What Are You Writing? Recently the number of websites in the world passed the one billion mark. Thats a lot of content. So many personal blogs. So many business websites. So much content to consider. It seems like everyone is writing something and posting ideas some place. One question to ponder is this: should everyone be writing and posting? King Solomon wrote, “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.” (Proverbs 17:28, ESV) When reading some content, we see poor grammar, sentence structure, misspelled words, and incoherent thoughts. While well thought through material presented well will elevate your image, a poorly written piece will cut you down. As Solomon said, “A fools mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.” (Proverbs 18:7, ESV) In the past, material needed to pass muster with someone else to become published. It could be a newspaper or magazine editor, a book publisher or even a newsletter editor. This tended to stop embarrassing material from going out. Today, there is no constraint, only the quality control you administer. As a result of little filtering, the average written piece has declined markedly in my view. Way too much gets published somewhere. The ease of publishing blogs, online newsletters, online articles, posts, and the like has caused amateur writing to thrive. The challenge for professionals is that its difficult to command a living wage for something that thousands or even millions of people are happy to do for free, even if you are truly better at it. The same problem hits newspapers and magazines. Why subscribe for a charge when I can read more than enough for free? This leads me to two thoughts on writing. First, write well. I had an economics professor who insisted on essay exams. His reasoning was that to write clearly, you need to think clearly. Good writing requires that you to organize your thoughts. Check your grammar or ask someone to help review your work. I regularly use the services of an editor as I am not an English major. My lack of skill can easily show. That’s why I have assistance. Second, you need to rise above the clutter. This requires solid content, aimed at a target audience, well written, and presented effectively. Your success at mastering good writing and the details will automatically raise you above the crowd. With a billion websites, this is more important than ever. Subscribe to the free Business Proverbs e-mail here: bit.ly/ncixc1
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 02:49:06 +0000