Here are 7 Lessons I've Learned from Writing 50 Blogs

Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash

It’s been nearly 5 months since I wrote my first blog post. Since then, I’ve written 49 more blog posts. Writing is a rewarding experience for both writers and readers alike.

50 blogs is a big milestone for new writers like me. So, in celebration of this milestone, I've decided to share with you what I've learned from this experience!

Here are 7 lessons I’ve learned about writing blogs:

1. There’s a lot you could be writing about

There are an unlimited number of things to write about. A quick 5-minute brainstorming session can yield me 10 or more blog ideas pretty easily. 

If I run out of ideas, a quick google search can give me tons of new ideas to write about. 

Or I can go back to books that I’ve read, videos that I’ve watched, podcasts I’ve listened to, and so on. There are always ideas that I can take from these sources and turn into a blog.

And let’s not forget my own experiences, either.

The point is that there is a treasure trove of ideas to write about. You’ve just got to think about them. Or do some research. 

The possibilities are endless.

2. Not everything has been written yet

It’s easy to think in this internet era that everything has been said. There’s nothing unique that you could write. There’s no topic that hasn’t been written about. 

These thoughts aren’t true.

While there is an ever-growing amount of information and content on the internet, there’s always more that could be written about.

Nothing has been written in the way that you write. You have your own unique perspective and ideas to share. 

Who knows? You might even create your own original ideas.  

In just these short 5 months, I’ve come up with two of my own ideas. I called these ideas aggressive patience and the self-improvement menu.

There’s always a new idea that you can come up with. You just need to allow yourself to think. You’ll come up with new ideas when you’re not expecting them. 

For instance, I came up with the self-improvement menu idea after reading an article by Marianna Morais on Medium. Her article described a menu that she uses to stick to her morning routine. 

After reading the article, I thought, “How can I make this fit my needs?” So, I decided to apply the menu concept to all of my self-improvement habits throughout the day. Then, I thought, “Why don’t I take this another step further? How can I make it be easier for me to choose which habits to do each day? Why not build priority levels for each habit?” So, I created categories that each habit went into based on how important it was to me.

Boom, new idea.

Do you see how easy it can be to come up with new ideas? 

The point is, that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to come up with a new idea. You simply need to think about how you can take one idea a step or two further. Put your own twist on it.

And this is only one way (of many) that you can come up with new ideas of your own!

3. Forever learning

As I previously mentioned, there are always new ideas that you can learn from a quick google search. 

New content is posted every day. New scientific research is published. New books are written. And so on.

The amount of information available on the internet is ever-growing. 

The internet is an incredible tool for writers and non-writers alike.

There is always something new that you can learn! 

You can be a forever student if you use the internet to your benefit.

You’ll never run out of new things to learn about. 

4. Provide value to the reader… It’s why they read your article

When writing blogs, you need to keep your audience in mind at all times.

You need to think, “Why would they click on my article? What makes them stay and read the entire article? And what makes them come back to my next article?”

These questions will lead you to think deeply about what your audience wants when they read your blogs. 

Your audience wants value. 

Your blog should provide them with something that can help them improve their lives. Something that’ll make them happier. More productive. And so on.

So, you need to provide them with information that they can use for their benefit. 

Solve one of their problems. Teach them something they can apply to their life. Share your experiences and tell them what you’ve learned. Tell them about some beneficial resources they can check out for more information. Or you can make them laugh. You can take their mind off of their struggles and give them relief from their stress.

Providing value is the key to writing an article that your audience will want to read.

Don’t waste your reader’s time with content that they won’t benefit from reading.

After all, why would they read your article if it wasn’t going to help them at all?

5. Consistency is key

Create a system for yourself to be successful.

Writing and posting on a consistent schedule helps you fall into a good routine. This routine will make the process easy for you. You’ll get into the flow of writing and posting your articles each week. 

And it won’t take a ton of effort from you to get started each day after you find the routine that works for you. The less you have to think about doing something, the easier it will be for you to do it. Routines help you not need to think about doing your tasks. 

Scheduling which days of the week you’re posting also helps your audience to know when to expect new content from you. This consistency builds trust with them.

To find the routine you can stick with, experiment! 

You want your routine to work for you, not against you. 

Just because some routine works for someone else doesn’t mean that it will work for you.

Find the time that you're most productive. Try new ways of doing things. Change the order of tasks that you do. And so on.

It can take a while to find the right routine for you, so be patient. Don’t be afraid to mix things up until you find something that works for you. 

Once you find your routine, it’ll be easy for you to be consistent with your writing and posting schedule.

6. Use writing tools to improve your writing

It’s crucial to make sure that your writing is posted without any major errors.

Spelling mistakes are red flags to readers. They communicate that you didn’t put your best effort into the piece. No one wants to read an article that’s not the best quality. 

These spelling mistakes also distract readers from the ideas within the article. They disrupt the flow of your writing. 

Even though spelling mistakes are a big no-no, breaking grammar rules is not.

You don’t need to strictly follow the grammar rules you learned in school. In fact, you should break the rules sometimes! For instance, start sentences with a conjunction such as “and” or “but”. This helps make your sentences flow smoother. And it keeps the reader hooked.

See what I did there? 

The opportunity was waiting for me, so I had to take it…

Anyways, there are several writing tools you can use that will help you improve your articles. Each one serves a different purpose. 

Here are a few that I use:

• Grammarly. This app is a spell checker that integrates into your google drive documents. It checks for ways you can remove redundancies, improve conciseness, and much more.

• Hemingway app. This handy website highlights your sentences that are difficult to read. The app also helps you make your writing stronger by alerting you when you’re using too much passive voice.

• Flesch-Kincaid readability calculator. This tool lets you know what reading level your writing is at. The information this tool provides is useful to know. It helps you make your writing easier to read.

• Plagiarism checker. This tool tells you if any of your writing is plagiarizing another book, article, etc. Plagiarism is illegal and unethical. So, using a tool that helps you prevent it is highly beneficial.

All of these tools are available online for free! Grammarly has a premium option if you want to gain even more features by paying.

7. Great writing is easy to read

Your writing should always be accessible to readers. If they can’t understand it, then they aren’t going to get anything out of reading your article.

So, your writing needs to be clear and concise. 

Make it easy for the reader to read your article. Use simple, conversational language. Many writers say to write at a fifth-grade reading level. This may sound silly at first. But it is great advice. Simpler writing makes your article easy to read and understand for your readers. And this makes the content easy for the reader to think about and use.

The easier your article is to read, the more value the reader can get from it. 

Adding in subheadings is also a great way to make your writing easy to read. Subheads give your piece structure. Subheads also make your writing scannable. Good subheads allow the reader to get the gist of the article simply by reading the subheads. Anything else they skim or read will be a bonus. 

If you have to look up the definition of the word, then it doesn’t belong in your writing. Unless it’s a concept you’re specifically writing about. In that case, explain the concept in as simple terms as possible.

Big, fancy words do not belong in great pieces of writing. Writers who throw big words into their writing consistently do it for an ego boost. They’re thinking something like, “I know this word that not many people know. I’m going to use it to show how smart I am.” 

Little do they know that including these big words in their writing does not have the effect they think it does.

As a writer, you NEVER write down to your readers. If you ever make the reader feel like they’re inferior to you, you’re pushing them away. No one likes being talked down to, scolded, etc. 

So don’t write like that.

Plus, no one wants to pull out the dictionary to try and understand what you wrote.

As I mentioned earlier, great writing is clear and concise. The fewer words you use to explain something, the more powerful your writing is. 

In school, you may have been taught to fluff your writing assignments with extra words to reach a certain word count. This makes your writing more confusing and difficult to read. It took me a few months to realize how I’ve written content as if it were a school assignment. I’m improving my conciseness with each blog post!

Academics use this fluff writing all the time. Open one academic book, journal, article, or scientific study and you’ll see what I mean. The academic writing style is what’s called “word salad” or “word vomit”. I prefer to call it word vomit because salad is nutritious and good for you (Usually!). This fluff writing is not. It’s a waste of words.

These academic word vomit pieces have a lot of words. But they most often say little.

Most of the words in these pieces make the writing weaker, difficult to read and distract the reader from the main ideas.

These reasons are why many people outside of the academic bubble don’t read that content. 

It’s a waste of time to read. 

If a word isn’t necessary to the structure of the sentence, cut it out.

Here’s to the next 50 blogs and beyond!

Thank you for reading this article!

I appreciate you for taking time out of your busy life to read what I have to say. 

I hope that you get as much benefit out of reading my content as I do writing it!

If you ever have any ideas, comments, suggestions, etc., please feel free to connect with me at cam@cambillings.com. I would love to connect with you! 

Your feedback helps me provide more valuable content to you!

I’m excited to write each and every blog post. Sharing my ideas, research, etc. has been fulfilling. I can’t wait to write my next article! 

I hope you enjoy this ride with me!

Here’s to the next 50 blogs!