43% of people admit to skimming blog posts. (Source)

I know that I have done it. I am probably the exception though because I do love to thoroughly read what others are blogging about. But I want you to take a moment to think about that number for a moment.

That is almost half of the people who read blogs. ALMOST HALF!!

You put so much work into creating a blog post that the number 43 probably has you shaking your head right now. You are sitting at your desk or still in your bed like me, questioning why you are even taking the time to write such amazing blog posts if your readers are ONLY going to skim it anyway.

Well here is why…

Because you love blogging. You have stories to share. You have knowledge that you want to give to the world. So you blog and you blog and you blog. Keep going because no matter if your readers are skimming your blog posts or reading them fully, you are creating content that is being looked at and shared.

There are ways that you can entice your reader to stay on for longer but in reality, we need to realize that your blog readers are coming to you for an answer. The faster they find the answer, the faster they can get back to doing what needs to be done. They will also most likely return to your blog because you made the answer clear, concise and easy to find.

Don’t think of the reader who skims as a bad guy. Think of this reader as someone who has an incredibly busy life BUT took the time to come to your site for the answer that they are searching for. These readers know what they want. They know what they are looking for. They are your ideal reader. So it is time to embrace these skimmers and help them fall in love even more with your blog.

How do you do just that?

8 KEY ELEMENTS TO ADD TO YOUR BLOG FOR THE READERS WHO SKIM

1. Infographics
2. Video
3. Headings
4. Easy to read text
5. Lists
6. Short paragraphs
7. Keep your writing natural
8. Bold important words

There is nothing better than a well-organized and a well laid out blog post. You know what I am talking about. You have seen the blog posts that make you want to keep scrolling, skimming and reading because they flow, they have defined areas and they just look beautiful on the webpage. This is our goal for you. To become a blog that flows.

I want to talk about some key elements that you should add to your blog to help you make it easier to read for those who are coming to your site for a quick answer.

1| Infographics. What is an infographic? An infographic is a graphic visualization that you are going to give your reader to understand the topic that you are talking about. The point of an infographic is that your reader will be able to see the information clearly and quickly.

This is a great way to engage with the more visual readers that are coming to your blog. Plus, I think most of us enjoy graphics that are visually appealing so this is a great piece to add to any of your blog posts.

Do you have an infographic already made that you want to turn into a blog post? I share my tips on how to do that.

2| Videos. You probably already noticed, but video right now is HOT! You have Tik Tok. You have IG reels. You have YouTube. There are so many ways to share videos. Adding a video to your blog post is a great way to break up the words and to get your readers to see YOU.

They are coming to your website to learn from you so they want to see your face. If you are anything like me, you are thinking…

I chose to blog so that I didn’t need to talk on video.

BAHAHAHAHA. Come on, I know I can’t be the only one who thinks this.

Search engines love video. Plus having video content in your blog post will help your readers stay on your site longer. The best part is that you can reuse your video content to all of your different platforms so that you aren’t always creating fresh, new content.

3| Headings. You want to make sure that you are breaking up your text in your blog post. By using headings, you are showing the reader where the important pieces of your blog are. This is going to help the readers that skim so make sure that your headings are using keywords and being descriptive about what that section is about.

4| Easy to read text. I know that there are so many fonts that are available and some of them are just beautiful but you want your text to be easy to read for anyone and everyone that comes to your site. Keep it simple.

5| Adding lists to your blog. This is a great way to really feature what they are going to learn about in your blog post. Before I broke down each of the key elements, I listed them above. This shows the blog skimmer what the elements are that I am going to talk about.

It is also easy to know what most of them mean so they may not even need the descriptions of each element.

6| Short paragraphs. There is nothing worse than coming to a webpage and seeing a wall of words. It takes you back to your school days when you had to read the awful textbooks.

You want to break up your paragraphs so that they are easy to read and scan. Reading a paragraph that is three sentences versus ten just feels so much easier and less like work.

7| Keep your writing natural. There is nothing worse than reading a blog post that feels forced and unnatural. Keep your writing natural. Let is flow. The easiest way to do this is to make sure that what you are writing about is a passion of yours. Use language that your target reader is going to use. Make sure that they can understand what it is that you are saying. Keeping your writing natural means knowing who your ideal reader is so that you can connect to them through your words. Don’t overcomplicate things.

Looking for simple ways to improve your storytelling in your blog, read my blog post all about storytelling.

8| Bold important words. This is a great thing to do to put emphasis on the words that matter most when it comes to that blog post. It helps to draw attention to those words so that the skimmer will know that it is an important piece of information about the blog post topic.

Look through my blog post and pick out the key pieces that I used. When it comes to videos and infographics, you don’t need to use them in each and every blog post if you don’t want to. The other key elements can and should be used often and in every blog post.

If you are ready to bring some life back into the blog that you currently have, join me for the Reviving Your Blog masterclass that is happening on July 26. I will be sharing 5 practical steps you can take to breathe life back into your blog.