For today’s 30 Day Blog Challenge prompt, we are going to transform our blog posts into easy to read content for both our readers AND search engines. These quick blog formatting tips will make your content stand out.
Before we share these tips, let’s review our past topics:
Catch up:
- Day 1: What is a Blog Challenge?
- Day 2: Categories
- Day 3: Quick Content Ideas
- Day 4: Create Better Blog Post Titles
- Day 5: Use Drafts to Get Ahead
- Day 6: Quick Vs Epic Blog Posts
I am sure you have realized that our readers have short attention spans, and we always seem to be competing with other blog posts. We see so much content on social media daily that it is impossible to fully read and consume it all. To read what we want to read, we have simply started scanning articles and books to decide if we want to actually read the article, watch the video, listen to the podcast.
Our blog readers are certainly no different. It is important to write content that is compelling but also to display it in a way that makes it easy to read. Formatting is an important, and sometimes forgotten about, step when it comes to blog posts. Formatting also helps with SEO!
How to Format Your Blog Posts
For Your Readers:
- Use headlines: If possible, add headlines throughout your post to draw attention to the main ideas.
- Break up the text: Use images to break up the text.
- Create bulleted or numbered lLists: Lists are easy to read, quick to scan, and help readers consume your content. If you’re writing a tutorial, be sure to separate your supplies and instructions. Use bullets or numbered lists to detail the step-by-step instructions.
- Keep paragraphs short: Reading online is different from reading a print book or newspaper. It can be harder on the eyes since we are staring at a screen all day.
- Bold important concepts: Highlight the most important key words by using bold or italics. Don’t overuse this tip, but it is a helpful way to add emphasis to certain parts of your post.
- Stop Centering Text! This is such a big one that people ignore. It is harder for us to read centered text.
For Search Engines:
- Use H Tags: Using H tags like <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc. show search engines what words on the page are important. Use an H1 tag for your post title. If you’re using blogging software like WordPress, you may have settings within your blog post editor that can help you easily add different tags to these headlines within your post.
- Throughout this post, I used various header tags to break up the text and make it easy to read.
- Use alt tags in images: As you’re adding images, include text in the alt tags that describes the image and includes your main key word. Not only does this help with ranking, it is important for Pinterest too! Depending on how a user pins content from your site, your alt tag is a part of that! Your alt tag could populate when a user pins from your site, so make it interesting and keyword-rich.
- Use keywords in the post: Before publishing, give your post a quick scan and make sure you’ve used your keywords. Don’t overdo it, but also don’t forget to include it. In a 400+ word article like this, using the keyword about three times is a good general rule of thumb. The Yoast SEO plugin is a must-have to help you make sure you include your keywords enough in your content.
Are you formatting your blog posts to make them easier to read?
Today’s Task:
Create or share a post that uses these strategies. Share it in the link up below.
- Facebook it: Stop by the Facebook group and share your post or just answer the question in our forum.
Add Your Blog
Share your new blog post with our daily challenge topic! Make sure to title it “Day 7:” with your best formatted blog post.
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Some really useful info here! Thank you!
http://www.vanityandmestyle.com
This is such wonderful info! I didn’t know about the “h” tags! I will start using those more, thanks!!
I love using bullet and numbered points! And I sure didn’t know about H tags, I’m so glad to learn that tidbit
I use Yoast and for some reason I can never get all the greens. Finally this week, I managed to nail it. Sometimes I get a bit wordy and need to remember to break up paragraphs. I think that is my biggest downfall. Also need to work on my alt tags. I’m going to remember to enter my keywords into the photos. Thanks for these tips!
I wish that I had thought to have my assistant join this challenge. I have two different blogs that need attention and this challenge would have helped to educate her on best practices.
Such great tips! It’s taken me forever, but I think I’m finally formatting my posts correctly. In the past I would bold my text, but now use h tags! I think things look much better with h tags.
I always use pictures to break up things, but in the past I wasn’t utilizing the alt text feature. DOH! I make sure to do that now, and I think it has helped especially when it comes to Pinterest. 🙂
XOXO
you seriously always have the best tips for blogging and i am so glad to be in this group! It has helped me so much as a blogger!
There is so much helpful information here! I’ve never heard of more than half of this stuff and since I started blogging I’ve been trying to find out how to get my information out to more people! Thank you for this!
Silvia
http://www.lovelysilvia.com
Great tips!!! Key words are so important!! I have been going back to my early post and adding key words to them. I was so clueless on that type of thing back then!
Thank you for this. I’ve never really thought about formatting my blog post any particular way. Now I have the proper information to do so. =)
This is a very informative post. All of the information I search for is right here. its nice to not have to keep searching, I’m bookmarking this one!
I didn’t know about many of these! I’m not ready for the challenge…but maybe next time! Will definitely check out some of these links!
Thank you for the tips. Sometimes I neglect some of these because I get so excited to write but some of the points you suggested actually do make it easier on the eyes for readers. Happy Blogging!
You are so awesome! You always give the best tips and blogging advice! I absolutely love BloggersGetSocial and always have! Thank you so much!
These tips are incredibly helpful! I wish that I would have found your blog when I first started blogging, so I wouldn’t have had to figure everything out on my own. Proper formatting and keywords not only help when it comes to search engines, it helps with reader experience, too!