You’ve been told to blog, great, but few people are actually reading your blog. That’s right – after all that time, energy, and effort, the number of people that are likely reading your blog from start to finish is very, very slim.
Nobody Reads My Blog, Now What?
Whatever you do, don’t stop blogging! Believe it or not, people are still likely to share your blog on social media platforms even if they never read past the headline! Why does that matter? Because you are still getting search engine optimization (SEO) benefits, even if they do not read all the way to the end.
With that being said, you can and should make your blogs more readable in order to increase the number of engaged users.
The Foundation of Blog Readability: High-Quality Content
Improving the readability of your blog is key for getting people to actually read your content. When it comes to anything with words, the first step is high-quality content. Without providing good, relevant, content, any other tactic to improve your blog’s readability will inevitably be limited in effectiveness without this strong foundation.
Therefore, make sure your content is very well-written. You can have all of the ideas and helpful information in the world, but if it the writing style is not right, then your blogs will likely continue to fall on deaf ears.
Also, remember to tell stories. Regardless of your business or organization, stories are essential for connecting with your target audience and helping to turn skimmers into engaged readers.
Tips to Improve Blog Readability
In a society where the internet is filled with a ton of information, high-quality content is simply not enough. Below are three effective content marketing tips that can improve your blog’s readability.
Use Images. Let’s face it, people will not read your blog unless they are attracted from the start. Therefore, it is essential to include an image in line with the text in the first part of your blog. This method not only allows your image to grab their attention, but also reduces the perception of the length of your sentences. The result, people read the first three sentences and therefore are more likely to read the remainder of your article.
Use Headings. Some people are simply not going to read big blogs of text. Therefore, make sure you break up the content with headers. If a header captures the attention of your reader, then they are likely to at least read that section of the article.
Use Structure. Make sure you create structure within your post, not only by using headings, but also by breaking the content up with visuals (graphics, infographics, etc.) and ensuring an easy-to-follow transition from one topic to the next. You may want to create an outline for each blog, including an introduction, body outline, and conclusion.
Additionally, make sure you include internal links, especially if you are talking about topics in which your readers may need more information. For example, if you are talking about search engine optimization, it helps to link to another blog post or page on your website that better explains what SEO is in case the reader wishes to learn more. (See the second section of this article where we linked to our SEO page the first time the topic was mentioned in the blog).
In short, effective content marketing means ensuring that your blogs not only contain well-written and heavily researched content, but also that you display the content on a page in an appealing manner.
Are you interested in learning more about using effective content marketing to take your business’s online presence to the next level? If so, contact Uptick today for a free consultation.
