When writing a document or creating any content, you have to make it appealing to your audience. Doing so helps draw attention to the finer details of your content and deliver the required message.
People in different industries, such as marketers, realtors, and fund managers, always send the document to prospects to try and connect with them. Sending the documents isn’t a problem as there are mail, email, and newsletters that enable them to reach many prospects.
The main challenge always arises in getting the prospects to read your document or pick it out from the pile of email messages sent to them. Making your document standout has significantly been solved by faxing and mail as it avoids the spamming and crowding that emails bring. But even if you send fax online or through other forms, you still need to make it stand out for the target to read.
Here are some creative ways to make your document appealing and engaging to any reader:
1. Use Headings And Subheadings
Headings or topics are what summarizes what the content of the document is about. Your topic should be engaging so the reader will be curious about the article’s contents, enticing them to read it. On the other hand, subheadings will help section your document, helping you avoid a long format content, which will look boring. With subheadings, a reader who wants to skim through the document can quickly identify the points, which will make them read if they’re good.
In cases where you’re sending a fax through an email or just a direct email, always ensure to clearly state the subject of the document in the subject line. This helps the target to identify the document and its importance. An email without a subject line can be passed as spam or assumed as it doesn’t state what it’s about.
2. Use Typography Elements
Typography elements include fonts, colors, and styles used in texts. For example, if you want to bring attention to a quote, you can bold it, italicize, or highlight it. This will make readers concentrate on the section around the highlighted text. Also, you can use different font texts on your topics and heading from the ones used on the main body of the document. The headings should also be bolded to stand out.
Apart from font sizes and types, other important typography tips include font colors too. Colors are a great option to bring attention to a particular part of a document. You can then make comments about what the different colors indicate so that readers can understand.
3. Use Visual Objects
Visual objects represent information that can’t be explained in words or need further clarification through graphs, charts, pictures, and infographics. These visuals are easy to understand as, most of the time, they’re made distinct through colors. Hence, readers can easily pick up data points from them. Other than making different points distinct, the colors also improve the appeal, making the charts look beautiful, attracting attention.
So, instead of very long paragraphs that can be hard to follow through, it’s advisable to use visual cues to break down information that could be difficult to understand.
4. Use Short Paragraphs And Listings
Most readers will agree that it’s hard to follow through with long paragraphs and the essence of the document. Therefore, you need a structure that makes your content easy to follow and understand for readers. You can achieve this by breaking long paragraphs into shorter ones. You can also use shorter sentences that are straight to the point.
In addition, you can use numbering and bulletins to highlight points, especially those that should be on a list. Readers can easily concentrate on those points without having a problem finding the main talk points of the document. In long-form format, you should include a table of contents that indicates what part and page a particular section are in. This becomes easy for readers to find information.
5. Test The Quality
After you’ve created an online document, even after you feel it’s visually appealing and will stand out, you need to test if it meets the required standard. The first step is to make sure you’ve answered the main objective of the document. Why were you creating the document, and for whom? If the documents meet these, you can pass them through an editorial procedure to remove errors and ensure consistency in style. After passing these steps, you can send it.
Conclusion
Every day, different people always upload or send their documents online. One person can receive more than 30 documents in their inbox, and yours has to stand out among the rest. Therefore, you need to be creative in how you’ve presented your document so once it’s opened, the reader won’t bounce off quickly.
These creative ways can help you create appealing and engaging content. However, be keen to ensure that you don’t overdo it to a point where your document loses relevance.