The following is a guest post by Harvey Gardner...
Grab your reader’s attention with your opening line. You don’t have much time. You have about eight seconds before your reader’s mind wanders off on some tangent. Your first few words must sell the reader on reading your whole message.
Effective blogging doesn’t beat around the bush. Get to the point quickly. Don’t waste your reader’s time by making them pour over useless verbiage to find your message.
Have a good reason for writing. You need to inform or influence somebody. In either case, you’re better served by not wasting your reader’s time. So grab them by their lapels and sell your socks off.
Blogging isn’t the place for platitudes, fluff, and glittering generalities. Just the facts will do. You aren’t being paid by the word; the less time it takes to read your blog, the more time your reader will have to give serious consideration to your message.
In blogging, short is better. It’s faster to read. It’s easier to understand, and it’s easier to remember.
Mark Twain onve joked that he didn’t have time to write a short letter, so he wrote a long one instead. The interesting thing: it’s no joke. It takes more time and effort to write short than it does to write long.
Stick to a single topic. Avoid the biggest mistake most writers make. Even good writers make the mistake of trying to cram too much into their writing. Big words. Intelligent ideas. Intimidating grammar. It’s as if they’re saying, "If I can’t impress you with one thing, I’ll do it with something else."
They usually start out with a single good idea or subject, but their creative mind is pummeled with great ideas. Tempted by the beauty of their own thoughts, they’re lured down roads they shouldn’t be traveling.
Then before long, they’re mired in a verbal bog and can’t get themselves out.
What to do about it?
1. Start with a good idea that you’ve looked at from all angles. If you can't write it down, you haven't thought it out.
2. Stick to your idea. Don’t allow stray thoughts—no matter how tempting—to intervene.
3. Remind yourself to say one thing, and one thing only. If you stick to a single idea, your blog will be stronger. Keep asking yourself: "What is my main idea?"
In blogging, the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing.
About the Author: Harvey Gardner blogs on subject vital to business and career growth. Please visit his blog at http://harveygardner.com/
