I’m a Pastor, so I preach to a congregation several times per week. There are a couple of pivotal moments in my preaching career in which my whole approach to delivering sermons changed. One of those was when I read Andy Stanley’s book Communicating for a Change.
Stanley talks about a very simple principle – preach one point per sermon. Have three good points to make? Why not break them apart and preach three good messages in a series. Why is this such a good tip? Because people will remember the one point you’re trying to get across more than they will remember each of the smaller details.
I think the same applies to blogging, much of the time. In fact, I have a basic formula from which I rarely deviate when I’m writing a post. You may disagree (which is what the comment section is for) but I always want to do these things…
- Have a great title that tells people what my content is and gets attention.
- Make sure that everything I write relates back to the title.
- Write about only one subject per post.
Thats’ it. Simple, eh? As you brainstorm topics for writing and blogging, try to break things apart. I ran into that this past week in a series of posts about video and blogging. I wanted to go on and on, but decided to give just one thought in each video and save the rest for the next day.
Obviously there are exceptions. There are times you’ll want to present counterpoints, or multiple steps in a process. But when it comes to those posts about some inspiring concept, big idea, or breaking news… stick to the point. Readers will love you for it.
About Brandon Cox
Thanks for sharing this. :)
This has been one of the hardest things for me to do – keeping it simple. I tend to ramble or go off topic. If I can remember these tips, I’d have more blog posts, which is always a good thing. :)
.-= Marianne´s last blog ..Movie Review – The Book of Eli =-.
Absolutely – the more the merrier!
Brandon,
I just want to point out the obvious from my God-ordained pew location. Just like Jesus spoke in King James English, all good Baptist sermons must have 3 points and a prayer – no disrespect to Andy Stanley. ;)
After four months of blogging (an eternity I know), I have yet to be able to stick to just one point. To be honest, I haven’t tried that much. You’ve made some great points though, and I will have to give some real thought about it as I continue to blog.
Brad
.-= Brad Harmon´s last blog ..My Proven Client Referral System – Part 1 =-.
Haha, well there is definitely room for refinement.
It’s important to note that I’m not suggesting we don’t break our posts down into chunks called “points” but that those “points” all revolved around the one big point.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
I’ve come to realize that most visitors’ attention span ( is so short I’m guilty of this as well)that writing on more than one point in a blog post, just makes it too long. They’ll never finish reading the rest of it anyway. So you’re right, just get to the point. Although, sometimes I feel I get so to the point that I have nothing more to say, but I guess that’s another blog post topic… :)
.-= Kiesha @ Highly Favored´s last blog ..He’s speaking – are you listening? =-.
Yep, another day’s post indeed!
Great suggestions! Andy Stanley’s book revolutionized my preaching! I have done my best to apply it to my blogging as well!
.-= Kevin M.´s last blog ..Please continue to give to Haiti! =-.
I know what you mean, Kevin. I wrote about that very thing in a post on how my preaching has changed. And it’s certainly shaped my blogging and overall communication style too.
Twitter: Ileane
says:
Brandon,
When I’m creating videos, I always give myself a time limit, because I can go on and on…
I find it easier to create a short video and when people see that the time is under 3.5 minutes they are more likely to watch.
Thanks for the tips.
@Ileane
.-= ileane´s last blog ..Branding The Podcast Blog =-.
It’s funny, I’m the same way mainly because I don’t watch videos longer than 3.5 minutes very often.
Good advice.
I do the same. A good title, one good idea. And a nice ilustration. No more tham 1000 caracters
Man you do keep things brief! Thanks for stopping in!
I like the second point relating back to the title .. before entering the post i have read it and got an idea what will be inside it.
& i m glad that i read it & came in :)
.-= Jaspal´s last blog ..How to make multiple accounts on twitter with same email address? =-.
I’m glad as well – thanks for stopping by!