Writing by the Numbers- 3 Ways to Be Sure Your Article Gets Read

Rich Brooks of Flyteblog tells us that using numbers in your articles will guarantee your readers read your email, article, ezine, or blog post. Here's what he shared on his blog this week:

"Whenever I'm talking to clients about creating compelling email bait I always recommend writing an article that includes three things:

1. A number. People are way too busy and suffering from information overload to learn everything about search engine marketing, automotive maintenance or how to keep their garden green. However, a number implies that you've boiled it down to just a few salient points that will get them through the day and give them something they can walk away with.
2. A negative. Evidence shows (don't ask me to show it, just trust me on this one), that people are more driven to avoid pain than gain pleasure. Don't believe me? Which is a more compelling headline: "The Importance of Healthy School Lunches" or "School Lunches: Are They Killing Your Children?"
3. A point of interest. Obviously this negative list of attributes needs to be targeted to your best prospects and customers."

To illustrate his point, he cites a list of articles over at this week's MarketingProfs:

• Five Real-World Ways Businesses Are Marketing to Their Communities
• The 10 Biggest Mistakes Marketers Make—Number 1: Merely Handing Off Leads to Sales
• The 10 Cs of Branding
• Satisfying the 10 Cravings of a New Generation of Consumers (Part 2 of 2)
• Marketing Challenge: Three Ways to Score With Downloadable Products

This writing technique has also been promoted by article experts Chris Knight of EzineArticles.com, and Jeff Herring, The Article Guy. Personally, when I finally got this concept, it made article writing much easier.

Proof: yesterday I turned 4 lists of notes into 4 articles. I wrote a beginning and concluding paragraph to several lists of tips: Instant article writing when you have a list of notes from a lecture or other source.

Comments

[Joe]

I have a question about the third point:

# 3 A point of interest. Obviously this negative list of attributes needs to be targeted to your best prospects and customers."

Is this another way of saying that you should write to your audience?

For instance, let's say I have a piece on the importance of regular maintenance for assembly line equipment. If I am writing to an audience of plant engineers my negative headline might read: "5 ways to avoid a production line nightmare" whereas if I am writing to a more executive audience, one more concerned about profits I might try: "5 ways to prevent production breakdowns that cost you money"

Does that seem right?

[Patsi M. Krakoff]

Excellent examples, Joe. You have grasped this concept and applied it to your own targeted audience, in this case, two different audiences. Thanks for these samples, they further clarify point #3.

I had forgotten all about this post, and posted a series of articles last week, saying essential the same things, but in different ways. I just want to emphasize the importance of the 'make a list' technique for writing articles; it truly does accelerate the writing process AND focues clearly on relevant points. Readers love this because they can scan quickly.

Thanks for your contributions!