Laser focus is critical when writing blog articles. Most people write blog articles for one of two reasons.
- They have something to say, to communicate with the world,
- They want to attract Search Engine traffic (using SEO) to their website,
- Or a combination of the two.
The problem we face as writers with something to say is that we can easily lose focus. It’s critical that a blog article remain tightly focused, like a laser. Unlike writing a novel or a short story, where you may desire to weave multiple story lines together in your writing, blog posts should be single targeted effort. If you find yourself veering off on a tangent or two, cut that content out and make it into separate blog posts.
Why is Article Focus So Important?
- Search engines are not going to index your blog post for multiple unrelated terms or keywords, keep on topic. This makes the most efficient use of search engines and helps insure your content is not “landlocked” inside another article, never to be found.
- Someone scanning your blog clicks on your titles because a title or image interests them: if you have landlocked content, no matter how good or valid, unrelated to the title, it will never be found.
- Nothing makes someone bounce faster than landing on a blog post only to find out the content does not match the “clever” title: make the title reinforce the focus of the article.
- People are more likely to share your blog post if it is focused: It’s possible your tangent is not something they agree with, or want to share, while the main topic is something they’d like to share.
- Your post will be shorter and in most cases, shorter is better. Long blog posts, except in certain vertical areas where the reader is accustomed to long content, can stop a reader before they start reading.
While recently writing a post for another blog, I spent an inordinate amount of time crafting a couple of paragraphs… only to cut them out of the final article because they were only tangentially related. It’s hard to edit your own work, but editing is crucial. I saved my paragraphs and they will be the basis of a future blog post.
Until next time,
Fred
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