British communications writer Neville Hobson challenges something I wrote recently. To wit, that “good writing” is an essential part of blogging. Not so, he says. You just need a “voice” and some personality. And then you can “have at it,” as they say. I disagree. But perhaps we’re talking shades of gray. Yes, you gotta have an interesting voice, a point of view and something to say. But no, you don’t need to be a professional writer… a Hemingway or a Proust. And if you had to choose between one or the other writing style to mimic, for god’s sake go with Hemingway. If you’ve ever tried to get past the opening sentence of Proust’s A La Recherche du Temps Perdu you know the guy couldn’t resist showing off his grasp of syntax. Blog in shorter sentences, puhleeze. Back to the subject at hand, here’s how I responded to Neville…
“Neville,
Your point is a good one – in that the “voice” and personality behind a blog, even a business blog, are so important. BUT I stand by my statement. An effective business blog can NOT be written with poor grammar, typos, bad syntax, etc. That just won’t fly. It’s bad branding, poor form, etc. Sorry, but I think *basic* good writing skills are a prerequisite. If blogging evangelists don’t present a blog as a controllable marketing vehicle then companies won’t adopt blogs. And we know what a cool tool they are.” – DW