How to write active content. Part 2.

Do you want active content? Yes, you do. Trust me.

Here’s another way you can help create active content that firmly engages readers and keeps their attention: Vary the sentence lengths in everything you write. It works.

How many times have you started reading a blog post, article, email, or other marketing piece then simply lost interest? Your mind drifted. What happened? The content you were reading probably consisted of many sentences of equal length. And it’s likely that the paragraphs were similar in length, too. It’s the equivalent of being lulled to sleep by a repetitive sound or motion.

Don’t make that mistake. Vary the lengths of your sentence. It’s simple.

When a two-word or three-word sentence pops into your head during a writing exercise, put it down. You can always go back during editing and see if it works. Don’t stretch that short (and powerful) sentence into a long (and boring) one.

Yes, there are times when active content isn’t desirable. One example: When creating a technical or legal document. But, for many personal and business writing applications, active content should be your goal.

Thanks for reading “How to write active content. Part 2.” I’m author Joe Starin, a freelance content writer and owner of Hit by a Brick. I hope you’ll jump back and check out “How to write active content. Part 1.”

Author Joe Starin heads up Hit by a Brick, an independent copywriting resource.