There’s nothing worse than spending hours writing what you consider to be the perfect blog, hitting “publish” and finding out that nobody has read it.  There are no comments, no feedback; it’s just out in the Internet abyss.

So, how can you get more people to read what you have to say?

A lot of that has to do with formatting.  If your paragraphs are too long, readers are going to give up and move on.  I know this might seem sacrilegious, but when you write a blog, you need to forget some of what you learned in English class.  Remember – people tend to scan webpages rather than read them.

Try structuring your paragraphs in the inverted pyramid style – that is, with your conclusion first; this will help scanners move from point-to-point.

Here are some other ways to make your blog posts much more reader-friendly:

Line Breaks

Making use of line breaks is one of the easiest ways to improve the readability of your content.  White space keeps the reader from being overwhelmed.  Try to feature one idea per paragraph, and keep those paragraphs to a maximum of four sentences.

Subheads

Subheads not only help to break up your content, but can also help with keeping the reader engaged.  Subheads act as mini headlines, and help to keep readers moving through your post.  Be sure to make your subheads intriguing as well as informative.

Bulleted Lists

This may be pretty obvious, but bulleted lists are a fantastic way to present multiple points in an easily-scannable way.  They look different than the paragraphs around them, providing a visual break for the reader.

Now that you’ve learned a few tips on turning your posts from a large mass of words to readable, engaging content, what tricks will you use to help improve the readability of your blogs?