A lot of people feel pressured to make their articles a certain length. As if, more words automatically equals more value.
That isn’t always true. In fact, more words can often make articles difficult to read and monotonous.
Brevity has its advantages…
1) People are busy and subscribe to dozens of blogs and websites, so they often appreciate the quick read.
2) Attention spans are short (and getting shorter as technology grows). Get to the point and the more likely they’ll read/absorb your message.
3) It’s less writing for you. Duh. 😉
Here are some tips to writing shorter, more concise and meaningful pieces.
1. Keep your goal in mind
Don’t write just because you feel you have to. Every article should have a goal (inform, educate, sell, promote a download, build credibility etc.) Be careful of babbling for the sake of babbling and not really saying anything.
When you finish writing, ask yourself,
Did this piece accomplish what I set out to do?
Am I getting to the message/benefit early enough?
That’s a great way of checking yourself and keeping the article focused.
2. Write shorter, active sentences
Look at these two sentences…
I have finished reading the book and it has really taught me a lot about what it takes to design a good-looking website.
vs.
I read the book and it taught me a lot about good web design.
Both sentences say the same thing, but the 2nd one is more concise and easier to read. Imagine cleaning up an entire article and making more of your sentences active and concise. It will make a huge difference with the overall delivery.
3. Watch your use of filler words
Words like naturally, usually, eventually, normally, possibly and really can junk up your writing and make it difficult to read. Sometimes these words are useful, but just like anything else, you can overdo it.
We have a tendency to write like we talk and sometimes filler words are unnecessary. This is something I have to check myself on all the time.
A lot of times we add these words because we are unconsciously trying to lengthen and improve our article. But the reality is, they can disrupt the flow.
Sometimes longer pieces are necessary and there’s no way to get around it, but most articles can be just as effective by trimming the word count significantly.
Lisa thank you for delivering me! until I read this post I used to think that delivering quality content was making sure that the content was of substantial lenght, you let me know that its okay to keep it short.
this allows me to create more pages in a day for my website instead of struggling to write one long piece.
thank you so much for this advice
.-= paul´s last blog … Nov 20, Best Of Christian Dating Websites – Christian Cafe =-.
I usually write 400-700 articles on my site but I always have a nasty habit to try to tip the 700 word count. What I do is within my post format, I have lists, bolded headings and pictures to liven up the reader. If I handed someone a page full of text to read vs a page with several photos in them, the one with the photo’s will most likely keep them reading.
.-= Michel´s last blog … How to use ebay and win killer auctions =-.
Hey;
Great article! I was just wondering how I could avoid writing too much. I feel lazy and don’t want to write a lot, but I got this thing when I start writing I can’t stop 😀 I go describing and explaining things……
Thanks for the advice!
Thanks for suggestion.
.-= Adit´s last blog … Install Apache2triad.1.5.4 on Windows Vista =-.
Very true. I try my best to stay concise, but it is easy to ramble sometimes!
“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” – Dr. Seuss
.-= Jonathan Bennett´s last blog … New tutorials added to “Building PHP Scripts” =-.
Great point,because I am very new to bloging when I write I start with the assumption that it will be short, but then its too long. So I have to go back and re-write it. Some times frustrating but got to keep people away from the dreaded back button lol.
Great info. must keep it in mind
Thanks
.-= Iskander Marrero´s last blog … Click all the way to the bank? or NOT? =-.
As a team of professional web copy writers we couldn’t agree more. You are absolutely spot on with this informative blog.
Great article. I am struggling with this issue too. May be its that fear that any visitor who lands on the site may not get FULL information, that drives me to try lengthening my articles using so many filler words. Thanks!
Great points. I am guilty of long windedness as well as over use of filler words.
.-= Ms. Freeman´s last blog … How To Bring Traffic To My Site =-.
While, I do tend to get a bit wordy in my Web articles, I do agree with the previous post from PowerPoint Templates.
If you don’t write enough content then it may not rank well with the search engines. Too much content, and no one wants to read it. I guess the key is to find a happy medium.
Most people write content for both visitors and search engines. In order for the content to be contextualized by the search engines there needs to be a fair amount of it, hence people rarely write posts under 400 words.
Fantastic advice, thanks Lisa!
.-= Christopher Roberts´s last blog … D3O =-.
That’s a very good point regarding filler words, I never thought about that. I’ll have to start checking more careful about filler words, I have a feeling I’m using them way too much.
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog … Friday Flick Find: HotForWords @ Yoga Time! =-.
Thanks again for another interesting post.
.-= Rapideo´s last blog … Sandbox, A security mechanism =-.
One of my problems is that when I write I’ll tend to babble. Writing clearly and to the point isn’t something I’m naturally good at… but it’s something I’ve been trying to learn.
.-= Yves´s last blog … Want it to happen? Then make it happen! =-.
People are so used to the written format and they haven’t realized that nonprint, such as that online, really doesn’t get the same treatment. For one thing, it’s harder to sit and read from a computer screen, so people are more apt to scanning and then they hit the dreadful “back” button if they don’t see what they’re looking for right away. Online, it really is better to have a ton of short to-the-point posts than to have a few super long ones. Save those for your ebooks that you’ll want to use as subscriber incentives.
.-= The Affiliate Marketer’s Help Desk´s last blog … Need a Free Subscriber Incentive? =-.
I do not yet have a twitter id but I guess I better get with the times I suppose. Why me? Anyway I has told that for search engine optimization that you should write no less than 400 words. Not being much of a writer I have purchased content from freelance writers. This leaves me to focus more on my website. You can even request articles to be written. My goal is to have 20 posts. Currently I have 12. The cost is so low that I can have an article posted every week. In fact that is what I am going to do to keep my blog up to date.
.-= Kino´s last blog … WordPress—From Blogging to Content Management =-.
Thanks Lisa,
I think that lengthy text is my main problem. I have a number of Websites – some informational and some that are Web directories. When tracking my visitors through Google Analytics I noticed that people were staying on my directory sites LONGER than on my informational sites.
I use good grammar and punctuation (I’m a copyeditor) and so it has to be something else about the writing on my informational sites.
I think that the articles are just too long and I’ve been trying to shorten them. Thanks for the tip/suggestion.
“Shorter” works far better than “longer” when giving overviews. On the other hand, I’ve also found that “detailed” works wonders compared to “skimpy” when it comes to handholding articles.
You have to modify your writing style depending upon the expectations of your audience.
.-= Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s last blog … BY Invitation ONLY – Income Fitness Launch =-.
This is smart…it’s a great example of people thinking they have to cram their creativity into a box and make sure they “do things right”. The fact is that bloggers have been successful with 200 words posts, 5000 word posts and everything in between. Look at steve pavlina’s blog, it has EVERYTHING. He doesn’t adhere to a specific post length. doesn’t even try 🙂 I think long posts can totally work…as long as it’s substantive.
.-= Christian´s last blog … Talking to People is More Important Than Anything Else You Do =-.
I think it’s all about structure not word count, Lisa’s blog is a great example, break it up, make it an easy to read font like, 14. Verdana is nice, but there are others just as easy to read too.
Your initial goal is to get them to read the first chunk and then giving them a reason to read the next and so on.
Two words you need to understand in anything you write to make you a better writer.
“So what” or “who cares”
Read what you wrote if it leads you to say “so what” or “who cares” at the end then you need to make a change or answer it quickly and make it bold.
Unfortunately we live in a “whats in it for me” society.
Other things people do that are annoying are “you are” instead of “you’re” apostrophes are they way we speak and it’s much easier to read.
Be conversational read some Gary Halbert or John Carlton.
Paint a picture, tell a story… These are great writers who do just that.
Finally, when you have your masterpiece written for the day read it out loud.
Then rewrite…
Rinse and repeat till it flows
.-= David Moore´s last blog … Writing Effective Surveys =-.
Lisa, this is great stuff as always. I have a question, though. I’m currently making the switch from blog to website. I purchased SBI! and have truthfully been a bit overwhelmed with the process. SBI is ridiculously meticulous, but hey, that’s what I wanted! Here’s my question: Is this post more about blog posts or static content pages. I run a website about the box office, and I had a TON of blog posts (all of which are inaccessible now…), and they were usually fairly short. However, as I’m building solid content pages for my site, I think the content usually needs to be a bit longer. I have two pages up at my site now if you need a reference, but as I’m building more pages, do you think the pages should be longer/shorter because I was planning on adding more content to each page down the road. Sorry for the long question- maybe you could do a post about short comments? HA!
Hi Grady
Yes, SBI! is incredibly detailed but it really is necessary. The education is like none other. Now, regarding your question. This could apply to both blogs or websites. As I said in the post, sometimes it’s necessary to write more content, but there are always ways to condense. Even if you check for passive voice and change it to active. That can make a world of difference in how it reads.
So don’t get so focused on shortening it that you leave out necessary details. If you focus on providing what your visitor needs and you do in the most concise way possible then you’re fine. As someone suggested above, you may want to think of splitting your longer articles into 2 pages if necessary.
I have such a hard time doing this with SBI! sometimes because sometimes the analyze it feature will tell me that my keyword is mentioned too many times on one page. I’ll play around with it by removing the keyword just 1 or 2 times, and then I’ll get a message saying that I don’t mention it enough times! So I’ll end up writing stuff that I know is useless (adding unnecessary words or sentences, or paraphrasing something I said earlier), but I’m doing it just to pass analyze it.
.-= Sonya´s last blog … Aug 15, Mom to be late for her own shower? =-.
Hi Lisa and thanks for another great post! I always aim for 250-300 words max in my blog posts because I know people are overloaded with stuff to read, watch or listen to.
Short sentences (and paragraphs) also make it easier to scan – I often lose the will to live when faced with great blocks of text! And I certainly don’t keep reading to the end, no matter how interesting the topic.
Thanks again for another interesting post.
LOL @ “I often lose the will to live when faced with great blocks of text.” Funny!! I know what you mean. When I see that I immediately hit the back button. 🙂
You always give great pointers, I wonder if there is any other people like yourself, who are so helpful when it comes to the socially networking?
This sure was helpful, I think this is my main problem at the moment. I do a lot of reviews but they are quite long, which I know puts people off reading them. Thanks for this, hopefully this will help me improve.
.-= Gina´s last blog … Finally a rubbish anime! =-.
Thanks Lisa for the usual great advise. It’s all about keeping the balance, not too much babbling while trying to keeping the reader’s attention at the same time. A drop of humour always helps if it is at all possible to slip it in somewhere.
Always good to reiterate these points from time to time, Lisa. Save the ‘babbling’ for the Website Babble Forums, right? 🙂
After I compose a post, I’ll go over it again to check for grammar and clarity. If it needs to be a long post, I’ll split it, making sure the first paragraph or two states the main points.
.-= James Fisher´s last blog … Great Wallpaper Site =-.
Good advice Lisa, as always.
I write posts for a few company blogs and always aim for about 300 words. I don’t seem to be able to manage it in my personal blogs though :0)
.-= Mr Uku´s last blog … Business blogging – Nobody likes a shill =-.