Practical WordPress Tip #6: Limit word count per post to create article series

(Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes)

Compelling content such as serialized articles brings your visitors back to read more.

Problem: Creating a series of articles is difficult without structure and practice.

Practical WordPress Tip: Use a strict word count, say 325 words, to limit the length of each article in a series.

Here’s how:

1. Use FD Word Statistics plugin to monitor word count.
2. When you reach your word limit, keep writing until you have concluded your current conversational thread.
3. Split or divide the conversational thread in a logical place to reduce the word count.
4. Add a segue to the next article in the series using material from the split conversational thread.
5. Start the next article in the series using the remainder of the previous article.

Why: All effective writing is structured in some way. The best writing structure, as the best design, induces creation without getting in the reader’s way. Structure (and design) should be invisible. Imposing a strict word limit on your articles in a series forces you to develop an effective writing structure… which you can use over and over again.

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Tagged as: Series, Word count, WordPress tip