How a Journalistic Approach Can Benefit Blog Writing

Using principles from a journalistic style can improve an author’s craft and hone storytelling. Most authors have previous experience that influences the way they write. Some have experience in writing research reports, marketing copy, grants, or sales pitches. Bringing tips from various experiences can be useful, especially for blog writing, and journalism is an excellent example of this. Erik Deckers, Author and President of Pro Blog Service, talks about what he has learned from being a humor columnist and long-time blogger. The biggest stylistic influences on his writing are the inverted pyramid and a “short and punchy” method of writing. In the inverted pyramid style, the most important information is given at the beginning of an article, specifically in the lead—the first sentence. This method compresses writing so that people are interested enough to keep reading. These journalistic principles have assisted Deckers in blog writing, but have also influenced the rest of his writing. What journalistic principles can you adopt to make your blog posts clear and compelling?