Can Military Writing Techniques Improve Your Content: Let's take a look at BLUF

Search engines love their snippets as they relate to clear concise communication to readers. Google essentially grabs the most useful and concise portions of content to answer search queries.

Users, attention spans have changed over the years with the study claiming that ” …our average attention span had shortened from 12 seconds in 2000 to just 8 seconds in 2013.” — Statistic Brain Research Institute.

Recent scientific studies have followed up the research above noting that there are a plethora of things competing for your attention, and your brain simply doesn’t have the capacity or time to deal with everything at once. As a result, we have become skilled at determining whether something is of interest to them or not.

This is where the BLUF technique of writing established in the military can be an effective tactic for improving your content writing, reporting, and client emails.

BLUF Writing Technique Meaning?

BLUF stands for BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT. It’s a method of structuring content that uses the conclusion at the start of the article/post to provide readers with an immediate grasp of what they’ll find if they choose to click or read your article. The main identifier of this technique is that the BLUF Technique does not offer a summary; rather, it leads you directly to the conclusion of your material upfront.

How does this translate to content writing?

Simple-You may increase the amount of time visitors spend on your site by placing the essential information upfront to encourage them to read on further down the page. This is especially purposeful when creating content for product pages to give clear concise information to help move the reader closer to making a purchase decision.

This doesn’t always have to be a written block of content, highlighted text, special images placed at the beginning or top of the page works as well if it grabs readers’ attention. Give it a try and let us know what happens as with everything it will not always appeal to all readers.