Simple styling fixes to make your blog content more readable and sharable

You’ve spent hours crafting what you think is the perfect blog post for your business. It’s well written, speaks directly to your customer and offers clear, honest advice. You take a deep breath, hit publish and then… Nothing. No one likes it on Facebook or Instagram (or whatever social media platform your business uses). It’s like you’re not even there. What happened? Where did you go wrong?

For a business blog to be successful, so many factors have to align. Good writing, a smart SEO strategy, customer-focused posts and a call to action are just a few of them – and they all have to be synchronized, working together toward your business goals. There’s no denying a business blog can be an effective marketing tool but it’s damned hard work too.

Before you give up and throw out your blogging strategy consider that it may be the styling of your blog – not the writing or SEO – that’s holding you back. We’re a scrolling culture, skimming images and text, pulling out the bare minimum of what we need to get gist of the article – often missing the deeper meaning of a story in an effort to take as much in as possible.

A few simple tweaks to how you present your content to the world might make all the difference to your world. Ready to get started?

How to improve your business blog’s styling in 5 simple steps

1. Use subheads to break up your content. Mini headlines (H2’s, H3’s and H4’s) can break your content into more digestible chunks that make easier for scanners to read what’s most important to them.

2. Create more white space. One idea per paragraph – it’s a simple, quick way to make your content more scroller-friendly. Limit your paragraphs to a few sentences and sprinkle in a few one-sentence paragraphs to keep your content looking light and easy to read.

3. Learn to love bulleted (or numbered) lists. Listicle content is like candy for the brain, a curiosity we can’t resist exploring.

4. Embrace your bolder side. Highlighting a few words here and there make scanning easier and allow your readers to pull out the content that’s most relevant to them.

5. Include helpful links. Adding links to relevant content on your site keeps readers on your site longer. Providing external links positions you as a curator of helpful content and creates trust – which will encourage your readers to return again.

Can you use all of these scroller-friendly tips in one post? If you’ll look back at what you just read you’ll see that yes, you can use all the tips together. In fact, using all the tips in one post will make your content more accessible and help you turn scrollers into readers.

If you’re struggling with your digital strategy, I’d love to hear your questions and how I can help. Drop a comment below or shoot me an email and let’s start talking.

In the meantime, these posts might help you begin your content marketing journey:

• How to work with guest bloggers
• Why is competitive research important?
• Take your social media voice from meh to magnificent