This is Day 19 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, a group project 60+ of us bloggers are doing together in an effort to help each other become better bloggers.
Today’s lesson and assignment is to write a post that expresses your opinion about something.
As Darren wrote:
Expressing opinions on your blog is like adding seasoning to food. Without it your blog could end up being quite bland.
Offline you know some people who are very opinionated and some people who seem unable to express an opinion for fear of offending someone. The same is true online among bloggers. So, in today’s post I’ve included two sets of tips, one for the unopinionated and one for the very opinionated.
Tips for Unopinionated bloggers (Why your opinion matters)
- Your opinion is part of your voice. It’s part of what makes your blog unique and memorable.
- People want analysis. There’s no shortage of information these days. People don’t want more facts, they want help making sense of the facts.
- Opinion demonstrates the depth of your understanding. When you express a well-reasoned opinion, it demonstrates you understand your field and gives you added credibility.
- Opinions spark interesting discussion. If you express an opinion on a controversial or emotional subject, you can stir people to express their opinions which can lead to some very interesting conversations.
- Don’t try to please everyone. Some people are afraid to express their opinions because they don’t want to risk offending and losing readers who don’t share their opinion. I think it was Bill Cosby who said, “I don’t know the secret to success, but the secret to failure is trying to please everyone.”
- Controversy gets attention. Take it for what it’s worth, but people (and posts) that are most opinionated and most controversial get attention. Being controversial, though, comes with the downside risk of potentially undermining your credibility.
Tips for Very Opinionated Bloggers
- Be wary of arrogance. It’s very easy for opinionated people to come off sounding arrogant, as if they think their opinion is the only right opinion and anyone who disagrees with them is an idiot. Consider adding caveats like “I think” and “In my opinion.”
- Close your post by asking others for their opinion.
- Leave some oxygen for others. Don’t include every possible argument for (or against) your opinion. You don’t want people to read your post and not comment because you’ve said everything there is to be said on the issue. Leave some points for your readers to make in the comments.
Discussion
- Do you find it easy or difficult to express to form and express opinions?
- Do you have any other tips for writing opinion posts?
- Do you have an examples of opinion posts you’ve written that stirred good conversation on your blog? Post a link.
The Extra Mile
A few other things you can do to take your blog, other bloggers, and this project even further today…
- Reply & give other bloggers feedback on the little things they do.
- When other bloggers include a link to a new article they’ve posted today, click, read, and comment on it.
- Check previous posts in the series for new comments.
- Tweet, share, & bookmark this post.
- No blog to review today.
39 Comments
After a long day of meetings, I finally made it back to participate in the conversation. Good discussion going on today. Lots of great comments.
I just wanted to add that opinion posts have been some of the most popular I've written and provoked some of the most interesting discussions both here and on LiveIntentionally.org. A few examples:
Are Churches Bait-and-Switching People?
http://www.liveintentionally.org/2009/11/18/are-c…
Online Church = Online Sex
https://blog.ourchurch.com/2009/07/08/online-churc…
And then the most read & commented on post on this blog prior this series…
Why Willow Creek and Saddleback are Losing Influence While North Point and LifeChurch.tv are Gaining Influence
https://blog.ourchurch.com/2009/07/30/why-willow-c…
Paul, I agree with you. I really have appreciated this blog. Throughout church history debate was suppressed, resulting in ignorance, yet even in Paul's time the people went home, "to examine if these things be so". I recently withdrew from a notable site, because although the host hung out tantalizing subjects and even invited feedback on his site, in reality he preferred neutral commentary to real engagement – it does not surprise me that he also reports a high turnover in his readership. Engagement through debate is where we find common ground and move beyond relational veneer into reality, without which we will only politely dance at the edges of the relationship and never connect. Thanks for this.
Thanks Peter. I agree that throughout much of church history debate has been suppressed. Even in the 20th century, which we typically think of as including great advances in communication saw a decline in open discussion because all of the communication was one-way broadcast with no capacity for dialog.
Blogs, forums, and social media sites finally provide opportunity for ideas to be shared and challenged in pursuit of truth.
Spent some time thinking about what I would write. It was easy to write and difficult at the same time. You never know what to expect when you write your opinion. Here is today's opinion post. https://oikosministries.com/archives/1493
So here is my opinion, my debatable post:http://bethelstone-debate.blogspot.com/2010/05/da…
I find it easy to form and express opinions but never really thought that was an important type of post for a inspirational stories and poems blog. However, I see what you mean.
I have an example of an opinion post, unfortunately, it didn't stir good conversation. http://inspirationalgifts.blogspot.com/2008/08/pu…
However, I didn't ask people to respond with their opinion. I will need to do that from now on!
My opinion post is up. Blogging about Worship Woes…..http://ronniespoon.blogspot.com/2010/05/worship-woes.html
Some blogs will generate more debate than others. I must admit that I have not consideredthis necessary in the past. I will post my opinion post live tomorrow. You will see it at http://www.christchosenambassadorsministry.com/