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Loading ...Writing Style to Keep in Mind for Blog Posts — Be Clearer Than Usual, State Main Point Up Front
June 11th, 2007 | Posted in Blogging |
I came across a good article on writing style for blog posts. Pro blogger Darren Rowse says,
The average person only comprehends 60% of what they read. ….
To ensure your reader ‘gets’ what you’re saying you need to make it clear by using some of the following techniques.
- Use simple language. Avoid technical jargon.
- Don’t introduce too many ideas in one post. You can always add another post later.
- Start your entry with your main point in the first paragraph. Better still, incorporate it in your title. (This can also bring more traffic through search engine referrals)
You have to be extremely clear in your blog posts, without requiring readers to figure out your point. This seems rather obvious, but it’s something I was debating about with Shannon. She likes to “show rather than tell,” and often lets her readers discover the meaning that they want from her posts.
This is a carryover from creative writing, and it can be more rewarding in some situations and contexts. In fact, I really enjoy reading her witty posts. But I read blogs by scanning down lists of 150+ blogs aggregated in my feedreader. I love it when headlines are descriptive and first paragraphs hint at the topic. Unfortunately this is only true about 20% of the time.
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June 11th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
This recommendation is very good — and hard to implement!
One of the things I constantly see in the first paragraph is context about something else the reader is assumed to already know rather than the point of the article.
Something like “In response to blah-blah’s article on blogs, I’d offer my own suggestions. Suggestions that would extend the article a lot….(more)…”
Like I know what the original article was all about!
Yes, another good example of the 80/20 rule — as you note, only about 20% of the time does the point of the article show up in the first paragraph.
Now to hurry over and check my own blog…yikes!
June 12th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Scott, I agree with you about how frustrating it is when writers refer to other contexts (e.g., articles, other posts, books), assuming the reader knows all about them.
I was just checking my Google Analytics reports and see that 70% of my blog readers are first-timers. If that’s true, that changes a few things.
For example, if I refer to a previous blog post, I shouldn’t assume people have read it. I usually link back to it and summarize what I may have written about previously.
I sometimes have in mind the idea that I have a loyal following of careful readers. That’s probably untrue. I maybe have a small loyal following, but the majority stumble across me through searches, links, trackbacks, RSS feeds, etc.
Seventy percent being first-time readers also means you could probably just start recycling old posts to the front of the line once in a while. For fun, I’m wondering how many would catch that it’s old.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
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