5 Reasons to Use Numbered Lists In Your Online Marketing Efforts

Congratulations! You received an invitation from Buckingham Palace to visit William and Kate after the birth of the future King or Queen of Great Britain. After the excitement of the invitation subsides, a wave of anxiety washes over you. What should you say and how should you act?

You talk to your family and friends and research online. Within a short time, you have 10 pages of hand-written notes. The amount of information feels overwhelming and increases the angst you feel!

Your phone rings and it is someone whose sister was invited to the palace three years ago. He said that from her experience there are only four things you need to consider to make your appearance a success. What a relief! Just four simple things to focus on.

Numbered lists are everywhere. A preacher may present a 3-point sermon. A business professional may have five key points to get across in a presentation to a key client. A travel organization will share a list of 10 things to do in a particular city.

Many of the most read articles on the Internet have subject headings that refer to a numbered list: 4 reasons why SEO works in real estate; 8 new uses for your mobile phone; 6 things not to say to your boss. The writers of these articles understand the how titles with numbered lists increase open rates.

1. A numbered list helps the writer to be concise when communicating. Preparing a numbered list helps the writer stay focused on communicating just a few key thoughts about a subject.
   
   
2. A numbered list is comforting for the reader. “All I have to remember is these three key things.” In a world where every person feels buried by heavy volumes of information, a numbered list feels light and manageable for the reader.
   
   
3. A numbered list makes it easy to apply concepts. Give me a book about how to improve my short game in golf and I’ll probably never practice the techniques. Tell me there are 3 things to remember when putting on the green and I’ll probably easily remember that list the next time I’m on the course.
   
   
4. Numbered lists are ideal for infographics . Infographics are becoming increasingly popular on the Internet. Infographics are essentially short-articles published online, not in the form of paragraphs of text, but in the form of a sequence of graphics that collectively inform and communicate a message. A numbered list is an effective outline for the creation of an infographic. Here’s an example of a web design infographic that uses a numbered list.
   
   
5. A numbered list implies subject matter expertise. A numbered list has power and authority to it. It conveys that the author of the list not only knows what he or she is talking about but has confidence in that knowledge.

The next time you write an article for publication on your website or blog, consider conveying the information in the form of a numbered list.

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