Reading at least 10 to 50 articles each day, I realize that I am drawn to those articles that remember the old KISS Model – Keep It Simple and Short. Articles that are intentionally written with simplicity, are short in length and provide me with valuable and rich content attract me.
Simplicity does not mean that you, the author, need to “dummy down” the content, but rather write in such a way that the reader can quickly progress from one point to another without being confused. Your message should provide the reader with new rich content and not recycled content. Think of a funnel in which the beginning of the article is the top of the funnel and the tip is the conclusion. Your articles should draw the reader down with the desired end result of visiting your website or even better giving you a call or an email.
As writers, we need to remember that potential readers have limited time and that the human brain can only process so much information. Even though it is in our nature to want to share all of our experiences or expertise, sometimes this creates a feeling in the reader of “drinking from a fire hydrant.” Writing a series of shorter articles rather than one long article respects the readers’ time. Also, shorter articles work for many of the newsletters that search the Internet for new content.
For a moment, consider yourself as a reader. Do you actually read those long articles or do you skim through the content? If you are like me, you probably quickly glance through the content looking for a new idea or concept. Would it not make more sense to write a shorter article where the reader actually reads more words?
Articles that vary in word count from 300 to 600 words provide an opportunity for the reader to actually read and easily recognize the expertise of the author. Shorter articles force writers to expand their vocabulary by incorporating words that better describe the topic. HINT #4 – The Thesaurus is your best friend.
Shorter articles do take more time to write because being concise and succinct is a learned skill. In working with one colleague, Alan Boyer at www.leaders-perspective.com, Alan has reduced his articles from 1,500 words to 6oo to 1,000 words and is working to reduce them even further.
As more and more individuals use article distribution as an Internet marketing strategy to achieve the goal of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the quality of the articles becomes even more important. Your mission as an article marketer, if you decide to accept, is to write both for quality and submit enough quantity to accomplish that noble goal.
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Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com
This article may be freely published. Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).
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