4 Ways to Format Your Blog Posts So They’re Easier to Read

Back in the early days of online writing and web development (1995), formatting possibilities were very limited for most web content.  You had to be proficient in HTML (hyper text markup language) in order to change the font size of your written content which was beyond the technical abilities of many internet users.

There were only a few changes you could make to subheads and most text and online fonts were limited to Arial and Verdana.  However, now with all the Web 2.0 changes, many blog posts and online content is now being formatted with the beauty and legibility of layout print magazines. Web developers have developed these features into their blog themes so that the average blog owner doesn’t have to learn HTML and can take advantage of more advanced formatting possibilities.  Of course, their (the blog owners)  objective is to get blog readers to read their content, share their blog posts and/or act on the call to action.

The following are a few tips you can use to format your blog posts so that they are easier to read and provide the “stickiness” your online content needs to keep readers coming back.

1. Photos or Images – Photos lend context and provide supporting text that give relevance and information about the content of the article to their readers. You are better off choosing photos or images that provide a concept picture of your article or an image that illustrates the topic of your article.  Although there are many websites that include images with their articles, there are also many that do not. Your online article will have to draw or entice a reader on the strength of your title and your content.  However, keep in mind that Google has updated their search functions to include images.  That means many of your readers might arrive to your website or blog looking for  specific images.  Make sure you optimize your blog posts with the best images you can afford.

2.Text Size or Font Style – The size of the text or the font style is a real attention draw in print, but you lose that advantage on article titles or headlines in online search results. On the internet, netiquette rules suggest that writing a title in all caps is similar to shouting at your reader and is therefore, a writing habit you will want to avoid.  However, you can modify your font size in your blog posts. You can format your articles’ font within the blog theme you select.  Remember to use relevant keywords and a compelling benefit in your titles.

3.  Subheads– Captions or subheads provide additional information to curious readers, in print media you have the luxury of additional text to support a two or three word title or headline to inform or entice your potential reader. In contrast, most online articles do not have subheads available and headlines take on the role of telling the entire story in limited words. Web headlines can’t depend on images or subheads to get readers to click them so you’ll have to craft your titles to stand alone.  However, more blog post themes allow you to format your subheadings with the H1 to H6 options.  Be sure to take advantage of this feature as this makes your blog posts legible to search engines as well as humans!

4.  White Space– There is nothing like white space to provide an airy look to your online content or blog posts. Most tests show that readers tend to scan a blog post or article before they commit to reading it.  By providing plenty of white space between blocks of text, you give your article an open feel even if the article is lengthy. Thus you might improve the reading time of your blog visitors and make the blog posts a lot more “sticky”.  Don’t tempt your blog readers to click away with a tiny, illegible font , or big blocks of text in condensed paragraphs.