How To Use Bullet Points in Blog Post (& Create Engaged Reading Experience)

Why Use bullet points in blog article –

Benefits of adding bullet points in an article are many, including –

• Busy blog readers who always skim information to save time stay on bullet points to gather intended information quickly
• Using bulleted lists breaks up long blocks of content thus adding elements of desired freshness
• The default white space created with bullet points support readability and comprehension
• Emphasis and direction are created using bullets – helping readers consume information efficiently
• They add a sense of urgency and seriousness – instilling a sense of trust among readers for the writer
• Bulleted points keep things organized and targeted

How to use bullet points

Bullet points are effective writing weapons, but when used wrongly they miss the planned target and hardly serve any purpose.  

See some of their inconvenient usages and how to stop such situations from happening –

Talking only about the features

Bullets often carry features. Features of a product, how good and awesome it is and etc.

But wait, such bullets sound inward oriented and not growth inclusive.   

While features may contain benefits, a reader needs to apply his mind and think how this feature is going to benefit him.

This is like becoming smart and leaving it to the readers to decide.

Why would a reader spend time thinking about the benefit, in fact why should he think?

The best intention of any writing is to immediately take values to the readers. And there’s so much of information today, if we can’t do it instantly our readers will go elsewhere.

So bullets should include benefits over feature. Don’t assume that your customers will understand the features instantly. Turn the rigid features into dynamic and compelling benefits and see the results.

Using way too often

Avoid excessive use of bulleted lists. They support pleasant reading experience only when used sparingly. Overusing unnecessarily drags a point too further; distracting a reader from the main message or make him leave the web page altogether.

Using where they don’t fit

Sometimes in order to make a statement you don’t want to look well-dressed and well-behaved. Likewise, sometimes bullet points are not fitted to prove an argument, and a serious point of view. Bullets add shortcuts, put emphasis and save a readers’ time. But crucial points of view often need serous reading. If using bullets don’t make reading simpler and serous, just avoid using them.   

Ways to make good bulleted list

Use numbered bullets

A list can be either ordered (using numbers) or unordered. For explainers and other content types, where readers need to follow a sequence of activities and remember the steps, an ordered list is preferable.  

Use sparingly

A total of 4-5 numbers in a bullet list is good to grab and retain attention. More points defeat writing purpose. Each point should be short and concise having no more than two lines in length. Follow one length and format

See if you can follow the inverted pyramid style

For lists without any clear order, you can follow what journalist call inverted pyramid style of writing news. It refers to a news story format where the most important points come first, followed by less important but supporting details. So for a list populated with five points, you may want to divide the most important facts between the first two or three?

Punctuation for bulleted lists

Punctuation for bullet lists differ based on style guide priorities.

Some accepted rules for punctuation in bullet points –

Use period (full stops) at the end of each bullet points, only if it is a complete sentence.

If it is not and the sentence needs to continue further in the following points, separating each point by comma is preferable until the sentence ends (of course) with a full stop.

Properly choose fitting areas

• Middle of the post
• Anywhere when long paragraphs needs to be broken
• In summary (we sometimes use)
• At the end of the post to allow readers get the gist (You can see this in our takeaways section almost every time)

These are a few useful things about using bullet points in blog post to enhance reading experience.

What have been your experiences about using bullets in writing?

Do you support the use of bullet in blog content? Or are you against using them for any reasons?

Let us know in the comments below!