Think of Your Blog as a Delicious Milkshake..
How much time would you say you spend actually reading blogs? As much as many of us would LOVE to be able to sit down and read through our favorite blogs, it’s simply impossible at times. That being said, people who have subscriptions to various blogs tend to scan versus actually read the blog. It’s simply a known fact about the blogosphere. So, rather than fight this, we would spend our time better by trying to work with this information. What do I mean?
Write for the Scanners
Knowing that the vast majority of people scan blogs for information and then click onto the next blog, it is important that we tailor our blogs to these types of readers. You can’t please everyone, but you can come pretty close at times. Think of it like a milkshake. You want the blog post to look great (like a picture of a delicious milkshake), but you still want your content to be thick and rich.
5 Steps to a Delicious Blog Post:
- Use Catchy Titles- ones which will grab the reader’s attention but also provide a little insight into what the blog is about.
- Break Up the Text- Be careful of paragraph length and sentences that are way too long. Break up the text by using smaller paragraphs and smaller sentences so that readers will be better able to “digest” the material.
- Use Sub-Headings- This is key, especially for all of you scanners out there. If you’re in a rush but still want to get the gist of what the blog is about, you’ll typically scroll down the page while trying to glance at any sub headings or words that pop out. Therefore, it is important to give special consideration to those sub-headings. Keep them short but informative.
- Pictures are Great- Not only do pictures give the reader’s eyes a break, but it adds some color and depth to what you’re writing. Be careful when you use pictures though. Make sure that there aren’t any copyright issues. Flickr has a Creative Commons section where you can use semi-copyright pictures as long as you give a shout out to who it belongs to. If you can’t figure out how to add a caption to the picture, simply write up a little “Photo Credit” section at the end of your post that links back to the photographer. I’ll do one for this blog post to show you what I mean. One additional note with pictures is the size and placement. Make sure the picture isn’t too big because then it will distract the reader from the content.
- Length- I know I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Most blog posts are somewhere between 100-350 words in length. Whenever you can, try to keep the post on the short side. If you have a lot to say, it’s ok to squeeze it into a 500 word post, but when you start pushing 500+ you need to start thinking about separating the content into two separate posts or editing it down.
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[photo credit: Rick]
November 03 2008 02:00 am | Marketing
Alina Popescu on 04 Nov 2008 at 10:29 am #
Janelle, you are right: adapting to a common practice is a lot more effective than trying to change how things are done. As long as we have no idea how to increase the blog reading time our visitors have, making it easy for them to scan means respecting their real needs.
Touchscreen Phones on 05 Nov 2008 at 6:37 pm #
Think of a blog as a delicious milkshake is a fantastic analogy. Because I love milkshakes.
I like your tip about pictures, I agree, it helps bring some depth into the blog and really gives a better user experience.