How to Get More People to Read Your Content

You searched and researched the internet to find the best topic for your blog post. And finally found an idea to start writing.

You wrote, re-read it, made some editing, packed it up and hit publish. You were very sure, it was going to bring in a lot of traffic.

Then, you opened up Google Analytics, which immediately took you to the Audiences Overview. Yes, there are some people coming in, but not that much as you expected.

You began to wonder what was happening?

“It’s a trending topic!”, you said it out loud. “It’s even more interesting than anything about Donald Trump being the US President.”

If you have been blogging for quite some time, you’ll noticed this happened everytime. And it felt like we had been thrown into the wonderland that Alice gone before. It’s strange!

But I tell you what, it’s really nothing advantageous by wandering around that alienated and deppresive land. We need a breakthrough in writing our blog post!

And fortunately, It’s not rocket-science.

Follow this post if you’d really want to know how to get more people to read your content!

Let’s get started!

1. Improve your content usability

Do you know that reading a blog is very different than reading a printed book?

When you read a book, your focus is on the text inside the book only. You don’t experience much distraction within the pages, usually ther’re just a few pictures and you can continue reading again.

When you read from the web or a blog, you will get more distraction from pictures, other pages within the site and links out of the site.

So, what you need to do is, make sure your content is really usable, easy to read and minimize distractions.

Yes, I know it is a good practise to put links to other internal pages in between the content, but one or two links are enough. If you have more than that, it’s better to list them at the end of your blog post.

2. Make it snappy

Reading on a screen is actually more tiring compared to reading a printed book. That LCD or LED lights, the reflection and unnoticable radition made our eyes easier to get tired.

So, to make people read your content, you need to write using clear and concise words. Make sure your content is easy to digest, so they can finished without tiring their eyes.

3. Make it fun to read

Remember that you are writing a blog post, not an essay or a white-paper which are filled with stiff words.

So, you need to expel the boredom. Let your readers have a little fun. A little bit of smile while reading your blog post is one good way to keep them coming.

Of course you need to have a little sense of humour, but aren’t we all have that?

4. Use more line break

Try compare this:

“One effective way to make your content more readable is to acquire more white space within the content. This technique can be done by breaking group of sentences to a couple of paragraph, instead of combining them into one. Also, you can try keeping each sentence short by featuring one idea per paragraph. It’s a simple rule, but it does make your content easier to read.”

with this:

“One effective way to make your content more readable is to acquire more white space within the content.

This technique can be done by breaking group of sentences to a couple of paragraph, instead of combining them into one.

Also, you can try keeping each sentence short by featuring one idea per paragraph.

It’s a simple rule, but it does make your content easier to read.”

Which one do you think is easier to read?

5. Convert long explanation to list

If you need to explain many items in the post, it is better to convert them to list. Break them down with numbered or bullet list and explaining each of them.

Content in list are easier to be read and digest. It also offered better visual appearance to make them scannable much easier.

6. Highlight important words or sentence

If you have words or sentences which are more important compared to the rest, you need to make them obvious for the readers.

So, try to highlight them by using bold or italic font style. It’s much better if you can use different color.

Conclusion

Never expect your audiences to read every words in your blog post. Most of them will only read the title, first and second paragraph, and after that, they are more likely just scanned over your content.

When you follow the tips above, you are adapting to the readers behaviour, not against them. Chances are, they will scan your content and may really read them when they find what they need.

And you will notice the difference in your traffic, page view and bounce rate.