WordPress for Newbies #2: Focus

“WordPress for Newbie Bloggers” is a series of short, direct-to-pen lessons written by a newbie himself as he goes along the process of learning how to write a blog and get noticed.  Lesson 2 of this series is all about focusing on a subject and sticking with it in order to seem at least coherent in what you’re covering. If you’ve ever found yourself wandering far off key, this article is for you.

Lesson 2: Stay on Target

If you’re like me and you tend to ramble, before you click submit on a new masterpiece of literary expulsion, ask yourself three important questions;

“Why exactly am I posting this?”

All too often, as a rambling writer, I find myself starting a post with the intent to write a movie review, then quickly arcing off into things like popcorn prices, ticket prices, and other things that aren’t really related to the movie review itself.  Why is this important?  Well.. Hmmm.  Simply stated, while everyone loves a car wreck, if you can’t even follow your own train of thought, how do you expect others to follow along with you?

“Who am I talking to?”

Second only to “Why am I posting this?” is a great question which deals with something a great number of blog writers tend to forget.  Their target audience.  Who exactly are you writing the blog post for?  Yourself?  Economics academics?  Fans of the TV series “Dexter”?  It’s only by knowing who you want to reach that you’ll discover the style of writing which allows you to best reach — and better yet keep — your readers.

After all, fans of Science Fiction writer Isaac Asimov and fans of comedian Lewis Black may both be intelligent crowds, but they seldom have much in common.

“Is this something that I would want to read?”

The most important question of this lesson is perhaps the most simple.  Unfortunately, it’s often the most overlooked.  When you get done writing whatever masterpiece that happens to be leaking from your grey matter, take a moment to glance over it and ask yourself… Is what you’ve written something YOU would actually want to read? If not, you’ve got work to do before posting.  If you can’t even figure out what you are talking about, no one else can either.

As a blog writer, it’s relatively easy to get someone to randomly click on your article.  The first 34 seconds of that reader’s experience will determine whether or not you’ve created a fan of your writing.

Here’s what works for me

• When putting the proverbial pen to paper with your thoughts, try to keep the subject in mind.
• The “draft” feature is your friend.
• Write whatever you’ve got in your heart to say, THEN go get some coffee, drag a cigarette, or whatever you need to do to chill out.
• Come back to the screen and read your article from scratch, pretending to be your potential reader.
• Ask yourself whether this is something someone might want to read, or whether you’re just venting your own rambling thoughts
• Take out, change, or shorten anything that doesn’t need to be there until you’re absolutely sure that what you’re saying is being said in the absolute best way possible to keep people interested.

There are people out there who may disagree with my theories, but all great authors go through drafts.  That’s why God (and the publishing industry) invented Editors.

Wayne Hunt
segwayne.com