The Case for the Colon in Your Content

“If punctuation marks were performers, the colon would be the master of ceremonies,” Ryan Van Cleave observes in Writer’s Digest. (This week I’m featuring content writing clues based on Digest pieces .)… There are  specific ways writers can make good use of the colon, Van Cleave points out, reminding us that what comes before the colon must be a complete sentence:

In content marketing, the most common use of the colon is to introduce a bullet-pointed list.

By most accounts, search engines like bullet points. Even more important, what we’ve found over the years at Say It For You is that bullet points keep everyone on track, including our content writers themselves. It’s a good rule to begin each bullet pointed statement with the same part of speech.  Also, as writers.stockexchange.com reminds us, we need to use bullet pointed lists sparingly to avoid having the lists lose their impact.

There’s more to using colons than just to introduce lists, Ryan Van Cleave reminds us. Colons can be used to “introduce what matters”, setting the stage for dramatic reveals or punchlines.  In a novel, for example, the sentence might read: “He realized the truth too late; she was gone.”  In content marketing, of course, one of the big challenges is the dramatic decrease in the average attention span of online readers, meaning that, as content creators, we are not granted a whole lot of time for “stage-setting”.  In both the title and the opening statement, we need to capture attention and stimulate interest.

In all the “reading around” I like to do for both business and pleasure, I’ve found that book publishers often use two part titles divided by a colon. I’ve nicknamed those “Huh?; Oh!” titles. The “Huh?s”  catch attention; the “Oh!’s” explain what the book is really about. Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen is a good example.

As content marketers, such two part titles divided by a colon can serve to satisfy search engines and readers’ “what???” curiosity.

Consider allowing the colon to serve as “master of ceremonies” in your marketing content!