Stop for a moment, and just think of some of the most memorable lines in cinematic history:

“I’ll be BACK!”

“We’re gonna need a bigger boat…”

“I’m the king of the world!”

“You call that a knife? THAT’S a knife!”

“Play it, Sam”

“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

I find myself imagining the screenwriters as they were laying out these scenes and picturing them in their head- did they have it mapped out crystal clear, right down to the cast, or was it just a vague concept? Did they smile to themselves as they wrote those lines out for the first time knowing they’d produced cinematic gold, or did they think to themselves ‘Hey, I like the sound of that’- and then get a wonderful surprise years later,  hearing complete strangers from all around the world quoting the lines they’d written?

It’s like when a musician tells their audience how blown away they are that a venue full of people are singing at them, singing back the lyrics of a song that had its’ origins in a dog-eared notebook as they scrawled it down solo. What starts as an idea, a one-liner that makes you smile- becomes THIS.

How good that must feel!

I imagine it would, I hear you saying, but what does this have to do with my writing blog articles?

Aha!

It’s like this-

Whether you’re writing a blog that’s focused on business, on personal development, on sharing your stories or advice or a hobby or a sport or anything at all- you can do all the preparation work and the research you like, but the whole thing is going to fall apart (and I mean, the whole thing) if you ignore just one crucial element of your writing:

You’ve got to KISS*

See, no matter how fascinating or life-changing your story is, no matter how crucial the information you share with your readers, if you trail off with pointless information then your readers are going to trail off before they get to the end. Mission failed. I’m sure you’ve met people over the years who are terrible at this- and it makes conversation with them a painful experience, doesn’t it?

Instead, think of your article like a highway with an appealing destination sign. Once your readers embark on the journey that is your article, you want to make it as simple as possible for them to reach the end- whether that’s the answer or the discovery or your special offer. Wandering details are like traffic jams, potholes and exit ramps. Close them off, patch them up and keep your article as short and sweet as possible. Stick only to the key details. Every sentence and every paragraph should have a specific aim. Either it should a) Share information relevant to the narrative (the people, places, data or facts) or b) It should move the story forward.

To ensure you don’t leave your readers trailing off a side-road and bailing on the big journey halfway through your article, ask yourself: What is your article about, in just one sentence? Because if you can’t do this with a full-stop or even a comma to break up the answer, then there’s a good chance you need to split your idea into two or more smaller posts.

Like when I first sat down to write this article- I asked myself: What is this going to be about in one sentence?

The answer: Why keeping your blog articles as short as possible is so important.

Ensuring that every sentence and every paragraph directly relates to your story means you get your message across in less time and with less words. Your readers hang on to every word from start to finish, they complete the full journey and reach the destination you’ve set for them.

Your message stays with them, like the unforgettable one liners we looked at right at the start!

Keep this in mind every time you sit down to write a new article, and you’ll notice the difference in how people respond to them. If you’ve got an offer to include, more people are going to follow-up simply because you made it easy for them to reach that far.

Alternatively?

You could contact me, and look at how we can achieve this outcome together. Considering how limited time is though, I strongly suggest you follow the words of the great W. Clement Stone and Do It Now. All you need to do is click here…

* KISS= Keep It Simple, Stupid