How to Let Your Articles Breathe
Monday, July 26, 2010 at 07:23PM You’re breathing, right?
Good!
Now carefully watch your breath.
Did you feel that tiny pause?
The pause in-between your breaths?
No?
Let’s try another example, then.
Take your favorite CD.
Notice what’s in-between the songs?
Canyouimaginelisteningtoyourfavoritecdwithoutanybreaksinbetweensongs?
Neither can I.
That’s the power of the “pause”
And your articles are no different.
Articles need pauses, too.
Pauses help your content to “breeeeeathe.”
What does it mean to let your article “breathe?”
Letting your article “breathe” means inserting periodic pauses throughout your content.
It’s that simple.
So how do you add pauses to your content?
Here are three quick and simple ways you can pauses in your articles:
1. One type of pause can be as simple as using one sentence (um, like this).
2. A pause can be as simple as using two words.
Like this.
3. Adding bold type is another easy way to add a break in your content.
Combining all three techniques throughout your article helps readers digest your ideas in smaller pieces, instead of plowing through big chunks of text.
And we know what might happen when there’s too much chunky text to take in at once, right? Readers get annoyed and boogie on.
That’s why it’s important to have pauses
Think about the pauses on your CD.
The breaks in-between the songs lets you savor the past while getting you ready for what’s to come. Letting your articles “breathe” by adding breaks does the same thing as the pauses on a CD.
Pauses do three big jobs for your readers
Pauses in articles create:
1. Visually aesthetic reading material (it’s inviting)
2. Forward momentum (it entices continued reading)
3. Time to reflect (so the brain doesn’t have to work so hard)
This “breathing” thing wastes precious space
Or does it?
Here’s what the section above looks like without pauses:
“That’s why is it important to have pauses. Pauses invite action. Think about the pauses on your CD. The pauses in-between the songs lets you savor the past while getting you ready for what’s to come. Letting your articles “breathe” by adding pauses does the same thing as the pauses in a CD. Those pauses do three big jobs for your readers. Pauses in articles create visually aesthetic reading material (it’s inviting); foreword momentum (it entices continued reading) and time to reflect (the brain doesn’t have to work so hard). This “breathing” thing wastes precious space. Or does it?”
Pretty chunky, huh?
Online readers are finicky
They’ll give your article two seconds and then one of two things will happen:
1. They land, scan and leave.
2. Or they settle in and read.
Give your readers a break
Ifyoudonotuseenoughpausesinyourarticlestakeafewminutesandandaddafew
pausesorelseyourreaderswilldisappearbeforeyoureyes.
See what I mean?
Reader Comments (3)
Excellent points! The whole mobile movement is another factor to consider when creating content. Integrating your suggestions into content definitely helps "guide" the reader from top to bottom; which is one of every writer's dream goal. =)
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
Take care,
Tom
although these points about the readability of text seem to be self-evident it can't be mentioned often enough and - surprise - I enjoyed to read it.
Another technique is to ask some questions - just like you did - isn't it?
Furthermore it will be helpful (and also important for SEO) to add some anchor textlinks if possible that can guide readers (scanning) attention to your and maybe his keyword.
So, I think we at widepr.com will soon give our clients some HTML possibilities to let them take additional advantage of our free press release submission and distribution services.
Best,
Heidi