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I haven’t implied that Copyblogger stands for crappy writing, only that this one post downplays the importance of good writing. This single post suggests that the best answer to bad writing is to find an alternative medium.

And that is where I disagree.

For me, the best answer is to hone your craft rather than search (usually in vain – Gary and Hugh are the exceptions that make the rule) for an alternative.

Gary Vaynerchuk is quite candid about why he chose the video blog format… he sucks at writing. And he seems to be doing all right with it.

Otherwise, I and other Copyblogger contributors have been strong advocates of quality writing for almost 4 years. Implying that we stand for crappy writing based on this one post is silly.
.-= Brian Clark´s last blog ..The Killer and the Poet: How to Get Rich as a Copywriter =-.

To play the devil’s advocate, perhaps the underlying message of his article is that one should focus on his/her areas of strength as a blogger (i.e. creating podcasts if one’s writing is not strong) Although writing is important, there are other qualities that make people visit a blog time and time again: humor, innovation, candor, marketing, etc. After all, the internet audience is vast and not every audience member has grammar, spelling, and sophisticated sentence structure at the top of the checklist.

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That said, I’ve seen more than one blogger “make it” by employing heavy use of social media and cultivating relationships with bloggers more famous than themselves. And yes, that has caused a bit of tooth-clenching.

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Some of these bloggers have English as a 2nd language so it is pretty hard to judge them — I can’t imagine trying to write effectively in French or another language.

Like kazari says above, there are some people who have content that is compelling enough to overcome bad writing, but that would be the exception to the rule.

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So I guess my point is, bad writing is a turn-off unless you have compelling information I want. Then I’ll suck it up.

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@ Miguel – It’s funny you say all of that. I recently uncovered a paper I did in Freshman Comp – 18 years ago. It was atrocious.

@ Office Newb – you’re onto something else, something that’s bigger than just writing. A course in basic logic would greatly improve many bloggers’, and many people’s ability to make an argument.

@ Evan – Your football anaolgy is wonderful. Good writing won’t draw me there, but it will keep me there if I”m interested.

@ Ravyn – I’m ok with a few typos, especially in blogs. I make them all the time. But the inability to know the difference, say, between “their” “there” and “they’re” is, in my mind, pretty basic. But density really is the point, no?

I’m a compulsive proofreader; I literally can’t stand a certain density of typographical errors. People write with that density, it doesn’t matter how intelligent their arguments are, I can’t take them seriously because I’m too busy tagging bits for insertion/deletion/revision.

And it amazes me how often bad writing is justified with the number of people who are worse. Not the point!

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I also think that copywriting isn’t the only possible model for good writing online (which seems to be the copyblogger approach). I think that if our blogs are just advertising (copy) then they just become noise pretty quickly. An excellent example is the recent posts by Albert at Urban Monk. Wonderful writing on important topics and certainly not advertising copy.

I think that content is probably more important than style (up to a point).

I also took Skellie to task for saying that quality doesn’t matter. Apparently what I said was offensive because she deleted my comment (I made no personal comments). I was simply outraged.

I’ve also voiced my differences with Copyblogger – they didn’t want to defend their position: it was on a post saying that you should be a clown. This makes you stand out from the pack. I asked what happened when we had a class of clowns. The answer was that you then had competition (which means you are just part of the crowd again – but they didn’t seem to realise this).

My guess is that people long for authenticity – meeting a real person. And writing well helps give people the sense of who you are. I think it is important.

Having said which I think that the topic probably matters more. I’m never going to read a football blog however good the writing (I just don’t get the inflated bladder thing). However, within a niche I think good writing matters.

Good to have you back. Keep up the good writing!

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I get that blogs aren’t newspapers and bloggers aren’t journalists, but honestly, bloggers need to learn how to write well if they ever want to be taken seriously.

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Yeah, I agree. People don’t become pros or experts overnight. I recall how nasty my writing upon entering college. Man, I was in for it… but with hard work, practice and even failure; my writing improved, my confidence soared and eventually, I came out of top!

-Mig

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The only way you can really get away with poor writing is if you’re tone of voice is so strong and unique that it carries the rest of your work. We don’t want to discourage people from wanting to get better, but I think it’s important for us all to have that motivation to improve.

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@ Dennis – There are some objective criteria for good writing. Correct spelling and grammar, correct use of homonyms and homophones, etc. Style is subjective, to be sure; but the basic rules of the language aren’t. Fortunately, those can be learned with hard work.

@ Robin – I think we need to be more vocal about saying, “Hey. YOu want to improve your blog’s credibility? Learn to write well.” Again, good writing doesn’t guarantee popularity, but bad writing certainly can hinder it.

Your advice is certainly far more accurate than that provided by Copyblogger. Of course we don’t want to discourage people from blogging if they have the inspiration to write, but emphasizing the importance of improving your writing style is well worthwhile. It’s going to make their blogs better, more popular, and let them put across their points in a clearer and more engaging manner.

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