Have you ever searched for information on Google, only to be recommended blog posts full of massive text blocks? Did you battle your way through, or did you close the posts and look elsewhere?
You likely did the latter, because that’s what most people do when presented with improperly formatted blog posts.
Why is Blog Formatting Important?
Readers usually don’t read blog posts top to bottom. Most readers skim through blog posts to see if anything catches their interest, or to determine if they want to read the whole post. Engaging content isn’t enough to capture your readers. Your post must be easy to read.
Is it easy to scan? Or does it require intense focus to follow?
If your reader thinks reading your post requires too much effort, they’ll seek out content from another source that is easier to follow. In other words, they’ll look for content with good readability.
In general, readability is all about simplicity. To simplify your blog, follow these 5 simple guidelines:
1. Your headline should tell the reader exactly what to expect
The best headlines are intriguing and uncomplicated. They contain no surprises, because the reader knows just from the headline what they’ll get out of the blog post, such as tips on SEO blog writing or a guide to Google My Business.
If your blog post includes templates or downloads, make your headline more specific by including a description of the resources in brackets. The content marketing experts at HubSpot and Outbrain found that blog headlines with clarifying brackets performed better than headlines without brackets, which proves that readers are attracted to straightforwardness.
Sample headlines with clarifying brackets are:
Stress-Free Layouts for Landing Pages [3 Templates]
A Beginner’s Guide to Blogging [Downloadable Guide]
Parentheses with interesting facts also further entice readers to click, such as:
5 Ways to Improve Your Online Presence (#3 Doubled My New Users)
2. Use descriptive headers and subheaders
Readers shouldn’t need to read all your content to understand the direction of your post. An effective post will be broken into headers and subheaders that, when taken together, function as an outline that readers can skim to quickly find interesting sections.
Here’s a sample layout of a blog post that uses a procedural outline:
- 6 Powerful Steps for SEO Blog Writing
- Here are the most important steps for SEO blog writing
- Step 1: Start with the concept
- Step 2: Keyword Research
- Step 3: Identify Related Topics
- Step 4: Competitive Research
- Step 5: SEO blog writing best practices
- Step 6: Guide them to a next step. Use a call-to-action (CTA)
- Conclusion to 6 Powerful Steps for SEO Blog Writing
- Here are the most important steps for SEO blog writing
Even without the content, the reader can piece together what to expect from the post and determine in mere seconds if they want to read the whole post or choose particular sections.
Use the slider above to compare and view how formatting makes a difference!
3. Keep your paragraphs short
A sure way to turn away readers is to write long paragraphs that resemble blocks of text. Break down your paragraphs into small blocks of two to four sentences, and when emphasis is appropriate, one sentence. Vary your paragraph length so your post has rhythm, because too many paragraphs of the same length will feel monotonous. Likewise, too many one-sentence paragraphs will feel choppy.
4. Use whitespace
If you’re using small paragraphs but your blog post still seems cluttered, increase the whitespace, or the empty space on your page, with bullets and lists. Also helpful is incorporating block quotes and getting rid of sidebars and widgets. Anything that doesn’t contribute to your main content is distracting and might draw away your reader’s attention.
5. When in doubt, keep it simple
Stay away from complex formatting designs, such as bright background colors, too many text colors, and fancy font. Use a common font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, and size it appropriately. Font that is too small will strain eyes, and font that is too large will appear as non-professional.
Also avoid filling your text with too many italicized, bolded, and underlined words. Italics is difficult to read for many people, too many bolded words will make your text appear choppy, and people tend to associate underlined words with hyperlinks.
Conclusion
By following these five guidelines, you’ll create easy-to-navigate blog posts that help readers quickly locate what they want to read. You can further improve your blog post by incorporating SEO blog writing best practices, which are covered in this blog post.
If you’re struggling to format your blog posts or develop content in the first place, WSI Connect can help. Contact us for a free consultation, and we’ll help you create engaging blog content that attracts and retains readers. We’ll also help you develop a content strategy appropriate for your audience, so you can free up time to focus on the rest of your business.
