Read past editions: mattbarker.ck.page/profile​

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Formatting: you either got it or ya don’t.

I see countless posts that:

• Have massive blocks of text
• Look messy and unappealing
• Don’t make me want to read it

Full stops where commas should be.

Semi colons where colons should be.

And no I’m not Chief Constable of the Grammar Police.

I’m speaking from 20+ months experience writing online and ghostwriting 1,000s of posts.

Because like it or not, the way your writing looks matters.

The contents alone, isn’t enough. You have to earn that. And that takes time.

People make really quick, snap decisions on social media. So if you can’t make them think:

“This looks like something I want to read and CAN read easily”

Then you’re gonna lose a lot of potential readers.

Luckily, the fix is easy.

Format your posts to look sexy.

So I’m going to give you 5 easy formatting tips you can apply today to your content to make your post LOOK sexy (and hold your reader’s attention for longer):

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1. Cascade lists down so they get easier to read

• When a list is all over the place
• Like this
• It's quite tricky to understand
• If it's getting easier
• Or more and more difficult to read
• Don't you think?

I bet this feels easier to read instead:

• When a list starts longer then
• Gets shorter as it goes
• The reader will think
• It’s getting easier
• And easier
• To read

2. Use white space between sentences

When you write a sentence all jumbled and bunched together like this, it feels messy and takes a bit more brain power to read. To some it might not feel like much and there will be people who will say 'WTF? Can nobody be bothered to READ anymore?!'. Well, ignore them. Because the fact is when you click 'see more' and see a big wall of text like this...do you read it?

I bet you'd rather read this instead:

When you write a sentence all jumbled and bunched together like this, it feels messy and takes a bit more brain power to read.

To some it might not feel like much.

And there will be people who will say:

'WTF? Can nobody be bothered to READ anymore?!'.

Well, ignore them.

Because the fact is when you click 'see more' and see a big wall of text like this...

Do you read it?

3. Bullet point your key information

Here's an example for you:

A:

I have 5 tips for improving your digital writing. Write short sentences, write eye catching hooks, use simple language, make it mobile friendly and be concise. Do this and you'll instantly get better engagement.

B:

I have 5 tips for improving your digital writing:

1. Write short sentences
2. Write eye catching hooks
3. Use simple language
4. Make it mobile friendly
5. Be concise

Do this and you'll instantly get better engagement.

4. Make it mobile friendly

There's a really easy way to do this:

1. Sign up to Taplio​
2. Write posts in 'mobile mode'

Here's what I mean:

You can write in 'desktop' or 'mobile' mode to save the guessing if your post fits nicely on a mobile screen.

Just click the phone icon.

And you can see how the post will look on mobile.

For this post shown for example, I would look to shorten the 2nd sentence so it all fits on one line.

Because right now, that looks messy.

5. Use full stops on sentences

I promised you I wasn't Chief Constable of the Grammar Police.

And I'm sticking to that promise.

Hear me out on this one:

Using a full stop adds emotion and impact.

It doesn't just signal the end of a sentence.

Here's an example for you:

A:

I find that when you don't finish a sentence with a full stop

It doesn't feel finished

Or clean or punchy

B:

But when I use a full stop here.

You feel it.

You FEEL the end of the sentence.

The sentence has finished.

​

TL;DR:

It's one thing to write what you think is great content.

And it very well might be great content.

But to make sure people can consume it easily and you hold their attention throughout, so they ACTUALLY read it all.

Try these 5 tips:

1. Cascade lists down so they get easier to read
2. Use white space between sentences
3. Bullet point the key information
4. Make it mobile friendly
5. Full stop sentences

That's all for this week. I hope you enjoyed reading.

See you next week.

Cheers,

Matt

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