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Did you know that the average person only reads a blog post for 15 seconds or less?

That means before I even get to the point, many people have already clicked off this post and moved on.

So if I still have your attention, you’re reading longer than the average person would!

And the same amount of attention is being given to your blog posts as well.

So how do you hold attention for longer?

The secret is in the way you format your blog posts.

Why focus on the format of your blog posts?

The truth is, attention spans are getting shorter.

With the rise of short-form content on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts people just have less attention spans than they used to.

So there is no fool-proof way to get every single person who stops on your blog to read for longer.

However, there are tricks for making the majority of people stay longer.

You may not be able to please everyone, but you can make it better for some!

The format of your blog posts is so important because people want to information they get to be found quickly, simply, and in bite-sized pieces.

So if your blog loads slowly, the text is hard to read, there’s too much of it or the advertisements are too much… they’ll click off in 15 seconds or less.

And you’ve probably put hours or days into creating a beautifully thought-out blog post. So you don’t want the format of your posts to be the reason people click away!

So what should you do?

Planning the format of your blog posts does not need to be difficult.

You’re already working hard at your blog and I do not expect you to suddenly need another checklist to add to your already full to-do list!

Just think of it like this; if you were trying to access a piece of information, would you rather access it from a post within seconds, or from a post that you need to scroll through to get your answer?

I think we all know the answer to that one.

So, once you’ve written your first blog posts before you hit publish, make sure to apply these top tips for improving the layout of your blog posts.

If you’ve already hit the ‘publish’ button, make time to go back over your old blog posts and implement these strategies to improve your old posts!

1. Use headings to format your blog posts

Using headings is the simplest way you can format your blog posts

Your reader does not want to be faced with a wall of text. What they want is something that they can easily skim-read and pick out the required information.

It is so much easier to read a blog post with headings. Not only is using headings easier on your readers’ eyes, but SEO loves headings too.

This is especially true if you add keywords to your headings.

If you want to go a step further (which I recommend you do) you can also have a Table of Contents added at the top of your blog post so if people have a specific question, they can just jump to that part in the blog post.

I use Table to Contents a lot when reading blog posts, and I’m sure you’re readers do as well!

2. Use color in your blog posts

Using color within your blog post can help to break up the post for your reader.

You can add color to format your blog posts in different ways;

• Headings
• Images
• Hyperlinks
• “Call-out” boxes

Personally, my headings and hyperlinks are all different colors from my main text. My hyperlink hover color is a different color too.

While the colors complement each other as part of my blog color palette, using colors for headings and hyperlinks helps to break up the text further for your reader.

I personally don’t color my headings (For no particular reason, if I’m honest) but I have read blogs that do that, and I found them very easy to read!

This is something you could test out on your own if you wanted to. Just make sure the color complements the blog post and doesn’t make it harder to read!

Images can be a great way to inject a little color into your blog. Just make sure that your images are relevant to your content, and optimized for SEO.

You don’t want to insert an image to format your blog post only for the file to be so large that people click off before it can load!

When inserting images, you can either use your own images or use stock images which are widely available on the internet.

I get a lot of my photos from the paid stock-photo website Ivory Mix. It’s a good idea to pay for a stock photo membership so you aren’t using a lot of the free photos that anyone can get their hands on!

This gives your blog a unique, professional feel and it will make your Pinterest pins do better to have fresh photos!

I fought buying a stock photo membership for a while, thinking it was a waste of money! It turns out, it’s only been a net positive for my business! Check out Ivory Mix Memberships here!

(P.S. This is what I call a “call-out” box! It’s a text box in a different color that you can use to highlight affiliate links, important info, and bonus tips! It’s a great way to format your blog posts better!)

3. Have short paragraph lengths

If you remember how writing used to be in your high school classroom- forget everything you learned.

A paper used to be 5 paragraphs in length, so they used to be pretty big paragraphs right?

This is not how you want to be writing your blog posts!

People want to be able to ski your posts easier, and having short paragraphs is the best way to allow them to do that.

You can make your paragraphs as short as you want. Sometimes I hit Enter after just a few words if I want to emphasize a point!

Now, you don’t need to go to that extreme if you don’t want to, but from looking at all the successful blogs from people, a lot fo them have extremely short paragraphs!

You have to think about the way people interact with your content. A lot of them are doing it on their phones. Which is a considerably smaller screen than a computer.

Meaning every paragraph looks twice as big!

So, short paragraphs help phone users. But I find even reading short paragraphs on the computer helps me read the blog post faster, so it helps everyone out!

You’re going to develop your own writing style over time, so don’t be afraid to test some thing s out and see what works best for you!

There is no one right way to write a blog post.

4. Proofread your blog posts

I cannot stress this enough.

This is less about the format of your blog post, but it is still relevant to getting people to read your blog post for longer!

It’s frustrating to read a post with a lot of misspelled or incorrectly used words.

Now, this doesn’t mean if you have one spelling error or a “too” instead of a “to” that the post is going to be impossible to read and everyone is going to click off, but you still want to be as diligent as possible!

And, unless you are writing a scholarly article, you can be a bit more lax about the words you use and how you write.

Multiple complex sentences are straining on a reader and can be difficult to digest, so don’t be afraid to let loose a little bit!

When you format your blog posts, it’s okay to write the lie you speak as opposed to making everything sound so professional. Unless that is what you’re going for!

When you write your blog articles, you are not expected to be a wordsmith or have a degree in literary writing.

So, if you are someone who isn’t the best at spelling or grammar, that’s okay!

Plus, there are so many tools that you can use to help you.

Google Docs has a built-in grammar and spelling checker, as does Microsoft Word and to enhance your spelling and grammar even more, I recommend Grammarly.

Grammarly can be installed into your web browser for when you are writing on the internet, and also into Microsoft Word.

There is both a free and premium version of Grammarly. But honestly, after 6+ years of using Grammarly, I’ve never needed anything more than the free version.

5. Choose your blog font carefully

When you are choosing a font for your blog posts, you want to make sure that it is something easy to read. This is going to help people skim your blog posts so much easier.

You don’t want to go for the fanciest font you can find when you format your blog posts, despite how pretty it might look.

Now, the same doesn’t go for other places on your blog. If you want to have a pretty font on your home page, you can do that!

I’d still recommend making sure it is a font that is easy to read, but you don’t have to go with a boring font everywhere on your blog- just for your blog posts.

On top of this, fancier fonts can actually hinder your site and page speed!

This is because fewer people use them, and so they can take longer to download to your readers’ internet browsers.

When I first installed my new blog theme, for example, it came with this beautiful writing which was italicized and small.

It looked gorgeous, but it was not easy to skim-read.

And there were certain elements which I had to zoom in on to read properly.

So the chances of my readers squinting their eyes and zooming in to read more were very unlikely. So, I had to change it up to something more simple to read.

Therefore, when it comes to your font, choose something which is easy to read and is easy on your reader’s eyes. Hostinger has a brilliant article about the best fonts to use for your website, which will help you choose the best font for your website.