Blogging Tips for Economists

I think economists can do a better job being influential-for-good. They can and should reach out to legislatures and many will want to write about their areas of expertise. A blog allows academics to disseminate what is obvious to the inclined to a broad audience of educated decision makers. I keep a mediocre blog about public policy issues I've read about or am doing active research in.

Keys to writing in an accessible way:

• Use direct sentences: not "The mountain was climbed by Bill", but "Bill climbed the mountain"--see how much crisper the second is?

• Whenever a word or phrase can be substituted by a shorter, clearer alternative, go for the shorter. This keeps your writing taut and clear.

• Novice writers often try to impress the reader by being complicated or verbose--write for the reader and avoid the temptation to write for yourself.

• Try reading what you write from the point of view of your most impressive adversary.

• Reread your writing after sleeping on it.

• Sentences and paragraphs should follow logically from the previous sentence. Accurate transitions and words linking to the previous idea help your reader keep his train of thought.

• Your first paragraphs are your oppertunity to convince a reader to preservere; make sure it's clear and compelling.

• I often find the best way to structure something about a policy recommendation is to first declare and detail the problems that the policy is situated to resolve.

• Have lots of relevant data to support your points. Readers want to learn something new.

Also,

• Publish your blog in the morning because:

  • The average blog gets the most traffic around 11AM

  • The average blog gets the most comments around 9AM, as well as on Saturdays

  • The average blog usually gets the most inbound links around 7AM, and especially on Mondays and Thursdays

• Tweet and post on FB your new post:

  • The best time to tweet is 5PM ET

  • 1 to 4 tweets per hour is ideal

  • The best days to tweet are midweek and on the weekends

  • The best day to share on Facebook is Saturday

  • The best time to share on Facebook is Noon ET

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