Did you know that 43% of people admit to just skimming blog posts? Surprised? This is one of the interesting statistics published by Impact. Which blogger would want their readers to look through their content quickly to get a general idea and leave their page within seconds, given that they have put so much effort into each word on that page to communicate some great ideas through every single line?
You might be surprised to learn that despite the best writing skills, the use of complex language, state-of-the-art phrases, and huge run-on sentences is useless if the reader cannot understand them.
Research has proven that poor content creation and structure is also one of the reasons a reader might leave your website. This is where a blogger needs to focus on their blog’s readability because great content will only have a great impact when it is easy to read and understand, leaving the reader happy and satisfied, which ultimately translates to repeat visits and more money.
10 Ways to Enhance your Blog’s Readability
1. Avoid Grammatical Errors:
You know that poor grammar and spelling mistakes can hurt your blog’s likeability. BlogClarity published that such errors cause speed bumps during reading and can muddle the meaning of a sentence.
2. Keep the Language Simple:
Every blogger seeks to showcase their writing skills with the use of the best language. This is great, but only if your target reader is equally fluent in the terms, you are using. When writing for a general audience, try to keep the language simple.
3. Use Simple Vocabulary:
A reader can get easily turned off if s/he has to constantly check a dictionary to understand the “out of the box” vocabulary you have used. One or two difficult words in a paragraph may be acceptable, but avoid overloading sentences with tough words.
4. Get into the Habit of Writing Short Sentences:
It is easy for a writer to stretch a line, bringing as many transitions as possible into a single sentence. The result? A confused and frustrated reader. Make sure that your sentences do not contain more than 20 words. Avoiding long sentences is a great way to prevent grammatical errors too.
5. Keep the Paragraphs Short Too:
Just like the sentences, make sure the paragraphs are divided based on their unique information. It is best to keep a paragraph just 7 to 8 sentences long.
6. Use Headings and Subheadings:
Do you know that an average reader first looks at the headings and subheadings in a post before skimming the content? Using attention-grabbing headings and subheadings will increase the reader’s retention span. Moreover, don’t forget to tag the headings and subheadings with H1and H2 to optimize your blog posts for search engines.
7. Optimize the Blog’s Length:
We all know that Google prefers lengthy articles, whereas readers prefer shorter ones. Keep the length of the article at a minimum of 300 words and a maximum of 700 words.
8. Pay Attention to the Visual Aspect:
Do you remember the Impact of a perfectly crafted, beautifully written article by your friend in her notebook, with all alphabets in a similar size? The same is valid for online content, where the blogger needs to pay attention to their content’s appearance on the website. Choose an excellent body text, keeping the font size average while keeping the font size of the headers and subheaders slightly larger.
9. Avoid Too Many Bolds and Italics:
Placing or italicizing the important text may grab a reader’s attention, but overdoing this can ruin a reader’s experience. Be cautious only to highlight the most important text.
10. Use Images:
Instead of using bold and italics to generate interest, use the power of visual storytelling by using powerful images that go perfectly with your post to increase your blog’s likeability.
In short, blog content not only needs to have high-quality content that is valuable for the reader but also be visually appealing to keep the reader going.