All Entries Tagged With: "lists"

Article Lists: A Must Or Mere Fluff?

Anything you can do to make your articles more readable is a must. Including lists.

There are two types of lists and both are valuable for use in articles. An ordered list consists of a list made up of numbers while an unordered list is a list of bullet points. Which type of list you use depends a lot on personal preference and style, but they both provide excellent benefits, including:

• Your content is easily scannable by your readers
• A good list breaks up the gray
• You can make your points stand out better
• Lists allow your readers to get a quick overview before committing to your full article

The above unordered list illustrates that people will read a list before they read a full article. They really want to scan and see if there is anything interesting that attracts their attention. When they do see something they like then they will stop and read. That’s why lists are so powerful.

But list also help the search engines find your content more easily as well. Robots do pay attention to lists. You won’t rank better if you include lists in your articles, but robots do slow down for the lists because the code that creates the list tells them that this is special information. If you include your keyword in a list once or twice then the search engine robots will be sure to seize upon that.

Remember, your articles are for marketing purposes. You are writing in hopes that e-zine and newsletter publishers in your industry will like your articles well enough to publish them. If a publisher can get your lists and enjoy your articles then their readers will too. You’ll increase your articles’ chances of getting published.