I’ve been running a blog for a while and I often get questions from people who want to blog about how to do it. I usually give the same tips over and over again so I thought that I would write an article.

This is you: You’re a writer. You want people to read what you have written, are writing, and plan to write. Seeing people read your writing is exciting for you and gives you momentum to keep going. So how do you make your writing easier to read?

I want to mention now that my tips aren’t really marketing tips. Marketing is the practice of spreading information. That’s a whole other ball game that has to do with connection and consistency so that you can mobilize communities. This article isn’t about starting a literary practice either. That’s a whole other thing. This article is about a really specific skill: this article is about writing on the internet in a way that will get you read.

Make your text readable

Before doing anything else, go to your blog and count how many characters show up per line. If you have between 50-70 characters per line, then your blog might be readable. If you have over 70 characters per line, then your text is too small. If you have under 50 characters per line, then your text is too big. For me, I did this for mobile but not on desktop which I think is fine. Most people use phones and not desktops.

Now, choose a font that people can read. Don’t choose a fancy font. Use readable fonts.

Most of the time, a dark text on a light background will be more readable than light text on a dark background. But, if you have to use a dark background, it’s not the end of the world. Black text on a white background is the most readable.

Yes, I know about the early internet culture of choosing tiny little pastel text on another pastel background. That shit was not readable. We’re over that phase of the internet now. We’re sick of squinting and straining our eyes. Make your text readable. Don’t be shy and try to hide your ideas behind aesthetic fonts or a text color that obfuscates your voice.

You’re putting a lot of work into thinking, writing, and editing. Don’t you want people to read your words?

Lower your expectations

Write in a way that will keep you writing. If your expectations are too high, then you’re not going to be writing consistently. Never aim to produce your grand masterpiece for your blog on the internet. Why would you? The internet is full of random bozos who will never get it and caring people who will take the time to understand you regardless of whether you make sense or not. That’s the two types of people on the internet—super mean and super kind. Why? Because no one knows you here. People are reacting to you based on how they feel that day, not based on something that you did or didn’t do.

The internet is the internet. Respect it as such and don’t mistake it for your own inner critic.

Yes, people will talk shit. Again, the internet is the internet. It’s not your personal critic. It’s not your accountability circle and it’s not your writing class. Don’t raise your expectations of yourself just because people talk shit on the internet. People will not stop talking shit on the internet no matter how good you are because, again, the internet is the internet.

Always aim for good enough. Be your own version of a mediocre writer. Your imagination of yourself as a writer will be more skillful than what you are currently able to do because you improve over time. So, always aim for good enough for now.

If your expectations are too high, then you’re going to get trapped in perfectionism. You’ll never share your writing and that means that your ideas won’t leave you and then you don’t move forward. Your goal isn’t to produce one spectacular masterpiece after years of not writing ever. Your goal is to write everyday so that you can see how your thinking develops over time.

So, don’t worry about grammatical mistakes or repetitive phrases or typos. Just keep going. Don’t allow your fantasy about writing stop you from actually just doing it.

Short and sweet

This is a tip that is specific to writing on the internet: don’t make your articles too long. If you think that an idea is too small, it’s not. Just write a short piece.

You want working people to read your writing? Working people read on a thirty minute to an hour long subway commute and on our lunch breaks. Your internet browser doesn’t bookmark where you are on a page. It often refreshes the page, especially if you are moving around into and out of wifi networks. If your readers make it a third of the way into an article by the time their lunch break ends, then you’re going to lose half of your readership before the article ends.

Don’t compensate for lack of clarity by over explaining your ideas. Don’t try to soothe your nervousness about sharing your ideas by forcing yourself to work harder than what is necessary. Just write it once. Keep it the length it is and focus. If you have one massive idea, then break it down into parts. A blog post is not a novel. It’s a blog post and people will finish it if they have enough time.

Don’t dumb things down

This is my last tip: never, ever, ever dumb your ideas down. People are not dumb. You also aren’t dumb so why would you assume that your readers are?

I get why people dumb things down. We think that our ideas are too niche and that people won’t understand. We think that writing is a communication tool and that clear communication involves slowing down our speech, using easy words, and flattening our ideas.

Writing is not a communication tool. When you write, you don’t start with an idea and then find the right words to deliver that idea. Writing is a practice. You form ideas when you write and if you think that you need to dumb yourself down so that you can communicate then you’re going to get really sick of writing.

The reason why people misunderstand each other online so much isn’t because we don’t have compassion or intelligence. The reason why people misunderstand each other online is because we’re all incredibly, incredibly busy on account of being overworked.

And guess what? Someone on their 30 minute lunch break can think about and around schizoanalytic cartography. Easy. But someone on a 30 minute lunch break won’t waste their time reading through paragraphs upon paragraphs of unnecessary over-explaining. People are smart. But working!

No one needs you to dumb things down for them. People are really fucking smart but guess what? People are also really busy. I believe that capitalism represses working people by making us too busy to think and connect but that’s another topic for another time. Anyway, people are both smart and busy. That’s why your goal will be to make your text as easily readable as possible and as smart as possible.

Let your ideas be complex. It’s okay. People will read your writing as long as your text is readable and your articles aren’t too long.