Use these elements well and you’ll get the attention of readers as well as Google’s spiders

Busy? Thought so. Aren’t we all – including whoever you are creating content for.

Viewers typically scan a page for a few seconds before deciding whether it deserves more of their attention or can be discarded.

If your content doesn’t grab them in some way then it may never get read. Use these elements to ensure your content gets noticed.

Headlines

This is where we presume the reader first looks, but that’s often not the case – hence the importance of the elements below. Headlines or headings need to work with the standfirst or sell to ensure the benefit of reading on is clearly conveyed.

Questions are often effective, as are numbered lists or some other clear promise. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to be over-clever with puns, nor using clichés.

Standfirsts

The standfirst, sell or intro should be one or two brief sentences that sit just below the heading or above the start of the main text and give a brief overview of what the content will deliver. It should be bolder and/or larger to draw the eye.

Well-written first sentences to the piece itself can serve as effective standfirsts, so long as they are not too long.

Subheadings

Subheadings should be used regularly to break up the text and signpost what information the following sentences contain. A strong, specific subhead may be what gets the reader engaging with the whole article, and readers will often scan down the subheads before deciding whether to start reading.

They are also key to successful SEO so should be explanatory rather than esoteric.

Pull quotes

Taking a particularly compelling phrase and reproducing it in bold, surrounded by some white space is another great way to arrest the attention of a scanning eye. Pull quotes can be anything from the article and can be paraphrased or neatly edited to make them succinct, so long as they don’t mislead or misrepresent.

Images

We generally look at pictures before words so a strong image can be key to getting a reader’s attention. So much good B2B content is spoiled by poor image selection. A clichéd stock business image gives the unspoken message that the text will be equally unimaginative.

Good image research is a skill – that’s why at Progressive Content we have a team of specialist photo researchers.

Captions

An image without a caption is a wasted opportunity. The caption is likely to be read straight after the image has grabbed the reader’s attention. It should explain the image only if required, otherwise it should add to the overall effectiveness of the content, introducing new information or summarising a compelling part of the text.

NB: These elements work in both print and digital but that doesn’t mean that every piece of content should use all of them. SEO should be at the front of your mind when using them online as Google gives them as much attention as your readers will.