How to structure blog content for improved engagement

We live in a content-saturated world. The advent of the digital era has meant that everyday we are exposed to a plethora of content from a multitude of different channels.

As more and more content producers vie for our online attention our attention levels are diminishing.Our content consumption behaviours are changing as we grow fatigued from this content overload.

This new fragmented and ephemeral content consumption environment we now live in has made us lazy in how we consume content.

Switching from one content piece to another is commonplace. Not reading an article or watching a video to the end is now the norm.

So, as brands who are writing blog content, how can we ensure we keep our reader engaged until the end of the article? Here are 5 tips you can use in your next blog article.

1. Use multiple headings

It’s important to break up your article with multiple headings. Not only does this make it easier on the eye when it comes to reading the article, but it also helps reframe the article and set new context as the reader progresses through it.

2. Keep paragraphs short

We are almost always writing content on a desktop device, but the majority of content in the world is now consumed on mobile devices.

This space disparity presents a challenge when structuring article paragraphs. Typically you can double the amount of paragraphs on a desktop when viewed on a mobile device.

This means that the old approach of writing university paper length paragraphs of 10 lines or more is not feasible. As on mobile devices 20 lines of continuous text is simply too much on the eye.

With this in mind, we advise writing paragraphs of between 3–5 lines on a desktop. This usually translates into 6–10 lines of text on a mobile device which is optimal for easy reading.

3. Use bold, italics and quotes

It’s important to utilise these text formats to stress the importance of a word or sentence. It also creates visual diversity which once again makes it easier on the reading eye.

4. Use media to break up text

At least every 250 words you should be using an image or video to break up the text. Generally this means when viewing an article on a 13 inch laptop there will always be a portion of image in view.

5. Keep sentences short

Always try and keep your sentences under 20 words long. These days it’s easy to lose focus when reading long, drawn out sentences which make use of too many commas. Use full stops in place of commas as an easy method to make your sentences short.

Conclusion

In the current world we live in, people are rather lazy when it comes to reading articles. There are so many other shorter and more interesting pieces of content to consume on the web. This means we have to work extra hard to attract and keep a reader’s attention on the blog articles we write.

Originally published at https://www.contentellect.com on May 14, 2021.