Write Differently Than the “Blogging Experts”
There’s a lot of advice on the internet about how to make a career blogging. What if we’ve given them a bit too much weight, because we’ve missed the purpose of our writing?
I love graphic design. When it comes to writing, communicating solid truth and writing it well are at the top of my priorities, but I also can’t help but want it to look beautiful as you read it. I enjoy creating graphics and building websites, and of course tweaking mine every so often.
As I was exploring the work of a graphic designer, I stumbled across a website of a “professional” blogger. Curiosity got the best of me with her “learn to make a career as a blogger” taglines and I began scrolling through her articles. I found one that was titled along the lines of: “You Can Blog Even if You Don’t Want to Write Well.” I went down the vortex of posts and scrolled through other articles with formulas for writing “viral” or “money-making” blog posts and how to develop clickbait titles. One article outlined the main types of posts to write: Listicles, case studies, how-tos, Q&As, and tips.
One of the main points this blogger wanted her readers (or, probably more accurately, her customers) to understand was that a blogging business isn’t about writing well but about teaching something valuable so you can make money.
In my early days of blogging, I tried to do what these six-figure-income-per-month “professional bloggers” told me to do, and through various Facebook groups I discovered others trying to follow the same path. We made trendy Pinterest pins and created our Pinterest boards. We used social media schedulers to doll out our content three times a day and made sure every single post had a graphic that suited each social media platform. Each of us reached and stretched for that six-figure blogging income and thousands of readers per day they promised.
All the while, we neglected the beauty and art of writing and discarded profound biblical truths. In turn, we neglected our readers.
We became so focused on doing all the “professional blogger” tasks that we forgot the purpose of our writing: To glorify God with truth, beauty, and goodness. We allowed our writing to become shallow and surface level so it was click-worthy. We let our writing become tacky and poor so it would be shareable.
We believed that beautiful, thought-provoking writing doesn’t sell or get read, so why bother? We believed that deep and thorough articles teaching people important theological truths aren’t what get clicked and shared, so don’t put the effort forth. We hustled to get some kind of content out every week—even if it was awful and shallow—and made sure we posted multiple times to social media every single day—even if it wasn’t worth posting. We chased every trending topic and wrote about it even if we weren’t qualified or had anything new to say. It was all about the numbers from every angle we looked at it.
This was the lie we believed: If you want to thrive as a Christian blogger, don’t communicate truth beautifully and don’t make it good. Just write fluff with loud images and clickbait titles. That appeared to be the only way to success, so that’s the path we followed.
I’ve been writing online for somewhere between six to eight years now. I wish I had noted my first day of writing, but I didn’t. I started a blog sometime in early high school, it went dormant for quite a while, then in grade eleven or twelve I revived it and stayed with it. I’m no professional and I’m definitely not making a six-figure income each month. I’ve contributed to a few online publications, and now have a staff position with some. I’m probably not a person you want to get “professional blogging” advice from. I don’t have a bunch of secrets to spill to quick success. I’ve never gone viral.
But even still, I want to offer a better way to Christian blogging—something better than the high-stress hustle and bad quality blogging that I did all those years ago when I first started. These tips won’t give you millions of views overnight—probably not even in a lifetime. They won’t allow you to quit your day job. But here’s how I’ve made my “blogging career” (if you can even call it that) and what’s carried me along.
Learn to write well.
That blogger I mentioned before was right that you don’t have to be good at writing to start a blog—but I think it should always be your goal to grow in your craft. We don’t want to be like Tolkien’s goblins in The Hobbit who could make useful and clever tools but never made anything beautiful. God loves beauty and calls us to admire it and create it. Consider beautiful writing to be a way to love your neighbour: We all know the pain of slogging through a dry, boring book for school. Don’t do the same to your reader by making your articles cumbersome, boring, and tacky.
Write deep, profound words for the ordinary reader. Don’t worry about how much content you produce—focus instead on writing well-rounded articles that teach truth from God’s Word accurately. Don’t accept the lie that people only want to read three hundred word listicles. Believe in your reader and their capabilities and don’t talk down to them. Not sure where to start? Here are a few steps:
Write a thesis. A thesis is a statement that sums up your entire article in one concise, clear sentence. If you can’t do that, you need to rework your idea.
Outline. Now we’re going to build the structure of your article. Create two to four points (again, one clear, concise sentence for each) that prove your thesis. If they don’t help strengthen your thesis, toss them. These points will most likely be your headings throughout your article.
Build subpoints. From those points, build out further into subpoints under each point that help explain and prove those main points.
Outline your introduction and conclusion. These are often the hardest parts of the article. For your introduction, you want something that will compel your reader into the main part of the article. You want to grab their attention. Use a story from your life, an analogy, or a quote. Near the end of your introduction, present your reader with your thesis. For your conclusion, bring all your main points together into one final paragraph or two. Don’t present anything new; just reiterate what you’ve already explained.
Write. Now you have the outline, so it’s time to write your article.
Edit. Edit your piece for passive voice, clarity, conciseness, and be sure to kill those darlings that don’t add to your thesis.
Learn from others.
Follow other writers and share their work. Learn from some of your favourite writers and authors as you read their writing, and support them by sharing it. You can find a list of writers I love to read here.
But don’t just sit back and observe other writers—make some writing friends as well. As writers, we know the polite smiles and nods from friends and family who want to be interested in our writing but simply don’t understand the work we do. Find some good writing friends who do and encourage one another. To keep you accountable to writing clearly, kindly, and truthfully, ask those writing friends to proofread your articles for you. Bonus tip: Edit for them too and watch your own writing skills grow too.
Along with your friends, learn from qualified writers and authors. There are many, many people offering expensive courses and coaching on writing, and lots of them don’t have the qualifications or experience to do so. I’ve gone through courses, membership programs, and intensive mentorships, and I only sign up for them if they are from qualified sources. Usually they’re writers and authors I follow whose writing I admire.
Write for a reader.
Whenever you write, write to someone. Write to a friend you know who needs this message, a girl you’re mentoring who needs encouragement, or perhaps a younger version of yourself. Picture them in your mind and write as if you’re speaking directly to them. This simple act will make your writing personable and powerful.
Learn theology and how to study the Bible.
If you want to be a Christian writer, make it a priority to know God’s Word so you handle it rightly. You cannot produce good or true biblical content if you’re not in God’s Word and always misinterpreting it. Learn how to study the Bible and draw out biblical applications, not just the first idea that comes to mind.
Use wisdom as you write publicly.
If you’re writing online, you want someone to read it. But don’t stress yourself out trying to check off all the tasks that the online business gurus tell you that you must do. Do you enjoy Instagram? Share your work there. Maybe you prefer Facebook. But maybe you don’t want to be on social media at all—so start a newsletter. Whatever you do, do what works for you and brings you joy.
Be careful as you share stories. Not all stories are meant to be shared publicly. Don’t publish them only because you know it will get likes or shares online. Be discerning about what stories you share and ask yourself what your motives are for sharing it—and never share stories that aren’t yours to share.
I hope this comes as an encouragement to you, dear fellow writer. Don’t give up. Let’s glorify God with true, beautiful, and good writing.
