When you’re writing you may notice your sentences are 100 words long. That is no bueno. I’m sure its different for each person but after 2 paragraphs I’ve lost all interest. Especially if it’s a long post and I just want to get to the point.
That’s why I like to keep my sentences as short as possible and straight to the point. Of course, this can depend on each writer on their audience. Someone else’s audience may like to read a whole book every time they open a post. Knowing your audience is a key in this.
However, keeping your sentences to the point and relatively short still stands. Run on sentences are a big no-no. A good exercise to do this is during editing.
If you’re like me then you create, edit, and publish every post on your website. Hopefully, you don’t skip the editing portion of this process. The exercise is simplistic. Every time you’re done writing, write down the word count somewhere. Then get a stopwatch and time how long it takes to read it. I like to keep it within a 2-5 minute read. Of course depending on what you’re writing about you can make this longer to fit how long of a read you want.
So, after you’ve figured out how many words and how long of a read it is we’re going to go through your post. Go through every sentence and find a new way to word them. The goal is to get straight to the point and making them short and clear.
After you’re done reread your post and time it again. Don’t forget to write down your new number of words and subtract to find how many you’ve gotten rid of. I’ve been doing this with all my posts recently.
I think it’s improved my sentence structure massively. I’m more likely to write a more complete sentence the first time around. The amount of time I take creating posts also cuts down due to better sentences.
If my series of blogging posts has helped you leave a like and comment! I’d love to hear about how I’ve helped or maybe feedback on what you think of my posts!
Toby Lopez 