Reasons to bullet point content on blog posts

This is a guest post by William Green.

Bullet points are almost crucial for any blog. They benefit nearly every area of your blog be. It traffic, SEO, Twitter follows, RSS subscribers I mean EVERYTHING. Here are reasons why:

• Make posts more readable - The reader will be able to skim-read and read the points much easier.
• Decrease Bounce Rate - The majorities of people online have a very short attention span and get bored easily. If they see a post that's 3 pages long, they will just exit the page as they simply 'can't be bothered to read it'. Bullet points shorten the content down which to the reader will be encouraged to read as they know it won't take that long to read.
• Search Engine Optimize your posts - I have heard rumors that Google processes the first 101k of any blog post, well we all know they process a little bit of the post anyway. If you babble on in your post at the beginning, there won't be many keywords Google can use which will make you post only appear on the second or third page of Google. As the bullet points get “straight to the point” they will fill the beginning of your post with keywords which Google will use and place you post closer to the top when people search.
• Saves time - as well as benefiting your blog it will benefit you! You will find many posts that don't use bullet points can be a lot short if it used bullet points and take much less time to create. This will give you time in other areas of you blog to optimize.
• Encourages readers to subscribe to your RSS or follow on Twitter - If the reader knows you provide short, helpful, relevant information, they will want to subscribe or follow you.
• Make your title sum up your whole post - For example, my title being 8 Reasons to Bullet Point Content on Blog Posts tells you EXACTLY what my post I about: I will have 8 points why you should use bullet points on blog posts.
• Visitors will come back - I always find myself visiting pages because I forgot what a few points were. 8 readers out of 10 may remember every point you bullet pointed by 2 may not. This means they will have to visit your site again to familiarize themselves with the points they forgot.

I timed myself when writing this; it took me 8 minutes and 47 seconds for me to create this whole post (including preparation time). Now, I know if I had used paragraphs, I would have gone over 15 minutes easily. The point I'm trying to move across to you is how important and effective bullet points can be. All you have to do is think to yourself before you make a post "can I bullet point this post?" If the answer is yes, bullet point it! If the answer is no, then carry on using paragraphs but try to interweave bullet points every now and then. Just because you bullet pointed you post doesn't mean you can paragraph as well. For example, I'm paragraphing now!

The key is to get the right balance between paragraphs and bullet points. Some readers like bullet points, other readers like reading in sentences like an essay. If you can use both, you will become a successful blogger.

About the author
Will Green is the creator of ask will online which features information and tips for bloggers as well as revision content for students.