Keep Readers Reading—Proven Story Formatting Techniques
Formatting and styling secrets to captivate your online readers
Maybe judging a book by its cover is gamey, but it's a fact that appearances count, and that is always true for Substack and Medium writing as well as any other digital form. No matter which platform, if revenue matters to you, you have to encourage readers to stick around longer in your articles.
If they click away before they finish reading the title, you've got worries. If they eye-scan the page and feel like it’s too much work, your earnings will suffer. Even those who read for half a minute and bail will probably not return—they didn't connect with you. The goal, even if it’s only reached half the time, is to retain readers all the way through to the end. And that means you have to get their attention and make the journey easy and enjoyable. Looks matter.
You understand of course that we're all busy and there is a lot of stuff to read. So mostly, we're inclined to skim stories or scan the page to see if we really want to commit. Study these suggestions and adopt those that seem workable for you. You will see an increase in staying time.
Pro tips for extending readers' time on your article
1. Compelling Titles: The first thing readers see. Believe it or not, most titles do not engage readers. That's part of why so many writers find it tough to grow an audience. Make the headline intriguing and clear. Read Writing Titles that Demand Attention.
2. Strong Introduction: Start with a hook to draw readers in, typically writers rely on an interesting fact, a question, or a personal anecdote. Consider a funny story or a surprising declaration and keep the introductory stuff brief. You have to bring the reader into your main premise very quickly or they will be gone. Never, ever tell a long background story before you get to what your title promises. If you find yourself saying, "I'll get ot the story in a minute," a rewrite is in order.
3. Subheadings: Break content into sections. This makes it easier to skim and more digestible. The subs should give the reader a strong reason to keep going.
**“Design is art optimized to meet objectives.”
— Shimon Shmueli Your design supports your revenue
4. Varied Paragraphs: Use 2-3 sentence grafs as well as 5-6 sentences. Longer is tedious. Making every sentence a paragraph makes the reader have to scroll and destroys your rhythm.
5. Visuals: Add images, infographics, or videos. They break up text and add interest. Always use alt text—it's an SEO gem. Skip the emojis.
6. Lists and Bullet Points: They’re easy to read and more engaging than text blocks. Great way to help readers scan the page and see something to keep them reading.
7. Call to Action: Without being spammy or annoying, suggest that readers subscribe, read more, or share the post. I am not a fan of begging for claps, likes, reposts, and so forth. Let your writing's quality inspire responses.
8. Links: Link to your other articles to keep readers on your page longer. Judicious use of outside links can show readers that you care about their experience—they'll come back to you. Connect links to real text rather than just sticking th raw link on the page. Example—see item #5.
9. Pull Quotes: Highlight key points or quotes from your article in a larger font or different color. It draws the reader’s eye and emphasizes important information. Understand the difference between a block quote and a pull quote and use both.
10. White Space: Breaking between paragraphs or sections helps make your content look clean and less overwhelming. Do not break between every sentence.
11. Consistent Style: Use a consistent font and style for headers and text to create a professional and cohesive look that' easy to read. Be consistent with your punctuation, styling, and word choices, too. If you're all over the map, readers get tired.
12. Highlight Key Points: Bold or italicize important points or keywords to draw attention. Avoid using both for one highlight.
13. Resources or References: For detailed fact-based or news-based articles, provide sources and references to add credibility and depth. Put them at the bottom, footnotes are distracting.
14. Summary at the End: Include a brief recap of your main points to reinforce the key takeaways for your readers.
A word about images:
Great images are essential to retaining readers longer. Choose images that connect with your subject and actually have eye-appeal. Spend a little time choosing them. Skip copyrighted stuff including pictures scraped from social media. You could get sued.
Using Unsplash shots of plaques with words on them is not the most creative way to illustrate your story. Effective pictures cause the reader to notice the shot. That means they stay in your story a bit longer. The image does not have to be a literal illustration of your topic.
For example, several of the most popular, most prolific, richest writers I know on these platforms use pictures that may not exactly represent the theme, but they do draw the eye. Those writers add a clever caption that connects the picture to the idea of the story—and they get lots of comments about how interesting the image is.
James Bellerjeau on Medium did this with his image. Have a look at the caption. (free link)
Yes, it takes a little more time to attend to details. But if you find yourself bemoaning the fact that your stats or following is not exactly what you hoped for, invest the time. Make your work stand out — only 5% of writers make significant revenue writing online. Be one of those.
This is one of the most helpful articles on this topic I’ve ever read, because it’s very specific and implementable — I’m printing it out to use as a checklist for my writing. I need to figure out how to add alt-text to my images in Substack. I always do it in my Wordpress blog.
Love this. Now I must take each and work through your suggestions. There is so much to address and learn. It's like taking a course on writing. I'm so happy I found you; you're worth your weight in gold.