Because people’s attention span is only 6-8 seconds, they want to know straight away what you blog is going to be all about…. Even before they click on your headline! 

They are assessing the possibilities:

•  They want to know whether it’s worth reading. Is there something personally just for them? 
• Or is it just a lot of useless boring stuff, that isn’t really satisfying. 
• What a let-down and waste of their clicking time, there is just a few empty words on a vacant page!! 

Consider:  

If you were personally surfing the internet… what do you want or expect on other people’s blogs? 

• How choosy are you? 
• How many blogs do you cruise before you find one that you liked? 
• That good one: What impressed you most? 

Not only must the headline and sub-title be clickable: 

After clicking on the headline, what do you see first glimpse?

Is there a stunning image or a bold statement to continue to hold your interest? 

What happens on that first page is very important: 

What is your introduction like? Is it dynamic enough for people to continue scrolling down? 

Let me put it this way: 

• When writing a book, the first sentence and paragraph on the first page, must be powerful. 
• The first page, of the first chapter, must be full of gripping action. 
• The first chapter must get the people right into the plot. 

If it isn’t so, people tend to close the book and put it aside, never to read again. 

So let’s get back to we were talking about… 

Now they have scrolled down and you have them interested: 

• So what is there in your blog’s content worth their expectation? 
• What have you for them? 

Make you blogs exciting and worthwhile reading: 

Are you aware of what people are really looking for, need or crave most? 

1. How long or short is your blog? Long enough to insert interesting stuff, and concise enough to get to the heart of the matter!  
2. Once people reach your blog they don’t want to spend more than 4-6 minutes reading it. 
3. But if the content is really good, they won’t mind how long, even click on other stuff you have on your site, knowing and trusting your blogs won’t be boring. 
4. Another thing that puts people off, is swearing. It makes people feel uncomfortable.  It’s like seeing a grown-up man chewing gum! People don’t expect anything cultured coming from someone like that. 

Let me expand further on number 2. & 3. 

Peoples’ concentration span isn’t long term. Unless the person speaking is fascinating…. the way they express themselves! 

In the case of a person giving a talk, standing right in front of you… you can see their body language. How they wave their hands and the expression on their faces. It supports what they are saying. 

The more fascinating their presentation, the longer people’s concentration will be. But even that, has a limit of about 1 hour. Anything after that must be really gripping stuff. 

Conclusion: 

• It is noted that visual assemblies make greater impact on people’s senses and emotions, than if they were just reading words. 
• Getting back to clicking on and reading blogs: The more fascinating and dramatic the presentation, the greater followers you will have. 

Having made that statement, I must say, some topics are more serious and hard to express one’s self in a fascinating way. 

But the point is…  

Try to grip your reader’s concentration with dynamic stuff! And give them content that they’ll benefit from. Try to be out there for them. Care about their needs and greatest desires.