Here are 10 useful tips to improve readability of your blog posts and keep visitors on your blog.

1) Use Headlines

One of the best possibilities to separate paragraphs from each others, is to use Headline Tags. Common H-Tags are h1, h2 or h3, it depends on the blog theme you are using. To improve the visual appearance, insert every big paragraph an Headline, to make clear, that there is a new paragraph.

2) Use lists , tables, block quotes

To improve scanning speed of the article, use this tags. Because they look different than the rest of the post, it’s easier to recognize them. And do not forget! The most visitors only scan your blog for the interesting parts. So, if they see a good looking table with data or a list with some enumerations, they will read that and remember that. Personally, when I’m learning for school, I like to have a structured and visual appealing document to learn from.

3) Keep your article as short as possible

Nobody wants to read a novel on a blog. We are all searching for information we want. And we do not have time enough to read everything until we found what we are really interesting in. Before you publish your article, read everything again and delete unnecessary parts. Avoid long introduction paragraphs, instead keep it short and get to the point. Try to keep everything under 300 words.

4) Try to use images as often as you can

A picture says more than 1000 words. So, try to use images as often as you can, to replace long and boring text paragraphs. It is also always a good idea to include a big picture at the top of every article.

5) Avoid misspelling

Before you publish the article, check if there are any grammar mistakes. They are really annoying and distressing. If you do not have Microsoft Office Word installed or you want to use an online tool, I recommend you http://www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck/ . It is a great and also free tool to check your article for misspelled words.

6) Use syntax highlighting

If you are going to post some programming code on your blog, you should use a syntax highlighter to improve the readability. It is easier to re-use the code for your visitors, because most scripts allows users to copy the plain code and paste it into their IDE’s. A great script is e.g. http://code.google.com/p/syntaxhighlighter/wiki/Usage . There is also a wordpress plug-in available, if you do not want to implement everything yourself.

7) Do not overuse foreign words

Keep your article or tutorial as simple as possible. Not every reader has the same knowledge you have.

8 ) Use Keywords for better SEO

When you are using Wordpress, you simply can add keywords to your articles. It is not only for your readers, it’s also for the nice little Google crawlers out there, which make everything public to our visitors.

9) Write a short summary of the article

At the end and on the top of each article, append a short summary of what you have written. It will help your readers to think of everything again and remember the most important things.

10) Format important words

To let words look more important, style those bold or even with a bigger font size.

What are your tips to style blog articles for better reading and scanning?