Do You Write for Scanners?
June 23, 2009 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Jobs
Do you write for scanners? No, not computer scanners…I’m talking about the kind of reader who doesn’t actually read an article, most of the time. I haven’t seen any official studies done on it, but I’m willing to bet that 90% or more of Internet readers scan articles quickly – and then maybe read them. I do it. You probably do it too.
Image: sxc.hu
So how can you make your blog post, article, or other piece of writing easier to scan? Use these tips:
- Bold-face the things that are most important.
- Use headings for longer pieces.
- Add bullet points or numbered lists.
- Use pictures.
- Break up huge chunks of text into smaller paragraphs.
Yes, I know, these aren’t ground-breaking tips…but to be honest, only about half of the websites I see actually use these tips at all, so I felt like I HAD to write something.
When a reader can easily scan your article, they’re more likely to actually stop and read it, and creating an easily-skimmed article doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice quality.
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Just wanted to say I agree that although these tips are basic, so many blogs still fail to implement them. Sometimes I’m staggered when I arrive at a blog and find enormous chunks of text (sometimes there are no paragraphs at all), no pictures, boring headlines, etc. There’s no way I’m going to read through something like that! Thanks.