8 Ways to Write Scannable Blog Posts

I have a secret. I’m not one of those people who crave scannable blog posts. I read every word and every sentence. That’s because I’m a speed reader. I always was, even when I was young. Something about reading clicked in my head and I was always able to power through books faster than my classmates.

They, of course, were still learning how to read, so the teacher would make us read chapters out loud, one kid at a time, throughout the class period. I dreaded these days. Sitting there, trying to slow my brain down enough so that I was on the same page as the girl I had a crush on who was slowly working her way through each word.

It was torture. Both listening to her read and having a crush on her. She never knew.

Scannable blog posts are one of the most important parts of your blog content strategy. While you’re carefully crafting each post, you need to think of that portion of the population that scans their way through life, taking in just enough to figure out if they should stop and read more or carry on to the next section of text.

As attention spans shrink, it becomes harder and harder to convince someone to stop and stay awhile. But, with a little bit of structure and some flashing arrows pointing to the important stuff, we can craft scannable blog posts that will get everyone to engage.

1. Use Compelling Headers and Subheaders

Headers, also called headlines, are the super-weapon of crafting blog posts that your audience can scan through and find what they need. Proper use of headers and subheaders act as sign posts, directing everyone to the content that matters most to them.

While you want to grab attention with your headers, you have to be careful to not overly complicate them or use too much creativity on them. If you make the language of your headers so flowery that it’s not clear what the next section is about, people are apt to keep going.

With listicles in particular (which this post is), it is important to clearly label your headers based on your list items so that everyone can find them easily. If you only had one header and then just rambled on for six paragraphs about the other items in your list, no one would actually get that it is a list.

Be clear and guide the reader where you want them to go.

Be sure to follow good rules of structure and maintain consistency throughout your post (ie H2 for main headers, H3 for subheaders, H4 for sub-subheaders, etc.). Do not change your pattern once it is set.

As a matter of fact, you should make it part of your blog brand voice guide so that you will remain consistent and so will other writers on your site if you ever get that far.

Craft Attention-Grabbing Headers

Try to use keywords and core concepts as words in your headers. Use power words whenever possible. Be descriptive, but precise. Be specific. Don’t be afraid of the negative. Hint at personal experience. Narrow your subject.

Effective vs. Ineffective Headers

Here are a few examples of effective and ineffective headers that will help you see some of the differences and lead you to writing stronger headers.

Effective header: 5 Time Saving Meal Prep Hacks I Wish I Knew Sooner

This header is effective because:

It uses a specific number (5) which sets clear expectations
Includes the keyword phrase “meal prep”
Implies personal experience (“I Wish I Knew”)
Promises value to the reader (“Time Saving”)

Ineffective header: Meal Preparation Tips

This is less effective because:

It’s too vague and generic
Doesn’t hint at any specific value or insights
Lacks personality or implied experience

Effective header: How I Doubled My Tomato Harvest with 3 Simple Tricks

This works well because:

Implies a specific, measurable result (“Doubled”)
Uses numbers (“3”) to set expectations
Suggests easy implementation (“Simple Tricks”)
Focuses on a specific plant, appealing to tomato gardeners

Ineffective header: Growing More Vegetables

This falls short because:

It’s overly broad and doesn’t specify which vegetables
Lacks any quantifiable results or promises
Doesn’t hint at the ease or difficulty of implementation

Effective header: My $500 Mistake: What I Learned About Budgeting the Hard Way

This is compelling because:

It hooks readers with a specific dollar amount
Implies a personal story and lessons learned
Touches on a relatable topic (financial mistakes)
Promises insights gained from experience

Ineffective header: Budgeting Advice

This is weak because:

It’s too generic and doesn’t stand out
Fails to hint at any specific insights or personal experience
Doesn’t create curiosity or promise unique value

These examples help to illustrate how effective headers are more specific, promise clear value, and often imply personal experience or insight. They’re designed to grab your attention and make you curious enough that you have to learn more.

Ineffective headers, on the other hand, are often broad, lack personality, and don’t communicate the value of the upcoming text clearly.

2. Embrace the Power of Bullet Points and Lists

Utilizing bullet points and numbered lists can help you give a lot of information in a quick and easily digestible way. They also help break up the page visually so that readers can stop to take a quick scan and decide if they want to keep scanning or stop to read further.

Bullet points, known as unordered lists in HTML, don’t typically have any specific order they need to go in and can just be quick thoughts to highlight deeper text.

They’re quick and easy to read.
They don’t need to go in any specific order
Known as unordered lists in HTML
Great for fast facts and figures

Numbered lists, on the other hand, are usually put in a specific order and are meant to be read in order. They can be step-by-step instructions or Top 10 style lists.

Known as ordered lists in HTML
Specify the order in which they should be read/acting upon
Can denote pecking order or favoritism in a list
Great for step-by-step instructions
Tend to feel more specific and authoritative

Both have their place in building the perfect structure for a scannable blog post. I tend to lean toward the chaos of an unordered list, but there are times when I need a bit of order in my life.

3. Keep Paragraphs Short and Sweet

Can we just skip this section?

If you’ve ever spent any time on my site, you know I suck at this.

I tend to write longer paragraphs (and longer posts) than I probably should. I know. I’m working on it.

If you’re being less formal in your writing, you can “break” the rules and break up paragraphs a little more liberally than you might if you were writing a novel.

I often try to throw in a single sentence occasionally just to break things up visually and force myself to find ways to cram fewer words together.

You can see in this section that the shorter paragraphs make it much easier to give it a quick scan and even read individual sentences.

4. Highlight Key Information with Bold and Italic Text

Bold and italic formatting can be your best friend. Use them. Everyone has their own style for utilizing the two text markups. Try and remain consistent with how you use it.

You’ll find throughout my writing I will use bold to highlight a point I’m trying to make, italics when I’m doing side notes that are unrelated to the topic, and a combination of both when I really want to stress a word or phrase.

This is my style. Feel free to copy it if you’d like, but you’ll be better off if you find something natural for yourself so that your writing doesn’t feel disjointed.

Don’t over emphasize things either – if you mark up everything with bold, italics, or a combo of both, it won’t stand out, and your reader will miss the point.

5. Incorporate Eye-Catching Visuals

If you are having a sudden case of deja vu, that’s because you have read this before. Visuals are an important aspect of your blog.

Visuals are great tools for making scannable blog posts, plus, they just make things more pleasing to the eye. Visuals can do a lot of things:

They help break up long blocks of text
They identify key information with visual concepts
They look nice and readers enjoy them
They are more memorable than a wall of text

This is another place where you should be building a style and sticking to it. That’s not to say that you can’t break the mold occasionally and do something off the wall, it’s just saying that a recognizable pattern will help readers become familiar with your blog and help them retain more information since the brain loves patterns.

6. Utilize White Space to Your Advantage

Every once in a while, I break out the paint and brushes and get busy with a bit of art. I’m not an incredible painter, and most people have never seen a single painting I’ve done. It’s something I do for fun.

One of the hardest lessons I was ever taught was to use white space to my advantage. As a painter, I wanted to fill every bit of the canvas with color and shape. I wanted to use my abilities to fill every corner of the canvas.

The truth is, sometimes, the best ideas are the simplest. Let your ideas be surrounded…no, framed…by the white space on the page. Set them apart by giving them space. Make them standout on a giant white screen (or whatever color your background may be).

Similarly, one of the greatest tools I have ever learned in negotiation is to say what you need to say and then shut up. The human tendency is to fill the empty space with words, and in doing so, we often reveal too much. By simply letting your words stand and not being afraid of the white space around them, you are already ahead of the other party.

Plus, I guarantee, they will hate the silence and start talking…and that’s when you learn to listen.

7. Include a Table of Contents for Longer Posts

The world is loving the table of contents lately, and to be honest, I have mixed feelings about them.

However, the do work. They help show your reader to the right place to get the info they need. Imagine you were looking for ways to create more scannable blog posts and the only method you didn’t know was this one.

A table of contents would have helped guide you here so you didn’t have to scroll down through numbers 1 through 6 first.

Our friends over at Bluehost have a great article about manually creating a table of contents in WordPress. The article also contains info about several plugins that can automatically create a table of contents for your articles.

8. Craft a Compelling Conclusion and Call-to-Action

You’re almost at the end, so how do you end your post with a bang? It’s not always easy, but there are a few tricks that can help you close out your post.

The Conclusion

Here’s the scenario: you’ve just written the best post of your life. You nailed this one, and you couldn’t be happier about it, but now you’re sitting there, frozen, with no way to tie it all together and wrap things up.

Here’s what I know. The conclusion isn’t just about summarizing what you’ve already said, although that can be helpful. It’s your last chance to really drive home the point and leave your readers with a head full of ideas. It’s your last hurrah, so it needs to be memorable, right?

Try circling back around the original problem or question that kicked things off. Remind your readers why they clicked on your post in the first place. For example, if you were writing this post, you might ask your readers, “Remember when you first started, and all of your blog posts looked like a giant wall of words that sent users packing? Well, now you have 8 solid ways to get them scanning and hitting the points they were looking for when they originally searched Google.”

But don’t just drop that nugget and disappear. This is where you want to add your personal touch – share something from your personal experiences or a thought you’d had while writing the post.

Perhaps it’s a lesson you learned the hard way or the sudden realization that made it all so clear. Remember, you want your content to be unique and relatable.

The Call To Action

And then, there’s the call to action, often abbreviated as the CTA. I am not always great about using them, but I’ve definitely gotten better. They can sometimes feel awkward, but believe me, when done right, they can be a powerful reminder of the next steps you hope the audience will take.

A call to action doesn’t need to be complicated or meant to save the planet. You can simply ask readers to share their experiences or what’s working for them in the comments. Maybe you’d like them to email you with their personal stories for an article you plan to follow up with. Or maybe it’s a bit of homework for them to do so that they report back on what works.

The key is to make it feel like a part of the conversation you’ve been having throughout the post.

Don’t over ask – telling the reader to go implement all of the strategies you’ve just discussed is too broad (and vague at the same time). Break it down for them and tell them exactly what to do.

Personally, I love asking readers to discuss some element of the post in the comments. It’s simple and designed to generate some conversation.

Remember, your conclusion is your last chance to make an impression. Don’t just rehash everything and close it out. Leave your readers with something that resonates and they’ll come back for more.

So, there you have it. Eight ways to make your blog posts more scannable. As counterintuitive as it sounds, it will actually increase your readership and time on page, because it will allow people to quickly identify that what they’re seeking is on the page they’ve found.

Not every post will be perfect and you’ll learn through trial and error over time. Just keep it in the back of your head and don’t forget to break things up.

So what about you? Do you have a favorite way to make yourself build content that is easily scanned? Perhaps something I missed? We would all love to hear about it – feel free to drop a comment below, and let’s see who has the winning idea.

PS If you have any solid tips on writing headers for your conclusion that aren’t “Conclusion” or “Summary,” I am all ears! It is one of those things I just can’t seem to master.

8 Ways to Write Scannable Blog Posts and Make Them MORE Reader-Friendly