The Perfect Paragraph Has Value
Good content provides value to the audience. But this is not enough. Engaging content must provide value from its first word until the very end — each paragraph should have value encapsulated within it.
Stating the obvious, repeating a previous insight without adding a new perspective, or just describing something that does not contribute to the keynote of the text suggests that the paragraph is redundant. The perfect paragraph provides value that can stand by itself. Of course, it should be part of the bigger picture, but it must be more than just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle.
The perfect paragraph changes something in the mind of the reader.
The Perfect Paragraph Flows Naturally
The perfect paragraph has standalone value, but at the same time, it should connect naturally to the preceding and following ideas.
The flow of your text is as important as the ideas you aim to convey. Text that doesn’t flow naturally is not engaging, and as a result, it is less effective. Any text that includes more than one paragraph should be designed to be read fluently. Don’t make the reader question the logical flow. The order in which ideas are arranged must be transparent to the reader, and the only way to achieve that is by creating a chain of ideas in which every link works perfectly with the links next to it.
The Perfect Paragraph Makes You Think
A thinking reader is an engaged reader. More than driving action, an effective text triggers thinking. When every paragraph is capable of doing that, the audience becomes more hooked.
Don’t settle for providing value within each paragraph — make your audience think. Processing the text will make it more memorable, and its impact will resonate longer. When designing your text, make sure each paragraph makes the reader stop to reflect, consider the implications, or change their course of thinking.
