Jonathan Wickham: The 10 Commandments for Formatting Blog Posts

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In the dark and ancient days of outdated teachings, and misguided traditions, a cry rang out over the mountains — a cry for sanity, common-sense, and objectivity.

Formatting a blog post properly, so the content shinned through brightly, would no longer be a desert of confusion.

Creating content that is a joy to behold for thine followers, instead of a burden upon their eyes, would be easily accomplished. If, and only if, these commandments are adhered to.

These are 10 Commandments for formatting blog posts.

Bind them to your mind, let them flow through your heart. Most importantly let them boil over into your creativity.

1: Title thine blog post with interesting and provoking headlines.
It’s time to start creating magnetic headlines that suck passerby’s into engaged readers, and the key to achieving this starts with an effective headline.

Your headline is the first, and perhaps only, impression you make on a prospective reader. Without a compelling promise that turns a browser into a reader, the rest of your words may as well not even exist.

2: Use subheadlines that communicate value and provoke interest.
Throughout your blog posts you should have subheadlines that suck scanners and turn them back into readers.

We all do this, we scan content first. If we see potential value, we go back through and read. A well placed subheadline that functions similar to your main headline will suck a scanner back into a reader.

Subheadlines are critical to turning scanners into readers. Use them effectively, and watch your content flourish.

3: Bold and italicize keywords to draw attention.
Can you see a pattern here? Our attention spans are very short these days and we aren’t too inclined to actually read anything.

In fact here’s a summary of an important study you should check out:

• 79 percent of test users scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word
• On an average visit, users read half the information only on those pages with 111 words or less (you can imagine if there’s more than 111 words)
• Users will read about 20% of the text on an average page
• Bolding and italicizing throughout your blog posts is another method to draw back people that are only scanning your content.

Pretty simple right? So start doing it. 🙂

4: Attempt to craft every sentence to keep readers engaged.
Every single sentence matters.

You are literally fighting for attention with every piece of content you create.

Ideally, every sentence should be packed with meaning and value. No wasted space, no wasted words, no wasted energy.

If you read 3 or 4 sentences that have zero impact on you, aren’t you likely to bail on the whole blog post? Me too.

Make every sentence as impactful as possible.

5: Use short sentences.
Short sentences work.

Don’t they?

Aren’t you reading these right now?

That’s what I thought. 🙂

Use these throughout your content and people will be more likely to read your stuff.

6: Use brevity — the concise and exact use of words.
Minutia: people don’t like it. People want something short and to the point.

Brevity is a skill, and it takes time to develop. Start practicing it with the words you speak and write and notice how much more impact you have on people.

This takes critical thought and objective evaluation on your part. Does what you’re saying actually add value and meaning? If it doesn’t, nix it.

7: Use short paragraphs — 4 lines maximum.
I’m just going to say it: assume everyone has an attention deficit disorder. Because after all, when people are browsing the internet, they all do.

No one, and I mean no one, sees a huge paragraph that’s 8 lines long and doesn’t slightly hesitate.

Subconsciously people are always asking themselves “Is it worth using my energy to wade through this?” If a person sees a huge paragraph, the chances they are saying yes to this question decreases — dramatically.

No giant paragraphs allowed. Start writing for internet readers.

8: Use only one idea per paragraph.
Organize your thoughts, and organize your paragraphs.

One idea per paragraph. Remember, a paragraph should only be up to 4 lines.

9: Use half the word count (or less) versus conventional writing.
This is brevity on a macro scale.

You must be to the point with every word, sentence, and piece of content.

Remember, internet readers have an attention deficit. It is what it is. Stop assuming people are inclined to care about your stuff. They don’t.

Online readers will only pay attention to your ideas if you present them in ways that command their attention.

10: Use bullet points.
Bullet points provide a great reader experience.

Bullet points:

• are a great way to organize
• are easy to read
• demand attention and turn scanners back to readers
• provide white space (a breath of fresh air for readers)

Find ways to use them throughout your blog posts. Get creative. You can easily turn a huge paragraph that is intimidating to read into a list of bullets that people love. All it takes is a little ingenuity.

Your readers will appreciate it — trust me.

These commandments are written for thine own good. Adhere to them and watch thine blog posts flourish. Fail to adhere to them and expect the wrath of no results.