3 Dead-simple Formatting Techniques To 10x Your Writing Online

In Today’s edition:

Formatting is underrated.

Writing is more of a design exercise than people think. When's the last time you read a big block of text and said "thank god it's a big block of text!"? You have < 1 second to capture attention.

Remember: People skim.

Then Look for something that captures their attention. Then they decide to invest in reading the entire piece. They don't just go straight into reading your entire piece.

Once you know this, you'll change the way you think about formatting.

And...Formatting is the easiest way to 10x your writing online.

Here are 3 formatting techniques you can use to improve the "skimmability" of your writing:

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1. USE BULLETS (OR NUMBERS) WHENEVER YOU HAVE A LIST

When you use bullets (or numbers) to list items out, you writing is more skimmable / readable.

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2. USE A 1-2-1, 1-3-1, or 1-4-1 WRITING RHYTHM

These are awesome.

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Start with a hook in the first sentence. Then start a new paragraph. In the new paragraph elaborate on the hook in the first paragraph with three sentences.

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Just like what I did in these last 3 paragraphs.

Or you can do what I did here:

See how I just repeated this same rhythm down the page?

You can repeat this same pattern with rhythms like:

  • 1-2-1

  • 1-3-1

  • 1-4-1

  • 1-5-1

And the middle sections here don't have to be full sentences. They can be bullets too :D

3. GO SHORT-TO-LONG OR LONG-TO-SHORT WITH YOUR BULLETS

This also creates rhythm and skimmability in your writing.

My friend once described this technique as the "bullet flow".

Notice how the top section bullets go from short sentences to longer sentences? And then the bottom section bullets go from long to short?

Congrats: you've just now witnessed the "bullet flow".

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WRITING IS JUST AS MUCH FORMATTING AS IT IS ANYTHING ELSE

Especially in the digital world.

Next time you write a LinkedIn post, email, or your own newsletter keep formatting in mind.

If you'd like to learn more about formatting in your writing, we cover this in much greater detail in Brand30 (next cohort starts August 1st)

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