“Fuzzy content wastes your time and your audience’s attention.” – Sonia Simone
Ya know, the cruft! The fluff! The aimless stuff that loses your readers’ attention. Kind of like when our intro paragraphs go on a tangent. Shame on us. But we get it. Most readers want content that makes a point and gets their quickly. So, for the sake of this post from Copyblogger, we’ll shave the fuzz.
Let’s see how Sonia suggests improving and focusing your content, so it will keep your audience engaged.
Step 1
Before you start to write, ask yourself two questions about what it is you’re writing:
- What are your goals for this piece of content?
- What one thing should your audience take away?
Instead of writing content that tries to do everything, understand which single point in your piece will represent for you. More importantly, what will this piece of content do for your audience? What will they be able to do, become, have, change, or avoid after they’ve read it?
Step 2
Answers those questions. Then put them aside and start writing. This might sound contradictory, but this way you’ll at least get some words down. Fuzzy fluff and all. Failing to make room for that stuff can cause serious writer’s block…
Step 3
Let that first draft rest for awhile and come back to it with fresh eyes. Time to look at those two questions again. Does your draft have the same answers? Does it serve the original goal you had in mind? Does it deliver the desired takeaway to your audience?
Above all, make sure what you’ve written speaks to those answers at every point.
- Every story should answer one or both of those questions
- Every paragraph should serve one or both of those questions
- Every word should reflect one or both of those questions
Read on to learn more about getting to the point, plus a look inside Copyblogger’s brand-new education resource for content creators.
