Do you know how to keep readers’ attention? We had been experimenting with different ways to make articles more attractive until we found and checked the best steps to do it. Let’s read!

So, your content should be Scannable! In other words, short and understandable from the very beginning till the end. Sentences and paragraphs are brief. Bold text and bullet points highlight key points.

It’s specifically used to streamline the way readers absorb information to keep them interested. Most people read online by scanning the page for individual words, phrases, or headings.

So how do you know if your content is scannable enough?

You can use an online application (ex. *Crazy Egg*) that provides you with eye-tracking tools such as Heat map, Scroll map, Overlay, and Confetti to track a website’s operation. This helps you to understand the scannability of your headlines and subheadlines (and other content).

Heat mapping can show you where the focus is and where it should be. By adjusting the format of their site, they were able to improve that significantly.

Frontloading

The approach of offering the most important information before filling in on the secondary details is called frontloading.

An effective frontloading distills the most important information for the reader. It helps readers quickly digest the announcement, decision, and when the new procedures go into effect.

The structure of the article

• Header

• Introduction

• 3 Sub-headers

• Conclusion

Sub-heads

Headlines and sub-heads are the first things that people see. You probably know the 80/20 headline rule. It states that 80% of the readers just read the post title. For every 8 people that read a headline, only 2 read the post.

So, large, Bold words that act as visual suggestions of what is happening in the content are effective ways of drawing readers further into articles.

Text styles

Use bold, CAPITALS, italics, underlining, Teletext, and to emphasize points. Don’t go overboard as you run the risk of frustrating your reader. Also, consider changing font size, color, and style to draw your reader’s eyes to your main points.

List

Making a list helps your content succeed because it is more acceptable for social media. The key is creating a great list that gives you extra help in terms of presentation and connecting with your readers.

Also, with listicles, you don’t even have to read every paragraph. You know what the topic is. You can just read the headings and get what each item is about.

Pictures

You’ve spent all this time on creating articles with catchy headlines, and you want your posts to shine. The best way to do this is a great visual. Research shows that the reader’s eyes are drawn down the page by pictures. The first image your audience will see when they come to your page is your featured image.

You can find attractive images from stock sites (ex. https://unsplash.com/) as I do. Place them cleverly by your key points (especially when they closely relate to the content), and you have more of a chance of getting readers to read full articles.

Keep in mind that the technical articles look more attractive with the code screenshots or handmade infographics as the main image. Prefer this approach and only if there are no options use closely related ones.

Space it up

Don’t feel you have to fill up every inch of your screen — instead, create spaces because they help to read the important information without a feeling of overwhelming.

Ruslana is a Lead Generation Manager at JetThoughts. Follow her on LinkedIn.

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