Our main goals as bloggers is to connect with our readers. The best way to do that is to give them an emotional experience. Since cliches are, well . . . cliches, little or no emotion is invoked when the reader reads them. In order to determine how to best rewrite cliched phrases, we must first consider what emotion we want to describe.

“Shaking in my boots” is a worn-out phrase that describes fear and dread. How else can we describe those emotions? One of the best examples I’ve read comes from Continue reading →

A successful blog requires two simple steps: Creating compelling content and generating traffic. Each part of that two-step process can be broken down into individual tactics. If you consistently perform one (or more) of these tactics for both steps of the success formula every day, within 4-6 months, your blog will likely be one of the top blogs in your niche. The key is to follow the formula and follow it consistently.

Ready to get started? Continue reading →

Conversational style contributes to good writing. However, it tends to be wordy. Once we’ve written a piece, our next job is to cut it. Separate the wheat from the chaff — and let the delete key carry the chaff away. The first step is to recognize the chaff.

Certain words fly the red flag of wordiness. Prepositions, for instance, often accompany wordiness. Prepositions are essential parts of speech, but they must be limited and controlled. Here are a few examples of how to rewrite prepositional phrases: Continue reading →