by Patricia Mayo

Maybe being lazy is a good idea, according to - you guessed it (well maybe you didn’t) - Seth Godin. He calls it “keeping copy out of the way of your message“… but I know better.

Photo by Paul Mata

This isn’t the first I’ve heard of the concept. A lot of great and well-renowned books on copywriting say pretty much the same thing. Some of my favorite quotes by famous authors say pretty much the same thing.

Get to the point. Quickly.

But, you see, I have a little problem with broad stroke “solutions.”

Less is Best(?)

If you’re trying to generate as much revenue as possible from advertising, it makes sense to write frequent and shorter blog posts. Going for volume will get you more search engine traffic and that sometimes means sacrificing quality for quantity.

But that’s fine because the size of your traffic is more important then the quality or type. You want the masses in and you want to send them out via an ad link. But this strategy doesn’t work if you’re trying to produce content that makes you an expert.

The best channels, the ones worth paying attention to, filter. They are valuable as much for what they DON’T publish as they are for what they do publish. If you have an ad supported business model then information pollution is an effective means to increase profit margins, but if you sell consulting and/or content a different approach is required

When you’re trying to sell personal consultation services, you shouldn’t create short blog posts for the purpose of generating traffic or piquing interest. Your articles should have one ultimate and all important purpose: to demonstrate your knowledge and skills. People want to hire a thought leader, not an follower.

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Trisha, @mayobrains on Twitter