Master the Art of Formatting Your Medium Articles to Boost Reads and Engagement
I’ll be giving some tips on formatting your article to help boost that income.
I won’t be discussing titles or subtitles as those are much different, and they can get pretty deep.
The tips shared in this article are the most common formatting areas.
Formatting 101
The use of Bold
Let’s start with the first one that comes up when you highlight something on Medium, bold. What I did there was a classic mistake most people make.
You should never bold just one or two words but rather an entire sentence or section.
“Then how do I know what to bold?”
Good question! The answer is somewhat simple, but as in all things, there isn’t always an absolute rule.
The best way to do this is to bold something that you would tweet out or caption.
Don’t go bolding any random sentence like I have tried.
Some of my articles were purposely done over the top so I could see what type of response I got.
It wasn’t terrible, but I could have toned it down a notch with the bold font. I also used to be a victim of the singular word bold.
Italics
I try to use italics as the opposite of bold. What I mean is when I want to emphasize a word or two, I will add it in italics.
You should use italics sparingly to emphasize words, so don’t overdo it.
You can, however, use italics for an entire sentence, so it’s not as limiting as the use of bold.
Typically, you won’t use italics on a header, but it can sometimes work. That’s where you will see the bold font.
Italics are also good for quotes, titles, and names.
Pictures, Videos and Links
It’s best to use a picture after your title or subtitle if you have both.
Horizontal photos are best as they don’t cover the entire screen, but some vertical pictures aren’t bad.
Make sure they aren’t large vertical pictures, which many seem to be.
Here is a vertical picture.
Super annoying vertical picture. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Compare that to a horizontal picture.
Much more pleasant to the eye. Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
You can see how you need to scroll for ages; it seems to get past the vertical one. Most people will give up by the time that happens.
So remember to keep pictures horizontal if possible.
Videos and links are nice if your article is 200+ words. Anything shorter, and it feels too cluttered.
If a video or link actually fits in your piece, then it’s fine to add that in.
Don’t go around adding a bunch because it looks cool. People will get annoyed by that; trust me, I tried it.
Remember to hit enter after you post the link or video as to populate it. I once spent an hour trying to figure that out.
Bullet Points and Lists
These tend to break up the monotone structure of articles.
Add these in if they apply. You don’t need an article headline, “7 ways to make $10,000 on Medium in 1 day,” to use a list or bullets.
You can incorporate them as needed. In a longer article, say 5 minutes plus, you might want to see if you could incorporate some bullets.
It might be better to add a video, though, or a link to some website. It’s flexible for your style and how you want to format that specific article.
White Space
This is important. Nobody wants to read a paragraph that never ends. To show you what I mean, I won’t include any white space in the section. White space can be using a sentence or two and then starting a new sentence below. It’s fine to write more than 2 sentences together as long as it fits. The best way to see this is after you’re done with your article, click on the three dots and share the draft link. Copy and paste in a new Google window to see how your article will appear to people. There might be an easier way, but I like to view it this way. You can add white space by using those three dots option below when formatting your article. They look nice, and your readers will thank you for it. Now, don’t you hate me for not using any white space?
Sentence Structure
It’s beneficial that you vary your sentence structures.
For instance, don’t always write these super long sentences that never seem to end and are run-on sentences that you know nobody wants to read as they are hard to read cause they never seem to end, and the author can’t finish the sentence.
Don’t write short sentences. I don’t like that. See it’s hard. Not good.
Most people don’t write to these two extremes.
So, the main point here is to vary the length if you can and play around with it a bit. You don’t have to be a literary genius to write.
It is an interesting point to note that most books that sell are written at a grade 7 reading level.
You heard that right.
Don’t make your writing complicated and hard to read. Most people want something simple to read after a long day’s work or a crazy life situation.
Final Thoughts
Most people scroll through articles to see if they might be enjoyable and informative before they read them.
That’s why formatting is so important. Your content is king as well, but with poor formatting, people might never know how great it is.
It’s not a bad idea to lead with your best point or comment for this reason. Think of an upside-down triangle.
So there you have a few formatting tips to help your articles get more views and read time. I hope this helps you out and makes you some extra cash.
Thank you for reading :)