Blogging quality over quantity
When we start blogging, we are advised that blogging should be done regularly and preferably as frequently as possible to be “done right”. Some bloggers take this to heart and start blogging vigorously to keep up with the Joneses, even if they wrote with a language other than their own. This can seriously damage the quality of blogs you write. Therefore, you should pick a publishing schedule, maybe a post or two a week, or as many as you can comfortably write well. The more serious blogger you are, the more time you should take, as long as you are able to write one a week. By serious I mean the type that actually does research for their blogs, unlike me. :p My research is always done for other reasons than blogging… Anyway.
Another thing that can damage our success is to write simple topics using complex language, rather than taking a complex topic using simple language. The worst case scenario is to take a complex topic and “spice it up” with complex language and words. Sometimes bloggers are tempted to use words that sound “sophisticated” forcing their readers to use a dictionary while they’re reading – even if the readers were native speakers. This can also happen to non-English speaking bloggers, who are not sure of the translation, take a dictionary and pick a word they are not familiar with, because it kind of sounds about right. It may be the perfect word, but if native speakers are not using it, it may be more damaging than helpful. The challenge of writing doesn’t come in “sounding sophisticated” but in trying to write so clearly that even a child will understand what you’re saying without sounding like you dumb things down for your stupid readers.
I am not too concerned with some grammatical errors here and there, even if they were foreign type of errors. My proof reader / English teacher husband strongly disagrees though. He’s a native speaker, I’m not. He thinks non-English mistakes distract from the message and make the writer sound a bit stupid. I, on the other hand, kind of like to hear the bloggers native language come through in their blogs, as long as it doesn’t make it incomprehensible and very difficult to read. Some mistakes and culture specific grammar errors here and there don’t bother me – you are free to disagree and I encourage you to do so, should you wish to advice non-native bloggers.
Every blogger could take the time to write in Word first to have the available spelling and grammar check together with readability scores at their usage. (If you don’t have Word, try this link.) Writing in Word is good practice also in the point of view of storing your blog posts on your computer. Who knows, you might compile them into a book one day. 
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Wanted to post you this link: (funny, goes with the topic, although I found this few days ago =)) http://www.engrish.com/
Check adult engrish section too, can’t found them from that site.
Good Lord Lilith, you’re alive! Did I tell you I tagged you to a meme? *wonders* Anyway – Will check the link!
Yes, rumours about my death are exaggerated. =)
Got your tag, answered (in finnish though).
Did you get your msn working?
Oh that link… Pissing myself laughing at that one! My msn works, but I try to keep running programs to minimum on this excuse of a computer…
Yep, I think proofreading is very important. An honest mistake here and there is fine by me, but a post that’s riddled to the point of being unreadable… well, why would anyone bother to read that? It’s important that people understand what I’m trying to say if I’m going to bother with this blogging thing at all!
I hope we’ve kept the quality up, because three times a week seems to suit us. But any more than that and I think the blog would start to suffer for it. It’s a precarious (whoops, big word!) balance to strike! :p
Tony Singles last blog post..Favourites of 2008 #3 [Trottersville #94]
Hey, have I mentioned it before? Nice to see your face! not too piggy at all.
And I wonder how it is possible for you to do a post 3x a week with all those cartoon strips you draw. The strips are so polished and so witty, they’re just amazing to me.
Heh heh… “Not too piggy.” I like that. :p
I’m not sure how I manage to post three strips a week, to be honest with you. I look at the likes of Charles Schulz and wonder how he managed to do a strip every day of the week for fifty years!
Still, like you say, it’s quality over quantity. I certainly think My Dear Hard Drive fits that description nicely. Long may you continue!
Tony Singles last blog post..Favourites of 2008 #3 [Trottersville #94]
I checked back to review my stats on number of posts and noted that there was a pattern [though I never had made a plan]: 9-12 per month with 10 pm being more common. I agree though that the intention always to write more often. I remember to have read even a WordPress advice to keep blogging regularly ["Even if you didn't have anything to write, just read some blogs and track back a story or two on some of them in your post"] not to mention extensive tutorials from guys at ProBlogger et al.
It is my observation having checked out many blogs that there are distinct classes of them, in terms of their reasons for blogging: fun, money, fame, passion or simple indulgence. But I have yet to convince myself that there are too many that do not seem to be completely unconcerned about their popularity by site traffic. So you see, the difference is in degree-not in method. A vast majority [my hunch] want to keep their site live with activity some way-by writing fresh articles or otherwise.
While I see the point in para 1 very clearly and agree with it fully, I don’t have any significant difference with the points in para 2; except compelled to emphasize that some writers [including me, you'd point out-I know] use them not to ‘pretend’ sophisticated but there is some kind of literary passion that wants to express itself-when there is a perceived opportunity. After all, if everything had to be like a product catalog, where on earth would be space for poetry, literary exploits and other forms of creative writing?! Not all readers-perhaps not all-are the casual type; like me, for example: if I happened to notice a new word, phrase I have always felt gratified I had a chance to learn more, even when I read for not for English language lessons but for knowledge.
For reasons identical to above, I think being too perfect sounds being a text book writer: some degree of ‘being what it is-what they are’ is fun, I think.
But I’m not for a moment even, have any hesitation in appreciating each and every thing about quality blogging written here, just that I felt maintaining that I’m me, anyways!
And one last thing-I don’t know if you or your spouse suggests that there possibly can not be good English writers among non natives-let me assert that there possibly were and there continue to emerge more accomplished writers among non natives. I can retrieve names or extracts of such works when I have time at my disposal.
Pushhyarags last blog post..Do I Deserve One, Yet?
Good heavens, I have to correct your last sentiment first, my husband definitely didn’t imply that there couldn’t be good non-native writers! He married me for God’s sake, and the reason for why he got interested in me in the first place was my non-native writing! But he appreciates non-native writers who write like they were native, consistently, respecting the reader. Sometimes it is easy to write hurriedly compromising the writing quality and then excuse it by the non-native aspect. To the reader, it seems disrespectful.
As for blogging regularly, the key is REGULAR not OFTEN. Regular doesn’t mean every day necessarily; it means every week, every three days, or every month even. It means that you don’t let your blog die out, but you make regular updates to it, what ever time span the regular might be. Although, I admit to not blogging regularly in the sense of even time spans, but I write often enough to keep the blog alive and kicking. Setting regular update schedule is good if you tend to slack off or not have an inborn need to write something often, because then you can go for weeks before “feeling like it” again and that can eventually lead to the blog drying up and dying.
As for the usage of sophisticated words, again, the key word is “seem”. It SEEMS pretentious. Poetry and creative writing don’t rely on sophisticated words however. Poetry and creative writing rely on creative usage of words, not using creative words. There is a niche group of people who do enjoy reading poetry with a dictionary in the other hand, or as an exercise of expanding vocabulary, but I would dare to say most people are not like that. Us bloggers often try to relate to Most People, which is the reason why we should aim to write to Most People. But if you want to write a niche blog to people who enjoy Big Words, then by all means, it may even be a great way to market your blog! But if you do, then it is all the more important to polish the writing so that the big words are not linked together by sloppy sentence structures, because that, I promise, won’t appeal to anyone.
Good points about writing quality content. The language issue is funny for some people, I’ve had people read a simple grammar error and throw insults at me since my blog is called Learn This and clearly that is terrible to be teaching people. Personally, I’d rather make my point and do it often than spend more time reviewing for every little spelling or grammatic error. Like you said though, it will depend on the person reading if that matters to them or not!
Mike Kings last blog post..Leadership: Understanding What It Is
Thank you for taking the time to comment, Mike!
There is that interesting group of non-native readers, which, surprise surprise, consist “the rest of the world”. When both the reader and the writer are non-native, they tend to think similarly about these issues. Both are a bit unsure of the language, and both forgive each other for the mistakes. And still, both need to rely on English, as they both understand it better than each others native language. The truth is though, that the better you write and the less errors you make, the more people you will be able to address and attract. Whether or not you consider that important is up to you of course.
I only post once a week. You are right.
Quality above quantity–every time.
You are oh, so lucky. Born Finnish (me too), moving to Australia (a country I’ve always wanted to live in).
You’ve got it “all.” I envy you.
Jack Paynes last blog post..Playgrounds for Scam Artists
I had no idea you’re born Finnish, Jack! Are you still living in Finland? I know what you mean though… I never felt like I was supposed to live in Finland, ever since I was 8-years old. I tried to imagine myself in a lot of places, but Australia always seemed too far away to be realistic. Funnily enough, it was.
It’s a fantastic place, and people seem to agree with Finnish mentality. They never stop talking, but apart from that they’re pretty cool. 