Style and Readability – Boldly Go With Your Blog

When creating award winning content you need to take into consideration the fact that many of your readers are going to be (a.) in a hurry and will skim through your article very quickly (b.) too lazy to read every word (c.) doing countless number of other random multi-tasking things while simultaneously reading your article.

For this reason it is very important that your posts are easy for people to read. There are a few simple and easy things you do to improve the overall readability of your blog.

#1 Break it down. Break your post down into short paragraphs. Anything more than five lines of text begins to look intimidating to many readers.

#2 Boldly Go. When writing a longer story (more than 3 paragraphs) always try to summarize the key point of each paragraph with a bold statement. This makes it much easier for readers to skim the article and get the main points. It’s important to give them the choice rather than choose for them.

#3 List-en up. When possible you should break it down further into list form. Lists are very popular because all of the data is organized, if you don’t like #1 then you can skip it and read #2 and so on down the line. This is a big time saver for many readers.

#4 Never stand alone. Occasionally there are those blocks of text that feel the need to stand alone at the bottom of a line. Whenever you catch these guys in your paragraphs, delete or add as many words as it takes to either remove the line or fill it in. Nothing looks worse and breaks up the flow of your page than a random empty space between two lines of text.

#5 Less is more. Be quick and to the point with what you’re trying to say. Unless you’re writing a short story or a mystery novel. Most people are just digging through the paragraph waiting for you to get on with it.

#6 Use your head. Headings and subheadings are there for a reason and you should not ignore them. A properly structured article might look something like this. Title – Intro – Heading – Text – Subheading – Text

Now again but with a little more style.

When creating award winning content you need to take into consideration the fact that many of your readers are going to be (a.) in a hurry and will need to skim through your article very quickly (b.)are too lazy to read every single word or (c.) doing countless number of other random multi-tasking things while simultaneously reading your article.

For this reason it is very important that your posts are easy for people to read. You’re stories should not look like a post doctorate thesis paper. There are a few simple and easy things you do to improve the overall readability of your blog, and make it look more interesting as well.

6 Easy ways to improve readability

#1 Break it down
You should break your post down into short paragraphs. Any block or paragraph more than five lines of text is going to look very intimidating to many readers.

#2 Boldly Go
When writing a longer story (more than 3 paragraphs) always try to summarize the key point of each paragraph with a bold statement. This makes it much easier for readers to skim the article and get the main points.

#3 List-en up
When possible you should break it down further into list form. Lists are very popular because all of the data is organized, if you don’t like #1 then you can skip it and read #2 and so on down the line. This is a big time saver for many readers.

#4 Never stand alone
Occasionally there are single pieces that feel the need to stand alone at the bottom of a line. Delete or add as many words as it takes to either remove the line or fill it in. Nothing looks worse and breaks up the flow than a random empty space between two lines of text.

#5 Less is more
Be quick and to the point with what you’re trying to say. Unless you’re writing a short story or a mystery novel. Most people are digging through just waiting for you to get on with it.

#6 Use your head
Headings and subheadings are there for a reason and you should not ignore them. A properly structured article might look something like this:

Title – Intro – Heading – Text – Subheading – Text

A little bit of style goes a long way when it comes to how your readers will think of you. Coming up with good content is only half the battle so remember to take the time edit your work carefully.

Your readers will thank you.