Bloggers, writers and other content marketers know that engaging content is the name of the game. If their content is boring or turns people off, it is game over.
Readers that aren’t interested in a story aren’t going to finish. They’ll leave the page mid-read, which not only means that they won’t learn as much about your organization, it can kill your site’s search engine rankings.
How do you get readers hooked? It is a skill that content marketers can learn and then master with practice.
Short and simple well-written content build readability
Quick, punchy and easy to understand sentences are the building blocks to readability. Luckily, you don’t have to guess at exactly how short something should be. Break up your text every 80 to 100 words and you should be fine.
In addition to being shorter, the content should be well written. If the content contains endless, wandering sentences that don’t seem to have a point, why should readers continue to the end of the page?
Leave the reader with something they didn’t have before
In addition to a shorter structure for your content, be sure that the content itself provides the reader with something new. Something they need that can’t be found on every other site.
Original, compelling content will keep people reading through until the last paragraph. As long as they're getting information that they find is valuable, they’ll stick around.
Use graphic elements to break up text blocks
In addition to short paragraphs and interesting information, use graphic elements between areas of text to keep readers moving through your page. Place them every 200 words or so.
What kinds of graphic elements? Photos, pull quotes and subheadings work well. These elements also help people scan through the article and understand the news, advice, and information you’re trying to tell them.
As you use them, you'll see that graphic elements act like bread crumbs, leading readers to the destination you'd like them to reach -- the full end of your story and any calls to action you have.
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Dave Polykoff
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