10 Tips to Write Posts (Technical or Not) People Can't Stop Reading
11 Mar 2025 #writingI’ve written 321 posts.
In fact, this is my post number 322. Over five years ago, I wrote my first post. Well, “post” is a strong word. It was a word vomit. I still keep my first post unedited to remind me how I started.
I only wrote when I thought I had something to say. It was once every full moon when I started. Then it was every other week. Since Nov 1st, 2024, I’ve been doing it daily. I already passed the 100 daily posts mark. My next goal: the 200 mark.
My blog is my time capsule. And it’s done more for me than a portfolio. These days, it’s part of my routine to be healthy.
All that to say, I’ve learned a thing or two about blogging and writing. Mostly, after lots of trial and error. And if you’re starting out, here are 10 quick tips for you:
#1. Write descriptive headlines: “How to do X with Y in order to Z” works perfectly fine for most of your posts, technical or not. Or steal your headlines, like an artist.
#2. Ditch long intros: Go straight to your main point. Don’t worry about introductions at the beginning. I wanted to jump straight to #1 in this post. But in a moment of inspiration, I wrote that introduction to “prove” I know what I’m talking about.
#3. Start with a 1-sentence paragraph: OK, if you decide to write introductions, start your posts with one sentence. Imagine your first line is like an extra headline. See what I did in this post. I learned this trick from my first writing class.
#4. Use subheads: Use h2 and h3 tags to break your post into parts. These tags help readers skim and digest your post. And this helps SEO bots understand your post. If you’re writing a how-to guide, use one subhead for every step/lesson/point of your post…You know what, I could have used one h2 tag for every point in this post.
#5. Write shorter paragraphs: Shorter paragraphs and sentences make your posts easy to digest.
#6. Use simple words: A post isn’t a New York Times column or a school essay where you’re chasing an A+ or a 10.
#7. Deliver your message fast: It goes hand in hand with #2. Your headline is a promise. Fulfill your promise in your post body. If you’re writing how to fix the air conditioning of your car, tell that in your post. Don’t go on tangents. Leave those tangents for separate posts. Give something and give it fast.
#8. Avoid meta sentences: I blame writing in schools and their mantra: “tell readers what you’re going to tell them, tell the thing, then tell what you just told them.” Arrggg! Don’t do that. Don’t write “now, let’s cover how to…” or anything like that. I used to do that after every section. See #7.
#9. Write for 1 person: Next time you sit down to write, picture yourself explaining it to only one person: a friend, a coworker, or even your dog. It will give you the right tone to use and the right points to cover in your post. For example, again if you’re writing about how to fix the air conditioning of your friend’s car, you don’t have to explain what a car is to him. He already knows it.
#10. Avoid summary-like conclusions: Ditch conclusions the same way you ditch intros. And please avoid regurgitating everything back in a conclusion. Instead, ask your readers to do something after reading your post or promote other posts. Again see #2, #7, and #8.
I could give you more tips on SEO, but let’s keep it like that. If you followed these tips, especially #1 and #4, search engines will like you. Search engines love when we write for humans.
Keeping a blog helped me skip hiring lines the last time I was looking for a job. I showed my blog during the interview and the process went faster from there. No more rounds of interviews after that.
You don’t have to be an expert to write. Write to become one. But, please don’t start by writing your own blogging engine. That’s where blogging goes to die.