How to Design Your Content

With hoodie weather & longer nights approaching, I like to think that more content gets consumed in the fall/winter months.

And as more people put their thoughts into the world in the form of content, the lion's share of consumption will go to those who provide a good experience.

"Good" is subjective, but there are known ways to make your content more consumable, more helpful, and more likely to be shared.

Here are a few of them:

1) Use bullet points - my favorite tip. Everybody loves bullet points and Buzzfeed built an empire from people's obsessions with lists (see Listicles).

Bullet points can make content easier to understand, especially with numbers & categories - like the Roth IRA comparison below:

You probably shouldn't write an entire article in bullet point form but when they're well-placed, they can add value and make your content more consumable.

Within video content, using overlays with bullet points can help viewers retain the most important information. I don't have any statistics to back this up, but I know people learn in different ways and it can't hurt to have audio & written learnings:

2) Formatted tiers/lists - while there isn't a tactical reason behind this one, I think well-formatted content leaves an impression on someone over time and is more likely to be memorable.

Using the same example as above, which of these two bulleted lists look better?

Aside from the order of the information, the bottom one is much easier to consume & is more aesthetically pleasing.

This kind of formatting can be done in blog posts, emails (like throughout this newsletter), social media posts—anywhere you post content:

To take it a step further, I implemented the format on my own website:

3) Be brief & break paragraphs - when you're writing, don't try to put every thought into one paragraph. When an idea or thought changes, the format of the writing should too.

Similar to this example from Morgan Housel:

It's short where possible, but expands when necessary.

Here's the same content with no formatting or styling:

🎡 Use proper description & length, but try to avoid intimidating walls of text. 

4) Add simple (shareable) graphics

Nothing makes a relatively boring article about personal finance more lively than good graphics.

While you're graphic game likely won't be on the level of Visual Capitalist, you can still make your own content better with simple design work.

For example, you could break down taxes or retirement account types within an article and make a supplemental graphic to further explain. I merged two of the content design tips—lists & graphics—into one pillar article:

Now, the article is ranked #81 on Google for "freelance tax deductions" because every finance site has a similar post and competition is tough.

But not every article has a well-designed graphic..

The article is #81, but the graphic is #1 when you click 'images':

🎡 Good design not only looks nice, but can help with SEO too

5) Designing with copy & websites - Similar to creating shareable graphics, you can design shareable pieces of your website. For example, with Olson Consulting's website, this section is easy-to-consume and easily shareable:

Literally - posted directly from the website to social media with 13,000 organic views:

When putting together Thomas' landing page, I designed the text in a way to subtly prompt someone to scroll down the page with an arrow:

With my newsletter call-to-action, the text leads downward to the subscribe form:

Little things like this can feel insignificant, but when you think about every part of a brand and everything that has to be designed—from pages of your website to client deliverables to social media posts—small design choices add up. Make sure they're intentional.

🎡 Be mindful of design & consumer experience when making and posting any content online