So, you’ve got a great idea for a blog post, you’ve done all of your research, and your creative juices are flowing. Now, all you have to do is sit down and write the darn thing. But before you put pen to paper—er, fingers to a keyboard—take a moment to think about the way you want to package the information you provide. After all, readability is a huge factor in the success of your post; you could write the most eloquent, insightful article on the Internet, but if it’s not delivered in a digestible format, you’ll lose readers faster than you can say, “bounce rate.” Here are some pointers for structuring your blog content
in a way that hooks your audience from start to finish:
1. Break it up. Nothing turns readers off quicker than a big ol’ block of continuous text with no end in sight. But my writing is super engaging and incredibly informative! Why wouldn’t they want to read all of it? You might wonder. Well, the harsh reality is that the average consumer simply doesn’t have the patience for long-form content—no matter how high-quality that content may be.
In fact, according to research from the Nielsen Norman Group, only 16% of readers actually read Internet articles word-for-word. Translation: with so much content available to them online, readers want to be able to scan individual articles for the bits and pieces of information that interest them. And if you want them to read your content, you’ve got to make it easier for them to find those nuggets. So:
- Keep your paragraphs short, and use bullets when it makes sense.
- Add visual space when you transition from one section to the next.
- Use emboldened sub-heads or keywords.
In short, do anything to help your reader navigate his or her way through your post.
2. Use a list. Speaking of breaking things up—lists are a great way to increase the scanability of your blog articles. Perhaps you’ve heard the term “listicle” being bandied about. Well, as this Wired article explains, these list-article hybrids are no passing fad; they’re definitely here to stay. “The way we’re presented with information changes the way we process and interpret it,” the author of the Wired article writes. “Lists let us process complicated information spatially, transforming it from cluster to linear progression… they place digestible bites of information in context of a larger whole.”
It’s almost like taking one post and turning it into five or six—or ten, or twelve, or, well, you get the idea—mini-posts, each with its own specific topic. That way, your readers can find the exact information they’re looking for without having to wade through the stuff they don’t want.
3. Make it visual.
In addition to increasing your page views—by as much as 94%, according to this Inbound Writer article—and revving up your SEO, images give your blog posts an edge in the readability department, especially if you can work them into the body of your article.
Remember, humans are visual creatures. We’re hard-wired to gravitate toward things that are aesthetically pleasing, and adding images to your text will help capture your readers’ attention and pull their eyes all the way down the page.
4. Cut the fluff. Remember back in high school when your English teacher assigned a minimum word count to each essay and you filled your sentences with extra adjectives—fantastic, great, awesome— and adverbs—really, very, extremely—to make sure you hit the standard? It’s time to break yourself of that habit. There’s no minimum length requirement for blog posts; you should never make a post any longer than it has to be to get your point across. Say what you need to say, get to the point quickly, and don’t muddy the meaning with superfluous language.
There you have it: four ways to optimize the readability of your blog content. While these are all tried-and-true pieces of advice, keep in mind that the best way to learn what works for readers is to become one yourself. Follow a few blogs that interest you, and try to simulate effective formats in your own writing.
Happy blogging!