If you are a reader of this website one thing you may have noticed is the simplicity of the articles. Meaning, the posts are not in great length. It is not uncommon for other sites that write about blogging tips to create long articles funded with images, not saying this is a bad thing, only saying it is not the style here.
Direct and to the point. I don’t like fluff. I don’t like boring my readers with fluff either. My intent is to give straightforward tips using simple directions and advice that I have discovered useful over the last 30 something years building websites. And no, I have not revealed who “I” am behind this site because at the moment I do not find it necessary. The content and the suggestions need to be at the forefront. It is up to the reader, the user if the suggestions are taken, to try these tips for yourself and see if it helps in some small way as you build a blog of your own.
So the topic for this blogging tip is “clarity.”
Readers go into a blog article, story (or a poem or an essay) blind. They do not know anything. Each step of the way a reader must be informed and enlightened about who, what, where, when, and why. If a writer skips one of these things, and the reader does not know what is going on, the reader becomes lost. A writer cannot afford to lose a reader. It is fine to have some mystery and intrigue— not knowing exactly what is around the next bend in the river—but it defeats the story’s purpose if the waters are so muddy that the reader cannot see or understand what is happening.
In conversation people have the opportunity to ask, “What are you talking about?” or “What do you mean?” and the speaker has a chance to clarify their point or to describe something further. In a story, poem, essay or online article the writer never has the opportunity to answer those questions for a reader until, perhaps, after publication when addressing an audience or if comments are allowed.
Looking at synonyms for clarity helps to define this important tip:
- clear
- lucid
- plain
- intelligible
- comprehensible
- explicit
- simple
- transparent
- pure
Make certain you say what you mean and then mean what you say. The purpose of writing is to communicate clearly.