There’ll be Little Reader Patience for Rambling Blog Posts

Ramblers drive everybody crazy, sales strategist Jill Konrath reminds us.  There are two sorts, she says:

• Flounder-for-my-niche ramblers share everything they do, hoping something piques interest.  All they end up doing, says Konrath, is projecting a sense of desperation.
• I-love-my-subject ramblers don’t stop talking, never focusing on what is relevant in their sales pitch to that specific prospect.

It’s precisely because ramblers drive online readers crazy that, in corporate blogging training sessions, I introduce the concept of The Power of One:

One message: Blog posts have a distinct advantage over the more static website copy, because you can have a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of your business in today’s post, saving other topics for later posts.

One desired outcome:  Each business blog post should impart one new idea or call for a single action. Focused on one thing, your post has greater impact, since people are bombarded with many messages each day. The idea is that respecting readers’ time produces better results for your business.

One audience: Blog content writing can have several different purposes, but make no mistake—blogging for business is marketing. The more focused a blog is on connecting with a narrowly defined target audience, the more successful it will be in converting prospects to clients and customers, I teach.

Although the “flounder-for-my-niche” expressions wasn’t used, students at Butler College of Business seminar on resume building were instructed not to ramble or “flounder”, but to  keep sentences short, using clear forceful language that stresses achievements rather than duties.

The “I-love-my-subject” rambling problem was addressed as well in that Butler seminar:  “Since most employers skim resumes rather than read them, your resume cannot be an exhaustive list of everything you’ve ever done.”

Ramblers of either type drive everybody crazy, from human resource directors reading resumes to prospects listening to sales pitches.  Be forewarned:  there will be little online reader patience for rambling business blog posts!