BLOG: Keep It Simple

This tip I can never overemphasize. Remember to make your articles simple and easily read by readers. You are given 10 seconds to stimulate your readers and make them continue reading. Failure to do so within that span means you've lost your readers' interest. They'll turn to the next site or watch a movie. So keep them glued with simple yet effective blog articles. Or else beg them. So here are some web and blog tips.

Photo by Bram Naus on Unsplash.

Simple is Sometimes the Hardest Part

The problem is, to many people, keeping simple is the hardest part. We are easily drawn to sophistication when it comes to presenting ourselves to others or when presenting a case--or just plain wearing clothes. I've watched business and marketing people take the harder route when it came to business presentations, preferring the use of hype and gimmicks and hi-tech gadgets and roundabout talks than clear and simple communication. I've watched people preferring looks of sophistication with apparels, body accessories, cosmetics, scents, hair styles, etc., to presenting themselves simply and well.

And that's often where the problems arise. Amid the look of sophistication, basic and essential communication is neglected. We want to communicate something through our sophistications but we end up depriving ourselves of having our real say. People often get the wrong messages and signals. Worse, we make our audience leave to look for entertainment. We can't seem to just keep things simple. We think that simple is a sin.

I'm not against sophistication--or good techniques--but we ought to watch out that we're not entangled with them and not hit any target in the end. 

You know why magic tricks are attractive? They're presented in very simple ways. The magician presses a hankie in his closed fist and then suddenly produces a bouquet out of it. That simple. And the audience--kids, youths, and adults--all get the point and applaud--and stay to watch for more. If you were to add sophistication to that (if you're the type who thinks being simple is bad) and put in dancing and singing and poem reading into the act--or even present a full length movie before you finally pull out the bouquet from your fist--you'd have lost a good size of your audience.

And then those who stayed to watch how you produced the bouquet might go home with a different impression in mind. They might marvel at how you sang or danced or tell their folks back home about the good movie they saw and miss your magic trick entirely.

Gimmicks and sophistication and digresses are good, but always remember to stick by this principle--keep things simple. Go straight to the point and keep to the point you want to make. If you have a blog or website, I would suggest not to over decorate or clutter it with a thousand and one graphics and apps and widgets and ads and images. If your site is about health, balance the graphics and write-ups well. And balance sometimes means 60-40 or 70-30, depending on the message or impression you want to give.

Some Tips to Keep it Simple:

1. Stick to your point.
2. Avoid heavy terms as much as possible. Use simple 3- or 4-letter words. They're great, vivid and  potent.
3. If you've said your piece, end it right there and then.
4. Avoid too many digressions or side trips.
5. See if your article fits better into two separate articles.
6. Limit your words to 300, 400, or 500 per article. Five hundred is ideal if you want AdSense to be approved on your blog. 
7. Always look to check if your write up agrees with your title or is confined to it. Do not drift from your topic. That's among the worst things. 

It should be something as simple as telling people "Blog Shop." And that's it.

ADDITION BUT NOT TOO IMPORTANT

Simple blogs have a better chance to compete with videos, especially reels and Tiktok. Videos and the like are powerful and unbeatable but your worded blog gets a better chance if you keep it simple. Keeping it simple makes it "reader-friendly." We have to keep people reading and make them love being readers--our readers. A lot of folks today hate anything that must be read, and especially read a long time. They'd rather watch a movie or video and also get a lot of info from that. They can do that for hours.

A short and simple blog article must be:

1. A short intro. Make it interesting.
2. The body. Always get to the point and make the paragraphs end interestingly to keep your readers excited to go to the next paragraph.
3. Always include solutions to problems but present them concisely. Don't beat around the bush--because I hate it.
4. End with a challenge or call to action.

Four simple steps. You get your message across, make your readers "feel" your unique person, help them exactly with what they need, and offer them an inspiration or challenge or your service or product. 

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