open the doors to dig.
The few times I’ve gained traction with any sort of social media was when I asked directly for it. This made me uncomfortable. In my mind, if content is really king, shouldn’t it be telling people what to do? In addition, traffic from StumbleUpon is barely a blink; there long enough to register, but rarely to read.
This is not a complaint, it’s a study. A half year is long enough to draw a few conclusions
There are formulas to what goes viral, or at least variations on a blueprint. Perhaps the term content is a tad limited? Let’s ask ourselves, what is good content?
When’s the last time you saw a truly amazing piece of short fiction blow up? How about a song that sounded like it was born straight from someone’s soul? A short film that took ripped the breath from your throat? There are examples to the contrary. The Randy Pausch Last Lecture is one of my favorites, but the former are a mountain over the a meadow of the latter.
The Number + Subject + Adjective post is classic, but examples bloom far past those. Looking deeper, the stuff that scatters to the wind and goes viral is, by and large, disposable information, single use only. It makes sense. We are so busy consuming we rarely stop to think. I’m no different and probably guiltier than most, but really, is this what we want? Perhaps we should temper the variety just a bit. Cheeseburgers and candy are cool, but sometimes we need a piece of fruit.
What is GREAT content? To each his own, of course, but budding bloggers should ask themselves how they wish to proceed and how they want to help build the next generation. Disposable content is fine, but produced far too fast for much of it to stick, and we should start making room for something else. Stories, theories, ideas that still ruminate a full day’s distance from the thin gauze of the publishing window.
I believe things will change. This particular world is new and the majority have yet to embrace it. When they do, we should be ready. I am. I do believe that content is King, but we should decide what we want that content to be. Everything has it’s place and I like pretty much every flavor, but I expect my children to sift through the archives of the WD at some point, check out their Daddy’s once upon a time. I don’t expect them to do the same for my potty training site.
New Bloggers have a massive amount of power. As we climb our rungs, we should choose which ones we’re grabbing.
Sean, dad and ghostwriter.
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