I’ve received a few emails from people who are very interested in blogging, want to get started but they have one problem. They’re not very good writers. Some don’t speak English as their first language and some just don’t have very good grammar.
Then there’s the people that just don’t want to spend the extra time to go over each and every word of their content checking for small misspellings or sentences that might not be 100% grammatically correct. Is it worth the time to spend an extra 30 minutes to dot all of your i’s and cross those t’s?
If you aren’t the best speller or don’t have a strong grasp of English, does that mean you can’t be a blogger?
As a test, I’m writing this blog post without editing it. Let me know if you find any grammar problems!
What To Do If English Isn’t Your First Language
This is something that doesn’t get talked about enough. But there are a lot of bloggers out there in places like the Philippines and India that struggle with creating content that gets their point across because their English isn’t so great. You’ll notice that they make certain mistakes in their writing that make you have to do a double check because they don’t always sound correct.
In that scenario, you have two options:
- Hire someone to edit your writing
- Keep practicing and improving your grammar
I’d recommend option #2, especially if you’re just starting out. Assuming your English isn’t awful, as long as you’re able to get your point across you’ll be fine. Consider taking some writing classes or English classes. Thanks to sites like Lynda.com, these types of classes are a lot more accessible. And remember, you don’t have to be the very best writer, you just have to be able to get your thoughts across in an effective way. It’s going to take some practice, but you’ll start to improve over time.
What To Do If You Don’t Want To Edit Your Writing
The second group of people are bloggers that just straight up don’t want to edit their writing. I get it. If you make a lot of mistakes when you type like I do, then it can take a while to edit your posts and it’s not the funnest thing in the world.
Here’s the solution. You have to edit your blog posts. At the very least give it a quick look-over to make sure that you don’t have any huge mistakes. Some people are fortunate enough to be able to write pretty accurately so their posts don’t need a ton of editing. But some of us tend to make a good amount of typos and errors. And in those cases, I wouldn’t risk just typing up a post and hitting publish, even if it does save you some time.
So you have two options:
- Hire someone to edit your writing
- Take the extra time to edit it yourself
Again, unless your blog is making money or you just have money to blow, I wouldn’t recommend hiring an editor. Just take about 10 minutes and go over your own writing. You’ll be able to catch most, if not all of the errors.
Don’t Overstress It!
Your blog doesn’t have to have perfect grammar. I don’t worry about whether or not a comma is in the right place or if I used a semicolon correctly. More than likely your audience isn’t going to notice it. Spend more time creating content that offers value, and less time worrying about the little things that only an English college professor would catch.
What’s your take? Do you think that bloggers have to use perfect grammar?
Good post! I would add that it’s a good idea to step away from your work, then come back and edit later. If you have time to sleep on it, I highly recommend it. You’ll be amazed how easily you spot errors or find better ways craft your content when you leave it alone, do something else, then come back to it.
Good tip David!