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One of the first things that a new blogger learns is that writing a list gets your post read. If you take two identical posts and make one into paragraph form and the other into point form or list form, you list will get read and the paragraph may not.
Why is that?
I believe it has everything to do with our attention span. We’re accustomed to doing everything fast. We type fast, we read fast and we have developed a short attention span. We like to watch TV and movies that have fast frames and constantly changing scenes. We love to eat fast food or better yet, drive-thru’s.
Essentially we’ve been brainwashed!
It’s true. Every time I visit a website, I scan very quickly. I learned to do this from a job that I had where I had to quickly enter data. I learned to scan a page for the pertinent information and now I can’t seem to get away from doing it. My eyes automatically go to pictures, titles or lists. Unfortunately you’re not going to be altering society to make them read your blog in the format that you like to write so remember this:
1. Write in lists.
2. If you use paragraphs, write short paragraphs.
3. Make use of Bold, Underline and Italic to keep the readers attention.
4. Use subtitles.
I’m really speaking to myself on this. I tend to write my posts and forget to do the proper formatting before uploading. I’ll try to implement these changes and hopefully my bounce rate will improve.
April 4th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Hope it’s ok, this is a copy/paste from above, as I commented on the wrong post.
Exactimundo as they say. I LOVE lists, both writing and reading. I also tend to write rather long paragraphed posts, but as you pointed out, my paragraphs are never more then 2-3 sentences unless there’s no choice.
Even with short sentences, ya better make sure it’s informative.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Alice Seba’s Spring Cleaning Course - VERY Limited Seating
April 5th, 2008 at 8:34 am
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