If you are a regular reader of Copyblogger, you will probably think “so what else is new?”

This guy keeps coming up with such amazing content, I never cease to wonder how he does it. Sheer talent plus hard work, no doubt.

Back to the post, which is about courage.

In Are You a Courageous Blogger? he throws down the gauntlet.

For Brian, if you seriously want to be a thought leader – the goal of many a blogger – you need courage.

You need the courage to alienate the wrong people in order to resonate with the right people. You need to stick to your convictions when people tell you you’re wrong simply because your knowledge doesn’t mesh with their opinions.

The post is not a provocation to be contrary or aggressive in order to garner traffic, although we all know that a good controversy can help traffic and rankings.

As I read it, the post is about standing for something and being willing to say so and to stick to your guns.

Courage understands the risks but doesn’t shirk them.

It’s an interesting question as to how you translate that sort of observation into strategy and risk management policy for corporate blogging.

Post from: EveryJoe

If Blogging Needs Courage, What Does That Say About Corporate Blogging Strategy?

For instance, my mother once told me a story about her father, Thomas Murphy, who was the local school teacher in the small country town of Tumbarumba. 

It seems my grandfather was in town one day and happened to see, passing by Mr Henneckie’s general store, a hand-written sign, “Pertaters, 2d a pound”. Stepping into the store he spoke to Mr Henneckie and said “Mr Henneckie, I don’t want to embarrass you, but I thought I should tell you that the sign outside has an incorrect spelling.” “Thank you Mr Murphy,” said the storekeeper. “I am aware of that. But you’d be surprised to know how many people come in here to tell me that and don’t leave without buying something.” 

I have inherited my grandfather’s capacity to be irritated by spelling errors.  I’m more tolerant of grammatical errors, except when an error delivers a meaning clearly different from the one likely to have been intended, or simply makes the sentence confusing.

I’m also well aware that there are plenty of smart, even highly intelligent people who simply have not been taught spelling or grammar and may not even be aware that they are making mistakes.

Does it matter that some people make grammatical or spelling mistakes in their blog posts?

Perhaps not in personal blogs, although I believe some people who have great ideas to share do themselves a disservice by not paying attention to these elements of effective communication.

But when it comes to business blogs, it makes no more sense to be cavalier about spelling and grammar than it would to let a corporate brochure be printed without being proofed for accuracy of spelling and grammatical construction.

As Brian Clark pointed out almost three months ago, some mistakes can make you look dumb - not a good look for anyone who wants to be taken seriously in business. The post aroused great interest then and the comments keep coming – 268 last time I looked.

Brian identified five common mistakes:

• Your vs. you’re
• It’s vs. its
• There vs. their
• Affect vs. effect
• The dangling participle

His comment on the fifth item is spot on.

The dangling participle may be the most egregious of the most common writing mistakes. Not only will this error damage the flow of your writing, it can also make it impossible for someone to understand what you’re trying to say.

Post from: EveryJoe

Who Says Grammar and Spelling Are Not Important in Blogs?

He also writes directly and to the point. 

For example, in the intriguingly titled post Let Cicero Build You a Sticky Blog, where he comments on the necessity of making a connection with people if we really want our relationship marketing through blogging to work, he writes:

The real question is, do you really want to connect with these people? Week after week, month after month, will you maintain the desire to genuinely serve and speak to the audience you’ve identified?

If the answer is no, move on. As important as the reader is, you can’t fake the desire to be of service, and even if you can, you’ll be unhappy. Amongst all the focus on serving the reader, don’t forget that you’re not doing this out of the goodness of your heart.

And in case anyone didn’t get it, or is put out by what he’s said, he adds (with a smiley, presumably to show he wants to be firm to be kind, not to be harsh):

Both business and blogging should be fun. Really.

Amen to that!

There is an opportunity to hear Brian live, being interviewed by Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman, aka The Blog Squad, on Blogging and Beyond, Thursday February 22 at 8pm 8 am US Pacific time. There is an invitation to submit in advance any questions you want answered. Apologies for the late notice, but I’ve been occupied with a few other items and have only just focused on this event.

I’ll be there, as a Texan friend of mine used to say “God willin’ ‘n the creeks don’t rise”.  (Update: the other possibility was that I’d got the time wrong and the call is at a time when I’m unlikely to be awake, which happens to be true – it’s 8 am Pacific Time and 11 am in the East, US time. That’s 2 am my time, so I doubt I’ll be there after all. Apologies for the error. But even people who do not want to be sleep-deprived can download the show and listen later.)

You can register here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Get Clues From a Master on Writing For Blogs