You don’t have to be a grammar expert to write great blog posts, but you do have to know how to self-edit.
If you want your blog posts to be error-free, you should use two tools that help with the editing process: Grammarly, and the Hemingway Editor. Grammarly, or another spelling and grammar checker, is a requirement and the Hemmingway Editor is a nice additional option.
Without these tools, you’ll have to read and re-read your posts to find spelling and grammar errors that can ruin the credibility of what you’ve written.
With the proper tools, your editing can be quick and painless. For instance, the Hemingway Editor can show you the exact sentences within your text that need to be re-written to improve readability.
What is Grammarly?
Grammarly finds spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors while you’re writing. You can install the free version as a desktop app or as a Chrome or Firefox extension. Once installed, you can use it to help you edit text right within WordPress.
The free version of Grammarly has all of the tools you need to ensure that your blog post is well-written. The paid version has a plagiarism detector and a better writing style evaluator.
I use the free version of Grammarly with the desktop app. While creating a blog post within WordPress it actively shows spelling and basic grammar errors. The spell check functionality is always spot on, but at times the grammar checking can flag items that are best left as is.
Overall Grammarly is quite an amazing tool and you’ll be amazed at how useful it is to pick out typos and punctuation errors.
What is the Hemingway Editor?
The Hemingway Editor is used to check your blog post for the overuse of adverbs and passive voice, to flag wordy sentences, and for other common writing errors.
It’s important to note that the Hemingway Editor is not a spell checker and that it’s not intended to function as a comprehensive editor.
You can access the free Hemingway Editor on their website. They also offer a paid version that provides access to several nice tools and features such as publishing directly to WordPress from within the editor.
It flags sentences for three core issues:
- Sentences that are hard to read
- Adverbs that might not be needed
- Using a passive voice when an active voice might be better
When using the Hemingway Editor don’t blindly follow the suggestions it makes. It may flag sentences that are perfectly acceptable as they are.
When I use it I simply take the blog post I’ve written and check to see if the suggestions it makes can help improve the article. If I find something that works better for a flagged sentence I change it. If it’s working fine, I keep it.
Conclusion
Using Grammarly along with the Hemmingway Editor can greatly improve your blog posts. I’ve used both tools on this article. The grammar suggestions have forced me to rewrite some sentences and clarify my thoughts.
You might think that good blog posts are written quickly and easily but the fact is all writers write and rewrite. It’s the rewriting that improves an article.
Use these tools to jump into writing posts for your blog or email newsletters for your referral marketing campaign. They’ll definitely help you refine your thoughts and create content that’s helpful for your readers.
