On this blog I mostly write shorter posts, anywhere between 150 & 300 words. But many bloggers have more to share than that and don’t want to split the article across several posts.

What are the better ways to encourage your readers to stay with your post for the long haul?

Firstly, consider carefully why you are writing a longer post? Is it because you just can’t edit or is it because the topic lends itself to a longer post?  If its the former, consider writing it offline and having someone else read through it for you so that they can tell you what is working for them in terms of being a reader and what can be removed without losing the core content.

But if you are convinced that your topic really needs more space, then make sure to break your post down into smaller, scanable sections.  The use of good sub-headings will definitely help your readers follow your train of thought.  These can actually be a great way of creating the outline for your post.  Thinking about the topic and then build a skeleton based on your sub-headings before you actually start writing.  This will help you collect your thoughts and bring them to life.

Don’t leave the best til last. That might seem counter to good thought but, putting the punchline at the beginning or at least in the first paragraph is a great way to draw a reader in. It is how magazine articles are constructed and for longer pieces that is how you should think of your post, as a magazine article.

The use of images (copyright free of course) is another way to illustrate your point and break up a page of text. Zemanta is a great browser plugin that will give you access to good stock images and is context sensitive - e.g. it picks up on your headings, sub-heads and keywords and suggests relevant images.

So, don’t be scared of writing long sometimes, think carefully about why and how, and then go for it.

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