There are a few reasons that people ignore or stop reading a post you’ve just published. (paragraph)
First you haven’t grabbed their attention. And then if you have it, your readers leave because your post doesn’t provide interesting or informative content.
And then your content may be just too hard to read. Use this checklist for catchy, web-friendly and easy-on-the-eyes content.
7 Tips for Useful, Web-Friendly Content
The Short and Skinny Checklist
- Write an Eye-Catching Post Title
- Use Subheadings to Segment Your Copy
- Break up long paragraphs
- Add Links to Other Appropriate and Helpful Content
- Add Italics or Quotes to Emphasize Important Info
- Add a Call to Action (CTA)
- Use a category and tags in each post
1. Write an Eye-Catching Post Title
Is your title strong enough to pique your readers’ interest so they’ll click through to read? If you are concerned about SEO – are you using one of your website keywords in your title?
2. Use subheadings to segment your copy
To guide your readers who are scanning, add headings. Headings should contain key thoughts about the text and keywords (where possible). Your headings also give clues as to the content that is coming in the next section.
3. Break up long paragraphs
Edit your paragraphs into manageable chunks on the web. I have a client who calls them eye-segments: Just enough to read without getting lost in a sea of words. One main point per sentence, three sentences per paragraph – max.
Break the old grammar rules and intersperse your paragraphs with one line of text.
4. Add hyperlinks to other appropriate and helpful content
Help your readers find all the valuable content you offer. Link to other appropriate posts or pages that are connected to the post you’re writing today.
5. Add italics or quotes to emphasize important Info
Use italics where you want to add emphasis – eyes are drawn to text that is “offset”. Not using italics may result in some of your most important points getting lost.
6. Add a call to action (CTA)
A call-to-action. What do you want your reader to do next? Call, buy, look at your portfolio? Read a related post. A call-to-action guides your reader through your website. They learn about you in the way that you want them to.
7.
Use a category and tags in each post
Categories
and tags give structure to your blog content. And they help your readers find
additional, helpful content on your blog.
Over to you
Are your headlines strong? Have you edited your content? Are you helping your readers find the content they want? Why not take a few minutes right now and review some of your pages and posts using these tips?