4 Blog Content Tips

Blogging is not like other writing, it’s a lot more informal and it’s on the web. People have the attention spans of gnats these days, so you need to grab their attention quickly.

Here are some practical tips for writing easily read blog posts:

1. Use formatting.
People like to skim articles, so this will help them focus on those parts which are of most interest to them. Have shorter paragraphs, use headers. Use bullet points or numbered lists. This is probably one of the few times when lists are the best way to format your content, in spite of what the picture says! This will make it easier for your readers to recall what they’ve read.  Don’t go overboard with lots of fonts and fancy formatting though.

2. Remember the visuals.
Over 65% of adults are visual learners, so pictures and colorful graphs can really grab their attention.  And remember to name those images so they reflect the blog topic. This is good for search engine optimization.

3. Invite participation.
Ask questions of your readers. Do polls. Have contests. People love to feel a part of something.

4. Take a stand and invite controversy.
I’m not talking about politics or religion here, but write on something that might go against popular thought. My biggest stand is on the extreme overuse of technology.

What other tips have do you have to creating and formatting easily read blog posts?

Photo is courtesy of Derek Keats’ Flickr Photostream, under Creative Commons licensing.