I wrote a very popular post recently, about getting more blog comments. This post is all about how to get more blog readers and it starts with a question:
“Have you noticed how some blogs and websites are really difficult to read for any period of time?”
You know the blogs I mean, right? The blogs where you find yourself just skimming the content because after a glance of the page layout, you just don’t feel like reading the whole thing? If you want to attract more blog readers and increase reader engagement on your blog, you need to make reading your posts a comfortable experience. Otherwise, people will just skim your content and miss what you have to say.
There are already millions of posts that explain how to get more readers via SEO / social media etc. This post offers you some easy, yet super-effective ways to massively improve the readability of your blog and by extension, it’s reach, impact and readership.
So, let’s go!
Column width
There’s a lot of research, including my own, which suggests that once the width of a content column (that’s the part of the blog you are reading now) goes beyond a certain limit, it becomes less and less readable.
Although some have said that the maximum width should be just 65 characters (including spaces) I have found that there’s almost no difference until you go past 85/90 characters. I did a test a while ago, where I increased the width of the content area on one of my blogs to 100 characters and had to stop after just a week, because of the massive drop in every reader-based metric! I saw a huge drop in the average number of pages per reader, fewer comments and a drop in the number of times a post was shared.
So, if your current blog layout goes beyond 95 characters – consider reducing it.
BTW: The content area here is 502 pixels wide and I use a 15px Arial font, which equals a limit of around 85 characters.
Fonts
If you want people to be able to comfortably read your blog content, they need to be able to see what you’ve written without squinting! Many blogs use very small font sizes and as such, are way too hard to read on normal monitors and almost impossible to read, on smaller laptops and netbooks etc.
I use a 15px font size here, similar to that used by many other marketing and social media bloggers. You may want to use something a little smaller, but I strongly advise you not to go too small.
Black and white? Not quite!
Most new blogs use black text on a white background. Although black text on a white background REALLY stands out, it can be harsh on the eyes; especially tired eyes! That’s why it’s a really good idea to use a dark grey font on a white background, as used on many popular sites, like; The BBC, Seth Godin’s blog, Problogger and many other leading sites.
On this blog, I use the same shade of grey as The BBC, which is #464646.
Don’t let Bob or Mary screw up your blog
Whenever you make changes to the layout of your blog or website, you will get feedback from people, like Bob and Mary. Bob’s a great guy and has a passion for blogs with really wide content columns and super-small fonts. Mary’s also a wonderful warm human being, who loves those blogs that have jet black text on snow white backgrounds. They are both entitled to their opinions, but you must not change the basics of your blog design based on what Bob or Mary might prefer.
The vocal minority will often unintentionally lead you to make piss-poor decisions about the look and feel of your blog. As bloggers, we need to be a lot smarter than that. We need to look at the facts – The metrics we can measure. If after making a change, you notice; greater engagement, more comments, more people sharing your content, an increase in the number of pages the typical reader reads – then you are on track. Even if Bob or Mary’s intentions were good, they were simply expressing their unique preferences.
Listen to all your readers, not just the vocal minority!
Some advice on making these changes
If you are like me and know nothing about HTML or CSS coding, it can be an expensive pain in the rear, to have to make changes to the layout of your blog.
This is why I recommend you consider doing what I did, and start using the Headway wordpress theme; which will allow you to make changes to your blog, without learning how to code. Headway (affiliate link) lets you make the kind of changes mentioned here, in seconds. In fact, I built this blog from scratch, with zero need for expert help, using Headway. It’s given me total control over the blog and saved me a fortune. It’s also the ONLY product I have ever endorsed here!
Summary
Ultimately the decision regarding the look and feel of your blog, is down to you. However, there’s an old saying in business, which assures us that; “success leaves clues.” There’s a reason why so many of the world’s most respected and popular blogs do things in a certain way. They have already done the testing and measuring. Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to the readability element of your blog, it’s a wise move to make the experience as good as possible for your readers.
I’d like to know what additional tips you have, for making content more readable. Equally, do you have any experience of changing any of the elements mentioned in this post?
Let us know what you think!
Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!
Image: TEIA MG
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jim Connolly, TheTechNewsBlog. TheTechNewsBlog said: ►So, you want more blog readers? http://bit.ly/aQWAVR [...]
Jim this another very high-value post. I’m finding it particularly valuable as you’ve based so much on your own testing and valuable sources such as the BBC. As a designer, I’ve always been aware of the importance of word length and legibility, but as your lessons here apply specifically to blogs they are highly focused. I can see that I’ll be referring to this post again and again.
Thanks Ash! Great to hear that you find the posts high-value.
I just made changes to my personal blog (linked in the name) and already I’ve gotten two comments. (I basically restarted the thing last night, haha.) One of them was even from someone I don’t know. Fantastic.
It never occurred to me but the width of the content column does actually look nicer in the 500-580 range. I’ll have to make the change on my new blog and see what happens.
Too bad Headway’s default is 640,
BTW: you have a typo…
“As bloggers, we need to me a lot smarter than that.”
“be” a lot smarter than that?
Or should we just emulate you in all things for smarter blogging? That’s it!
.-= Corey Freeman´s last blog ..Can Your Blog Be Too Secure? =-.
Sometimes, small changes can have a huge impact.
Typo? Me? Never… Okay, fixed it. Thanks Corey!
Thanks for the advice – just designing a blog for my website, so can drop in these extra points at its inception. Celia
Looks like my timing was good for you, Celia!
Interesting info, mate. I’d seen some information before on ideal blog width, font size and style, etc, but just couldn’t recall where.
Thanks for the reasoning and stats – changed mine over now. Course, now I have to make sure the sidebars are aligned, but hey, all good fun
Cheers!
.-= Danny Brown´s last blog ..The SRM Group Wants to Give You a Social Media Makeover =-.
Hi Danny – Happy to help sir!
Jumping in here (since you brought me here, Danny)…
I agree on the importance of font size, for I employ a 16-point Corbel font.
But for content column width, I use 700 pixels.
Google Analytics indicates my bounce rate over the past 30 days is 7.5%, so something’s working. Go back 90 days, and it’s 47%.
For four-year-old background reading, check out http://informationarchitects.jp/100e2r/ to understand why I do some of what I do.
.-= Ari Herzog´s last blog ..Blogging with Influence in 5 Steps =-.
Thanks, Jim. I had not thought about layout in quite this way. I am about to re-vamp my business blog and will incorporate your recommendations. I might even try Headway!
.-= Jon Stow´s last blog ..If you need a service, get recommendations =-.
Let me know when it’s done, Jon – So I can take a look.
Jim
Thanks! Reckon I missed something super obvious here re type colour:
Quoting you “On this blog, I use the same shade of grey as The BBC, which is #464646.”
Off to do that right away. Pity I don’t use ‘Headway’ – WP makes it a more tricky to alter. I’ll have to look up how to do it, unless someone reading this by knows how to easily do this in WP?
Thanks Jim
Jonathan
.-= Jonathan Gunson´s last blog ..My Google Ranking Is Failing … How On Earth Can I Get Onto Page ONE? =-.
Hi Jonathan. Headway is a wordpress theme – in other words, it’s something you add to a wordpress blog, to make the blog look and feel however you want it to.
So, if you already have a wordpress blog, you simply need to find a theme, like headway, which makes it super-easy to change anything and everything. It’s a very liberating experience
Thanks Jim. We are doing a ‘patch’ on ours to incorporate our new brand identity and then a complete overhaul in the Autumn so this is good timing.
Will send to our design guy. I agree, there is a reason the ‘popular’ guys do it in a certain way.
Cheers…..
Glad you found it useful Ann! Thanks for stopping by the blog.
Hi Jim
A very interesting article and I must admit I’d never really given any thought to the width of a content column. I will now! I’m getting very tempted to buy the Headway theme too!
Hi Ian. I love Headway, because it’s transformed the way I blog. I get to use 100% of my time an energy writing content now, because my blog works and I can do any of the changes I want to myself, usually in well under a minute.
Thanks for the comment.
Thank you for sharing this information Jim. For what it’s worth, the results are appreciated, too, as your site is always visually pleasing (which pairs brilliantly with your awesome content!)
I’ve sent your money to the usual address Mike
Seriously though, it’s always great to get positive comments – Thanks!!
Redesigning My Blog Layout: Do You Like?…
Sparked by Jim and Danny, I thought about my blog layout over the past 12 hours and made some changes. (If you’re reading this by RSS or email, click here to see what I mean.) Of note: 1. I used to have a 700-pixel-wide content area. That’s…
[...] to make a purchase. And let us not forget the people who are unable to develop a successful blog, who claim that “blogging is dead!” whilst Mashable attracts millions of unique visitors a [...]
[...] is popular for a reason. One of the most commonly used fonts is Arial, with a pixel size of 15px. Jim Connolly offers some reasons why this is the case. While you don’t need to use this setting, it’s tried, trusted and [...]