Blogging is a lot of fun. There are a few basic rules to follow, to make it easier for your visitors to read what you actually have to say.

The internet is filled with information and if you are not delivering what they are expecting they will click away.

5 Simple, Basic Blogging Rules to Get Your Readers to Stay

1. Font

There are some fonts that are easier to read than others. Using fancy curly swirly fonts, might look cool for a party invitation but for your blog keep it simple.

Open Sans or Arial are well known fonts, that works well on your blog. It`s easy to read on screen. It`s also used by many large successful websites like Google and Amazon.

2. Background

There`s a reason why the most common combination is black text on white background,  because it`s easiest to read.

I still see people putting up their first website using all kinds of fancy background colors, don`t. White background will work best for you when you blog.

… but keep it simple and use black text on white background.

There`s always exceptions and in this case I would say if you have a website that is based on pictures. Say a photography site then black background might be better for you, to make the pictures ”pop”. If you add a blog to that site though I would stick with the white background for that.

3. Use Subtitles

A lot of your visitors will be ”skim readers”. They will go over the page and jump in and read what`s interesting them. It`s important to use clear subtitles and headlines to make it easy for visitors to jump in where they need to.

Take this article for example. Maybe you have the two first suggestions under control already when you blog but found number 3 and 4 to be interesting. Using the clear subtitles will make it easy to jump in and read more about subtitles and paragraphs.

4. Use Paragraphs

There is nothing worse then landing on a page, where you find the article interesting but they have stuffed 600 words together without a single white line to break it up. Use paragraphs.

Long articles without paragraphs will not keep the attention of your reader, most will just click away. I was just visiting a forum and one of the members had added a big block of text without any paragraphs. People were not commenting on the post they were commenting on the block of text that no one wanted to read.

Make sure you use paragraphs. The white space will make the article easier to read.

5. Pictures

Pictures are not only a great way to catch the interest of your reader. It`s also a great way to break up the text and connect on a different level.

You know the saying – a picture says more than 1000 words. Not sure this is true when it comes to blogging but at least you can connect with your reader by adding a few relevant pictures to your articles.

That was 5 Simple, Basic Blogging Rules to Get Your Readers to Stay.

When it comes to the actual writing it`s important that you engage your reader so they want to stay and read on.

You also want to be personal, be you. There are many different bloggers, why should they read your content? Keep it personal. That doesn`t mean you have to tell them everything going on in your life but have a personal style when you write.

Do you want to start a blog? Read My – Step by step instructions on how to set it up

Hope you found these tips helpful. I would love to hear what you have to say about the basics of blogging, feel free to leave a comment below.

Vicky