How to Increase The Member Reading Time on Your Articles
The views don’t get you anything, reads do.
A writer’s job is not easy. From coming up with ideas to writing and publishing a draft, and then repeating the process, over and over, is nothing sort of an exhausting brain exercise.
However, it all seems worth it when you get the views, claps, and recognition you deserve. They fuel the fire of your motivation to keep going.
But…
While the views are charming and all, they are entirely worthless if your readers don’t stick to the end of the post. When a reader clicks away from the middle, you get nothing. The views don’t get you anything, reads do.
So what if there was a way to keep the majority of your readers hooked to the last paragraph? That clearly means a massive increase in your earnings. But how to do it?
Well, this post is all about it. Let’s dive into it.
Write your headers/subheads carefully
Don’t reveal it all in your headers. Instead, write something that sparks curiosity. Your aim is to give your readers a clue, not the whole central idea of the paragraph under it. If you delivered the whole idea through the header, why would readers care to read the content below? They would simply skip to the next point.
With the popular way of writing headers, you might be leaving a lot of money on the table.
Let me explain my point with an example.
Suppose you are writing a post about mental well-being. And, in one of the headers, you have to suggest your readers to meditate. Now, you have got two ways to write that:
- Meditate regularly.
- Perform activities that calm down your mind.
As you see, the first idea is a complete statement. Readers instantly get what they need to do. No questions left.
Whereas, the second one leaves the readers curious and wondering what activities you are talking about. Hence, this one has a higher attribute to keep the readers glued.
You can also choose to avoid using headers at all. But I would better not recommend it. This could make your post look unorganized and boring. However, if you can still keep the readers on the page with your words, go for it. One of Medium’s celebrity writers, Shaunta Grimes has been doing this for the same purpose.
Don’t try hard to mimic Shakespear
You can either try to sound like a teacher or just a friend who is trying to help. Readers will consume your content either way. But when it comes to engagement, the friend clearly outplays the teacher.
Avoid formal tone and keep the readability high. Remember, you are writing for an ordinary group of people looking for particular solutions. They don’t care how good your vocabulary is. They want a solution in the simplest way possible.
Here are a few more tips to write a highly engaging post.
- Take proper time to write the introduction part
- Keep the complexity as low as possible
- Use power words. But avoid long and confusing sentences.
- Use quotes and references.
- Tell a story or add a little humor.
- Add emotion.
Be mindful of what you are serving to your readers
Going soft on editing can be very costly. Have two personalities as a writer. One who is creative and pours his heart on a document when writing. And another one is a merciless editor who doesn't give a shit to your hard written lines. He will just cut them off if he thinks they're irrelevant and will waste readers’ time.
Remember, your readers are in hurry. They often judge an entire post with just 2 or 3 lines. A few remote sentences are enough for them to click away. They don’t owe you anything.
While editing, make sure you:
- Stay on point
- Do not stretch unnecessarily
- Keep the formatting in check
Write sharply and cut out the crap bravely. That’s the formula for a perfect reader-friendly post.
Bottom line
That’s it. These were a few tips you can apply to get promising results. If you have the ability to hook your readers, you will be unstoppable. Mark my words.
Hope you find this post useful. Best of luck.