As publishers, most of you must have a goal to earn more revenue in 2011. But publishers may notice that their traffic keeps dropping, preventing them from earning the maximum amount that their site deserves. One of the reasons is that website content cannot retain repeated visitors or no one refers your site to others.
Writing content for your blog does not have to be a huge chore. You don’t even have to be brilliant at writing or even write a lot of material for your piece to catch the reader’s attention. By styling your text and writing less, you can create an easy to read piece for any visitor.
Impatient Searchers
Think about how you use the web. You search for information by visiting different webpages, and if you don’t find it, you quickly click somewhere else.
What can you do to attract your readers so that they are able to take in and interact with the content on your page easily?
Make it short and to the point.
In order to be successful for the web, you will need to write in a way that is easy for people to scan your content.
Consider breaking up a complex topic into a series of posts. It’s a great way to keep people coming back for more, and readers will find it easier to take in your content if it is in smaller parts.
Format your paragraphs into the inverted pyramid style. Do this by stating your conclusion first, then supporting it with the rest of the content. Scanners are able to move from point to point easier, and focus on anything that interests them.
Once you’ve followed the pointers above, follow the simple techniques below to design a more reader friendly content. By following these simple pointers, you can turn a mass of words into a more engaging piece for readers to take in.
1. Introduce the line break.
You can make complex ideas more readable by adding in more line breaks to create more white space. Try to limit one idea per paragraph, and keep them brief; around 3 – 4 sentences at most.
And try writing some paragraphs with one sentence only.
2. Break up your content with compelling subheads.
Try to write your headline and subheads first.
Writing a strong headline is crucial to getting readers to come check out your content, with subheads acting as “mini-headings” will keep the content flowing well and get them to continue reading.
Be sure to make you subheadings interesting and informative as well. Try to make the article not too full of exaggerated, or else it would sound forced and loose credibility.
Once you’ve created your subheads, review them and see if the person that is reading it will understand that part of the article if that was the only part that was read. Is it compelling and informative enough?
3. Use bulleted lists
- They quickly catch the reader’s attention.
- They are easy for readers to take in multiple points.
- They are different from the rest of the text, so they give readers a visual break.
4. Use strategic formatting.
Add emphasis on the most important concepts by using bolding on your copy. That way, readers are able to scan and find the most important information at a glance.
Try not to highlight everything though, only highlight the key points so that the scanner can find them quickly.
Does it make sense to the reader? Did you bring out the most important points for the reader?
Of course there are many other ways to increase the retention ability of your content, but here are just a few points to get you started on the right foot for the new year.
