Make your bullet-pointed lists more powerful
“Articles” that rely heavily on bullet-pointed lists can overwhelm readers. Their attention flags after three or four bullets. I call this “bullet fatigue.” However, you can boost the power of your lists with this tip.
Two easy steps to better lists
Knowing about bullet fatigue, you can break up an article that consists mainly of a long bullet-pointed list into separate lists. Here are the steps:
- Group the bullet points by topic. Make your topics narrow enough that, ideally, no more than three or four bullets apply. It’s OK to go longer if each bullet point consists of only one or two words.
- Write a topic sentence that introduces each group of bullet points.
Better results from your lists
The result? You end up with a multi-paragraph article that is easy for readers to skim because its topic sentences identify the focus of each group of bullet points. Your results will soar with a minimal investment of time.
Wondering about how to punctuate bullet-pointed lists?
I’ve discussed this in “How to punctuate bullet-pointed lists.“
