In today’s post I’ll be discussing the subject of grammar. Yes, I know you may sigh when you hear people talk about this topic, but still, it is one that needs to be discussed.
Good grammar is important. Ideally, you don’t want to have blog posts full of grammatical errors all over the internet. However, there is a problem here that I want to get to the bottom of. There seems to be some kind of unwritten law that not everyone should be writing. You know the grammar police, they’ll be quick to tell you what they think of your writing and point out all of the errors you’ve made.
However, my biggest problem is that this obsession with perfect grammar is preventing many people from getting out there and having their voices heard, as if writing is reserved for some special select few. Yes, grammar is important but it’s not everything.
This is what I want to deal with in this post.
There is a Lot of Cringe Worthy Content Out There
There is already a lot of cringe worthy website content out there. You know the spelling and grammar check on Word? Well, it doesn’t really perform as well as we think it does. Many times after doing a spelling and grammar check you’ll still find errors in any written piece. The emphasis on perfect grammar in schooling has even declined so we can hardly say that we are a nation of people with flawless grammar.
Now we are less prepared than ever to sit down and write content that is full of perfect grammar but should that really stop you from writing in the first place?
Being Penalised for Poor Grammar
Many blogs do not contain perfect grammar. That is just a fact and it’s hardly surprising given that there is less and less emphasis on perfect grammar in schooling now.
The good news is that this shouldn’t prevent you from writing because Google isn’t out and out penalising sites for poor grammar. However, there is a “search by reading level” function instituted by Google that aims to filter out content based on a certain reading standard. This isn’t being used to index sites based on grammar yet but it’s possible that it could happen in the future.
Bing on the other hand are doing exactly that. On Bing, sites that have the fewest grammatical errors tend to rank higher in page results. Bing determines that content with few, if any, errors must be quality content so should rank higher in page results. The problem is no-one even knows what criteria Bing is using to determine this quality. Is it spelling? Is it punctuation or sentence structure? Who knows.
Words for the Professionals
When it comes to professional writing, this stuff is a big deal and it should be. It’s important for professional writers to be able to write clearly and concisely, being able to communicate the thoughts of our clients effectively using the written word. You wouldn’t be much of a professional if you can’t even write a few sentences without incorporating many errors.
The written word is a bit like magic. Everything needs to be perfect so that we can lure our readers in with our words, make them imagine things they possibly can’t by using written words. Grammar is important in professional writing and so it should be.
Consumers also expect this especially when working with a company that has a team of specialist marketing writers and business experts. This is just common sense because if a consumer sees a business website with grammatical errors on their website then it lacks professionalism. They will hardly want to do business with you and you’ve just lost a valued customer.
Bravery for the Rest
Despite all of this there is still plenty of room for the average blogger to move. The average blogger can still post content that isn’t typified by perfect grammar. Why? This is because in the blogging world humans love real experiences from real people. People want to feel a sense of connection. They don’t necessarily expect some mechanical level of writing especially if you’re not a professional writer as such.
Writing content in your own words is a powerful thing even if it means you do not have a hold on perfect grammar. You don’t necessarily have to have perfect grammar in order to make an impact. There are plenty of popular bloggers out there who don’t write with perfect grammar but they still have popular blogs. This is the power of being real demonstrated in its very real form. This is the real world and people want to connect with real people, not mechanical robots.
In Conclusion
Bottom line here is that perfect grammar shouldn’t prevent you from writing. If you are a blogger with passion about his/her topic then go for it. Start writing. People enjoy connecting with real people and hearing their stories. Your passion for your topic will suck them into your world even if there are grammatical errors.
Don’t let the fear of the grammar police stop you from blogging. If people like your work then they will read it regardless. Obviously, do your best to make sure your website content is up to scratch and is as good as you can possibly make it but don’t stress about it. Don’t let it stop you from writing when you feel like you’ve got something to say.
Get out there and have fun with this stuff.
What do you all think? Do you think perfect grammar is really all that important for bloggers?
Christian Michaels
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