Author: Tereza Litsa / Source: SearchEngineWatch It’s not easy nowadays to win over your audience in an abundance of online content, and
It’s not easy nowadays to win over your audience in an abundance of online content, and the short attention span of human beings isn’t making things any easier.
It’s always a challenge to make your content stand out, but this doesn’t mean that you should be discouraged from creating it.
As the average human attention span has dropped to just 8 seconds, however, how can you make content that captures your audience’s attention before it’s gone?
Learn your audience
This is the first thing that will help you beat the readers’ attention span. It is very important to understand your audience, as this will help you create more relevant content for them.
Here are some tips for understanding your audience:
Focus on structure
Having well-structured content helps readers to stay longer on your page. It’s not just the quality of the content that maintains readers’ interest, but also the way you present it.
A clear and organized structure makes it less strenuous for readers to digest your content, so remember to:
- Organize your content into paragraphs
- Don’t create lengthy sentences that make reading harder
- Use headings to divide up longer chunks of text
- Use lists and bullet points to facilitate quick reading (like this!)
- Add takeaway tips at the end of your content to help readers digest the most important parts.
Use images
From the header or feature image that offers an introduction to the topic (which may also be the image used on your social shares), to the additional images included throughout the text, images help to separate one section from another in the most engaging way.
They also help the eyes relax from a long sequence of text (which might otherwise be a little dull to read), while making it easier for the brain to process what it just read.
Moreover, images can offer additional value with the use of quotes, stats, or even tips that facilitate quick reading. These images can double as shareable content on your readers’ social feed, giving you more mileage from your content.
Don’t hold back from long-form content
You might assume that a short attention span will require an equally short piece of content for consumption. This is not always the case, as well-executed long-form content is still a valuable asset…
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