How Readable is Your Blog?

Happy holidays everyone!

I've been on a holiday break since yesterday. I've opted to not accept any writing or editing jobs until after tomorrow (Christmas). This has given me the time to rest and, now, blog a bit.

How readable is your blog?

I believe that this is a very valid question. Surfing through different blogs and posts has got me thinking about this.

Sometimes when reading through posts, I'll skip through one that is too text strong. The paragraphs are too long and they just make my eyes tear up. Does this sound like your blog?

For a new blogger, you may want to start thinking about making your posts more readable. Do it for your reader. They will appreciate it.

How can you tell if it is readable?

There are several ways you can do this. A simple way is to read it on your own. If your own post makes you want to kill yourself or requires a drop of Eye-mo after each paragraph, then it might be about time to make a few changes in your writing style.

A less subjective way would be to check a readability index. After looking through Freelance Writing Jobs, I came across a post recently about "Foggy Writing". It was actually the inspiration for this most recent post. It suggested readability.info for all your needs. It uses several different formulas and score indexes to check readability.

I used this site and found out my Fog Index (an index used to check readability) is at an ideal level. You should try it out just to have an idea.

What can you do?

There are several things you can do. Rather than re-writing what has already been said, I can give you links to helpful posts on the subject.

The article I read, "On Foggy Writing", actually gives several helpful tips.

I also came across a post on avoiding "text deserts"by Ryan Caldwell. Check it out. It gives five helpful tips.

Hope this helps!

Again, happy holidays to all of you!

Nominations for 2007 Performancing Blog Awards

I was doing my usual freelance job hunting on Freelance Writing Jobs when I came across Deborah Ng's post about the Performancing Blog Awards.

I was intrigued. Seriously, I was. So intrigued, in fact, that I followed the the link to Performancing.com

Performancing is now accepting nominations under several blogging categories. Check out the post for more info!

I nominated my blog for best name. If you think, my blog is worthy of such a title then please nominate me as well. Here's how i nominated:

Best Blog Name: D-liberate: The Musings of a Modern Renaissance Man (my blog)

The name has several meanings. It is a play of words. It plays around with my nickname "D-cal". It also can mean "D liberate" as in "D" my name and "liberate" the verb. And the more obvious word would be deliberate. It took me a while to think of this and I think it's a pretty good name.


Best Blog Community: Performancing.com and FilipinoWriter.com

Performancing.com offers several good job openings and is always good for a tip or two. I visit it on a daily basis (sometimes even an hourly basis).

FilipinoWriter.com is a simple site/community. It caters primarily to Filipino writers but is open to all. It allows Filipino writers to post and share books, blogs, poems, etc. The owner Noid also has established several useful tips for writers.

Best Writing/Blogging Blog: Freelance Writing Jobs by Deborah Ng

This site never disappoints. Always has a useful tip or article on writing and always provides the best job posts online. I actually found performancing.com through this blog.

Best Sports Blog: The Capoeira Blog

Managed by "Faisca", the blog has several posts that are useful to both the person who is unfamiliar with the Brazilian Martial Art and to the person has been practicing it for years. It has a simple clean design and is very easy to navigate through. It also provides regular links to relevant Capoeira sources.

The Best Parenting and Family Blog: Raising Kids

This is owned by Angelita Barlonga. Her first born was diagnosed with a language processing disorder, while, her second child is a survivor of Stephen-Johnson Syndrome. She managed to cope with these difficulties and now gives advice on child raising. The language needs a little improvement but the advice is still clear and is always done with heart.

The First Post and a Review of Odesk.com

D-liberate...

It took me a while to think of an appropriate name for my blog. It is really hard to think of something somewhat unique and something that can really encapsulate all that I want to say and do in this blog. With all my interests, it's hard to find something that is general and also specific.

Yes, I'm blogging. Blogging was actually something I never thought I would do, that of course, all changed when I decided freelance writing was for me. In a world where everyone has a blog and everyone has a website, I told myself now is the time to come out of my writing drawer. To liberate my thoughts and put what I have to offer on the market. If that whole paragraph sounded ambiguous to you, I didn't mean it to be. It just came out that way and that's what she said.

To start everything off, I wanted to actually repost something I posted on FilipinoWriter.com. It's about my experiences on Odesk. A comment by one of its readers is actually what brought about this whole blog. So here we go...

Wow... my first post!

I recently answered a query on www.contract-worker.com's Freelance Writing Section. The blogger, Rico, asked about experiences with www.odesk.com.

I am kind of new to the whole freelancing thing. I've been trying to break out and build up my portfolio for the past few months now. During my search through the endless websites under the keywords: freelance, jobs, philippines. I came across a short blog (I'm sorry that I can't give due credit to the Filipina who posted, I didn't get to jot down her blog address). The blog was about finding jobs online. She mentioned www.odesk.com as being her main market for the past few years.

So, I decided to try. "What's the harm in trying?" I told myself, "It's free." To make a long story short, I joined and I'm happy with the results.

Not that I have seen the money or anything. I'm patiently waiting for my payoneer card. One of the troubles of working remotely. But aside from that, I've found several clients that have been easy to work with. There are lots of writing jobs out there for someone who has the skill.

If you are worried about the money, odesk.com come has a pretty good track record. They've been featured in several tech magazines. Plus the providers and buyers always rant and rave about the quality service. My blog is a good example of this.

They do take a little off the top though. So there is a percentage taken from what you earn. So you have to keep in mind what you charge the clients. Odesk has a system though to see exactly how much you are getting and how much you are charging.

Plus, they have payment through "moneybookers", so you can get your money through there.

Well I hope this blog helped the readers. If you want to join, I would appreciate that you let me refer you.

If you want me to refer you...

Just click the banner:

That's all I got for now.. So till next time..