Can I Curse on My Blog?

“Can I curse on my blog?” That’s the question most newbie bloggers grapple with at some point in their careers. When you start blogging, you are learning things on the fly, and you want to see results as fast as possible. At the same time, you are worried that you might mess things up and lose any chance you have of achieving success in the blogging world. That’s why beginners wonder whether their blogs can survive curse words.

Here is the thing. If you are an extremely polite person, you may come to believe that most people are like you. So you may think cursing on your blog would not be appropriate. But that’s not even the point really. Using a curse word on your blog does not necessarily make you impolite. If you go on a curse tirade on your blog, then you may turn a few people off, but in general, using a curse word here and there should not harm your blog.

Before using a curse word, you need to know your audience. For instance, a journalist that works for the Times magazine may not be able to use curse words as freely as you can on your blog. Know your audience before using tough words on your blog. Also, you should avoid racial or sexist comments on an ordinary blog. Unless your blog is about controversy, I do not recommend going there. Also, if you have kids in your audience, you may want to watch your language.

Some issues can be explained better with curse words. In those cases, you should not worry about losing your audience. Even top executives use these words on a daily basis. Sure. They do not include an expletive in every sentence, and you shouldn’t either. But there is no issue with using these words to communicate with your audience.

At the end of the day, you should use curve words on your blog if you feel comfortable doing that. A few folks do not feel comfortable at all with that approach, and that is fine. But don’t make anything big out of it. Cursing on blogs is no big deal as long as you know your audience, and you feel comfortable with them (check Rich Jerk for an example). Besides, you are better off thinking about more important things such as how to accelerate your blog’s growth rate than whether you should or should not curse on your blog.