Expand Your Blog Content Writing With Adjacency

Part of learning how to write a blog, I’ve often explained to business owners and professional practitioners, is learning how to keep it up. No doubt about it, sustaining blog content writing over long periods of time without losing reader (or writer!) excitement is the real blogging challenge.

When I heard Certified Speaking Professional Brian Walter talk about using adjacency to enrich content writing for speeches, I knew right away that using adjacency would be great advice for blog writers as well.

“What’s the next closest thing to your specific topic?” Walter asks speakers, explaining that talking about an “adjacent” thing will allow them to expand the content of their speech and make the material more compelling for more people.

A State Farm e-newsletter that I highlighted in a Say It For You post two years ago is a perfect example of adjacency.  With articles on troubleshooting a roof, watching for animal crossings, and winterizing your home, the newsletter offered valuable and usable information on topics related to (“adjacent to”) insurance but not about insurance products themselves.

It’s interesting that the term “adjacency” relates to the topic of English language comprehension. (My B.S. degree is in secondary English education.) One of three types of cues that let readers know what the intended subject of a verb is adjacency, meaning that “the next immediately preceding noun phrase is the subject of that verb.”

In other words, adjacency helps readers understand what the author meant.

When blog content writers expand their own reach using adjacent topics, they expand readers’ understanding and engagement!