I read a lot online. And I love it when writers offer me subheadings to break up the content into consumable chunks.
But not every writer does that.
When writers don't use subheadings, I have to work to grasp the key ideas in the piece. The more text between subheadings, the less likely I will continue to read.
When writers only write about 200-300 words in a piece, readers rarely need any guideposts.
But the longer the piece, the more we need guides through the content. And that's what subheadings do.
I'm not talking about subheadings in a book chapter. Those are different and need to point back to the user journey for the chapter. This writing secret is about writing shorter pieces, such as blog posts and articles. That's because we readers often have outside interruptions that cause us to look away and then return. Subheadings can help the readers remember where they are.
I have several guidelines for my subheadings:
- The word count.
- A different slant on the overall topic
- Especially when I add a new image.
Here's how they work together.
Word Counts Help Me Know It's Time for a Subheading
One of my WordPress plugins (Yoast) suggests I need a subheading every 300 words. Unfortunately, the plugin is literal. 🤣. Yes, I if I write 310 words before the next subheading, it tells me.
However, I use that literalness to my advantage. Sometimes, I wander off the original intent of this chunk of the blog post. When the plugin tells me I'm “over” my desired word count, I can review and ask myself if this content goes here—or if I should put it somewhere else. Maybe, I need to be more concise. In product development terms, when I stick with my desired user journey, I'm more likely to stay inside the guidelines.
Word counts prompt me to review my previous writing so I can clarify.
I'm not talking about editing as I write. I never do that. But I do cycle through my piece and then clarify the words and the subheadings. (See Writing Secret 2: Increase Writing Speed When You Separate Writing From Editing for more details.)
That under-300 words is a rule of thumb, a guideline, not a hard-and-fast rule.
That's why I often take a different slant on the topic at about 300 words, too.
Different Slants Help Readers Explore the Content
I could have stopped at the word count explanation. In addition, I also use the Rule of Three a lot in my writing. I might use three different ideas, but I more often use three supporting ideas to my main point. This section shows that.
Not every reader will agree with all my points in anything I write, never mind when I go meta and write about writing. That's one of the reasons I offer different slants on the topic and use a subheading for each slant. Readers can skim and see what they do and do not agree with.
I learned long ago that not everyone likes my writing or agrees with me. I'm not in this for love and affection. Instead, I write for people who are willing to consider alternatives to their current ways of working. That's one of the many reasons to use different slants, options, or arguments that build on each other.
Often, I need an image for at least one of these arguments. However, images support subheadings—they don't take the place of subheadings.
Images Support Subheadings
This image is how I describe my writing process. Note the writing-down without editing and the cycling to improve clarity. And if we go a little meta here, notice that the image supports the text.
The image does not take the place of a subheading.
There are two relatively famous publishers who ask you to use images throughout your piece: Medium and Substack. (Yes, I know, they say they're not publishers. But when they ask readers to pay to read your content, what else would they be?)
Images are great as long as they support the content. And I write plenty of blog posts where I find several images support the reader experience better than just text subheadings.
But don't make the mistake that an image will guide the reader through your content. They do not.
And the blind readers who need alt text to see your images? They get little to no benefit of some kind of image that does not explain your content.
Subheadings Guide Readers
The more we write, the more likely we are to intuitively know when to add a subheading. Unless, of course, you are like me and just keep writing. That's why I've internalized these guidelines.
- Have I written enough words that my readers need a little guide through my content?
- Is it time for a new slant on this topic?
- Do I need an image to support one of the chunks in this piece?
These guidelines help me decide what to do and when.
Want to Learn More?
If you want more common-sense approaches to writing, enroll in my next Writing Workshop. If you practice, you'll write better and faster. I guarantee it.
This is part of an intermittent series of “writing secrets.”
(Oh, if you're wondering how long it took me to write this piece? The original 850 words in about 20 minutes. Checking tags for SEO and images, a little cycling, and final editing, another 10 minutes. So about 30 minutes for the total of 884 words. That's about my normal pace when I know what I want to say. When I'm exploring, it takes longer.)