Most blog posts ramble.
They meander from one topic to the next.
Why?
Because bloggers think that more is more.
It happens to me too at times. I start out with a single topic in mind – but then the post morphs into something else. By the time I’ve finished, I’ve added another five different bullet points, talked about related problems – and suddenly my post is long and, well, rambly.
Here’s a different strategy: focus on one (actionable) point.
I recently interviewed Derek Halpern of SocialTriggers.com. He’s a super successful blogger and most of his blog posts follow a certain structure: he focuses on one actionable topic. Here is an example: How to Increase Online Sales by 600%.
The key term is: actionable
If your readers can take just one suggestion and put it into practice, they’ll feel a lot more confident, than if you give them 101 options.
In the past, I’ve some written mega posts with 100 plus tips. They take a lot of time to write, and you waste a lot of creative energy. Instead of creating 1oo blog posts focused on each single tip, you’ve used all your creative energy to create one post.
Why writers get lost and ramble
This is how most bloggers write:
- They have a (vague) idea on what they want to write about.
- They start writing.
- They stray into adjacent topics.
- They write a headline at the end.
There is a much more efficient way to write a post:
Write the headline first
A well-crafted headline acts like an anchor. It holds you to your single topic.
Why focusing on a single topic works
If you give your readers a many choices – they will end up feeling overwhelmed.
Watch the video below on why too many choices make life difficult. It’s by psychologist Barry Schwartz:
As you can see, having choices can make life more difficult.
That’s why giving your reader just one, actionable tip is a better solution than giving them twenty, or even a hundred tips.
It makes life easier for us bloggers too.
