This article was written by Marsha Robinett and has been edited and published with permission of the author.
Art blogs aren’t books, and few people (including myself) read them as if they were. I mean, I’ve never found large blocks of text on my computer screen to be exciting, and as a result I typically won’t read them.
I’ll move on to a smaller block of text, with perhaps one or two sentences, hoping to find out what the author is writing about that way. If there aren’t any appropriately-sized paragraphs to be found, many times I’ll just leave the website out of frustration!
Well-written art blogs (or any blogs for that matter) often use short blocks of text throughout the entire blog post to make sure you never slip away.
Wikipedia refers to a this style of writing as “chunking” and describes it as the method of presenting information by splitting concepts into small pieces of information to make reading and understanding faster and easier.
And that’s not the only way to make your art blog easier to read. I’ve got 9 more blog-writing tips right here:
1. Make your first paragraph a “Grabber.”
Tell your readers what to expect, be interesting, and keep it short. You’ve only got a few seconds to grab their attention, so do whatever it takes to pique their curiosity and MAKE them want to read on!
2. Keep your text size readable.
If you’re not sure what size is too small, ask your friends. And there’s no need to choose smaller text just to shorten your article - if your article is readable and interesting, people will scroll down to finish it.
Page color and text color can make huge difference in readability as well. Experiment by trying different combinations, but please remember that more COLOR isn’t always a good thing for readability. Contrast, however, is.
3. Use an appropriate page width.
Again, art blogs aren’t books. (Really, they’re more like newspaper columns.) If you must move your eyes and head to follow the words across the page, your text area is probably too wide. As a result, your readers will get tired of reading and start skipping lines here and there to finish the article faster.
4. Keep some white space.
If you’re “chunking” your text, the separation between text blocks will give your readers’ eyes a place to rest. Wider margins on the left and right, as well as at the top and bottom, will also make your art blog more attractive and inviting.
5. Learn to write in “Speak.”
Wow. . . now this one has probably been my biggest challenge. We’re all taught “formal” writing in English class, and that style of writing can be really hard to change.
All to often the printed word can come across cold and harsh, yet your art blog needs to “sound” friendly even though there’s no sound! My advice is to use contractions like you normally would when speaking, ask questions of your readers, and always write in the first person.
Of course, there’s no reason to allow spelling mistakes or grammatical errors in your writing, even if you are being more casual. Not only is it harder to read that kind of writing, but it will also detract from your professional image.
6. Use headers and subheaders liberally.
Besides being another way to break up large blocks of text, headers and subheaders will allow your readers to get a quicker mental outline of what your blog posts are about. For longer articles, this lets them jump from topic to topic as well.
7. When called for, use lists and bullet points.
This is simply another method for breaking up a long boring block of text. Your page will be more interesting to the eye and readers will find your text more understandable.
8. Incorporate bolds and italics
This needs to be done artfully and with some taste. Don’t splatter them around haphazardly. Set a standard for your site and stick to it. I use bold type to accent important words or phrases and italics for quotes, book titles and the like.
9. Lastly, remember images are your friends.
Images will always add interest to your articles and attract your readers attention. For art blogs, they’re practically a MUST! Use them wisely, however. I’ve always felt that images should relate to the text, and when they don’t, I feel somewhat misled.
Check out more of Marsha’s writing style at her own art blog, or take a moment to view her complete portfolio of realistic pencil drawings at MarshaRobinett.com.
