“5 Simple Font Changes to Boost Readers, Comments, and Shares on Your Blog” plus 1 more

5 Simple Font Changes to Boost Readers, Comments, and Shares on Your Blog

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 07:01 AM PDT

This guest post is by Bnonn of Attentionthievery.info.

You may not realize it, but the font settings on your blog can have a huge effect on how many people read your content.

And how many people read your content has a huge effect on whether a post goes viral.

How huge? Well, by some accounts I’ve read, just one common mistake with colors could reduce readership by a factor of five. And if you're not making that mistake, you're probably making at least one of four others. So in this article, I'll give you the five most important best practices for presenting text to keep readers glued to your content, and away from the old back button.

Font size—16px minimum

At the very top of the the pile of legibility problems is font size. Back in 2005, Jakob Nielsen reported that in a survey of web design problems, bad fonts got nearly twice as many votes as the next contender—with two-thirds of voters complaining about small font sizes.

Sadly, nothing has changed since then. A random sampling of new blog designs at SiteInspire (a web design gallery showcasing the best of the best designs) shows that the average font size for body copy is 12 pixels. Some as low as ten pixels. None over 14 pixels. Similarly, if you randomly sample offerings from the popular Elegant Themes or ThemeForest, you'll find that every single theme sets post content at 12 or 13 pixels.

And of course, other theme creators tend to follow the lead of the bigwigs.

But as usability and typography expert Oliver Reichenstein of Information Architects points out, 16 pixels is the font size that browsers were intended to display by default—and it is not big. 16px text on an average screen looks about the same size as 12-point text in print. That's the default size for most magazines, as well as all word processors, because it's the size people find most comfortable to read. Many people—especially those over 40—find it very difficult to read smaller text. As Reichenstein observes:

There is no reason for squeezing so much information onto the screen. It's just a stupid collective mistake that dates back to a time when screens were really, really small … At first, you'll be shocked how big the default text is. But after a day, you won't want to see anything smaller than 100% font-size for the main text. It looks big at first, but once you use it you quickly realize why all browser makers chose this as the default text size.

Use dark on light text—reversed is no good

Fortunately we've pretty much moved past the days when content authors thought that fuchsia on blue text was cool. But white on black text, known as reversed type, is still pretty common. As are variants like white on some other dark color.

Reversed type reduces not only the number of people who'll bother to read your content, but also their comprehension of it. This is because it strains the eyes. Staring at reversed text for an extended period tends to create a kind of "glare" effect, where you feel like the letters are too bright to look at. Depending on what research you consult, studies show that light on dark text reduces your readership between 50% and 400%.

Why risk losing so many readers? Black or very dark gray on white looks clean, and there are plenty of great themes that use those colors.

Line width—45 to 75 characters

Here's another little-known rule that a lot of blogs break. In order for your eye to easily follow one line to the next, you want no more than 75 characters in each line. This is called the line measure. Beyond a measure of 75 characters, it's hard to track the end of one line to the beginning of the next without getting lost.

On the other hand, if you have a measure of less than 45 characters your eye will get fatigued quickly, because you've barely started to read one line when you have to jump to the next. You feel like you never get a chance to rest.

For this reason, your ideal post content area will have lines of text about 60 characters long. Of course, you do also have to take aesthetics into account. On many blogs, the "ideal" measure leaves a huge gap on the right margin, or makes the text seem squished into a tiny area. I use a measure of around 70 characters on my own website for exactly that reason. But if you're pushing past 80 characters, you're reducing your readership—guaranteed.

Line height—130% or more

Fortunately this is a less common mistake. If you're using a professional theme, you probably don't need to worry.

To give you an example, I've set this paragraph at the default line height (also called leading, after the strips of lead used to separate lines of text on old printing presses). It feels cramped and uninviting to read, and it's hard to follow the lines from one to the next because they blend into each other.

On the other hand, this paragraph is set with a line height of 200%—equivalent to double spacing in a word processor. I'm sure you'll agree that the lines here feel way too disconnected from each other, and unless you're submitting a research paper this is not the way to go.

Finally, this paragraph is set with a line height of 150%. That means that for every pixel of font size, there's one and a half pixels of distance between the lines. This turns out to be pretty reliable sweet spot for most fonts you're likely to use on a blog—but feel free to experiment between about 130% and 160% to see what works best for your own content.

The left margin—don't break it

This last tip isn't exactly a font issue. But it fits into the same general category. Bloggers routinely include images in their posts. Whether or not that's really a good idea is a topic for another time—but for now, let me just give you one piece of advice.

The left margin is sacred. It's how we track text down a page in the Western world. It's the "ground" out of which the lines grow (often to quite different lengths), and it's the foundation for our eyepath as we read down the page.

But if you break the left margin, that all goes to hell. Your eye has to scan around to try to pick up the new margin, so you can keep on reading.

In other words, every time you left-align an image, you put a speed-bump in your reader's path. And you're compounding the problem by dragging his attention away from the text with your visually dominant image. Needless to say, readers who keep being distracted and having to relocate the left margin often don't read to the end of a post—so they often don're share it or comment on it.

Bonus tip: drop caps increase readership

By “drop caps” I mean initial capitals, where the first letter of the first word of your post stands out much bigger than the rest. According to research conducted by Ogilvy & Mather, this increases readership of a piece by an average of 13%.

Drop caps aren't built into most blog themes, and they can be tricky to do on the web, but if you're up to a little coding, check out this tutorial on how to create them.

Five mistakes: which ones are you making?

Now is the time to head on back to your own blog and see which of these five important best practices you're not practicing. Then, fixum! But don't forget to share the changes you’ve made in the comments below!

Bnonn is the author of 25 free video lessons on how to turn visitors into customers—part of his conversion-optimization course 'Attention-Thievery 101'. Known in the boroughs as the Information Highwayman, he helps small businesses sell more online by improving both their copy and design. When he's not knee-deep in the guts of someone's homepage, he is teaching his kids about steampunk, Nathan Fillion, and how to grapple a zombie without getting bit.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

5 Simple Font Changes to Boost Readers, Comments, and Shares on Your Blog

7 Lessons I Learned by Starting Over with Blogging

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 07:00 AM PDT

This guest post is by Jeff Goins of Goins, Writer

Six months ago, I was frustrated with my blog. I felt stuck and stymied. I had written on it for nearly five years and built a small, but steady, stream of traffic.

But there was just one problem: it wasn’t growing.

And I was tired of trying.

My blog had reached the dreaded plateau.

So I decided to quit. Despite my better judgment, I chose to start over, to launch a brand-new blog. It was hard and scary leaving something that took so long to build, but I had to face the facts: My blog was never going to be epic. It was never going to be extraordinary. And I wanted it to be.

So I threw in the towel.

When to quit your blog

“Persistent people are able to visualize the idea of light at the end of the tunnel when other’s can’t see it. At the same time, the smartest people are realistic about not imagining light when there isn’t any.”

-Seth Godin, The Dip

We mistakenly vilify quitting. We believe ridiculous adages like, “Quitters never win…” And yet, most successful people are serial quitters. They are relentless experimenters, striving to find the one thing that they can champion. They set aside everything else, save that one special cause.

I knew my blog wasn’t headed anywhere. It was time for a change. Without knowing what I was doing, I quit. As much as it pained me, I started over.

And in six short months, I quadrupled the amount of traffic it took me half a decade to build.

How starting over changed everything

In the past six months, I’ve learned some valuable lessons about blogging and why quitting is sometimes necessary for a breakthrough.

Here they are:

1. Guest posting is essential

It’s never too early to guest post. If you have a few posts on your blog, I would begin offering to write for other blogs now.

Start small, but work your way up quickly. Give away your best content, and you’ll earn new readers quickly—in much less time than solely focusing on your own site.

2. Your content isn’t as good as you think

I was a good writer, and I thought that made me an excellent blogger. I secretly compared myself to other bloggers who were worse writers than me, and I enviously resented their traffic and engagement.

But to be honest, I didn’t know the first thing about blogging.

So I started studying some of the masters (e.g. Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Copyblogger, Problogger, Zen Habits, and others) and emulated their best practices. I realized that high quality of content was a common denominator.

Instead of spending twenty minutes on a post, frantically trying to just publish something, I started putting in the time to create content I could be proud of.

3. Design matters

If content is king, design is His Majesty’s clothes. Nobody wants to look at a poorly-dressed sovereign. People perceive what you write through the lens of your website’s appearance.

Design can either help or hurt your content.

Choosing a premium WordPress theme or investing in a good designer can go a long way. These days, quality doesn’t cost much.

4. A change of scenery can make you more creative

I changed domains, branding, and platforms just to get a fresh start.

As a result, I woke up every morning, excited to write. With my old blog, I often dreaded it. Not so this time.

I treasured my new blog. It inspired fresh ideas. It spurred on my creativity and innovation. It made me bolder and more imaginative. There is natural momentum to anything new. You can use this to take your blog to new heights.

5. You don’t have to be the expert

I was an arrogant blogger. Any time someone would challenge me, I would vehemently defend my argument, belittling them in the comments.

However, from people like Darren, I learned that it was okay to learn as you go. You didn’t have to be an instant guru. This was somewhat refreshing for me.

In fact, I learned that most people prefer being a part of community in which they’re invited into a shared learning experience, not a didactic monologue.

6. People don’t care that much about you

When I realized that blogging was mostly about other people (and not about me), everything changed. At first, it was a hit to my ego, but eventually I learned to embrace the opportunity.

I stopped making myself the center of attention and instead strove to make my readers feel like they were being heard and served.

Now, my blog is about helping others, not getting pats on the back for being a brilliant writer.

7. Focus is crucial

My old blog didn’t have a theme or a voice or any kind of central idea. It was just a hodge-podge of random thoughts.

Daily, I wrestled with what to write about. I also struggled to retain a dedicated readership.

By focusing on a particular subject, I’m able to more consistently deliver content that already has a built-in niche, ready to listen.

What this means for you

The past six months have been incredible. I’m back to where I left off with my old blog, times four.

All because I chose to quit.

If you’re feeling stuck with your blog, it may be time to start over. My journey isn’t a formula, but it’s not a bad place to start. Following these seven steps will get you started on the right track—they’ll help you develop the momentum you need to get to a new level.

It won’t be easy, and you’ll have to hustle. But it’s doable. And worth it.

Have you thought about starting over with a new blog, but not sure if you should make the leap? Maybe it’s time.

Jeff Goins is a writer, innovator, and marketing guy. He works at Adventures in Missions and blogs at Goins, Writer. You can connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

7 Lessons I Learned by Starting Over with Blogging

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