Visitors to your Web site - and also on forums like this - won’t read much of your content word-for-word. They’ll skim the text and selectively focus on key words that catch their eyes. Some Web usability gurus, such as Jakob Nielsen, call this phenomenon “scannability.”
You will not change your way of writing research texts, but think about the different styles of communication!
Here are some top-10 rules that make your posting more readable to others:
Figure on using one-third the number of of words onscreen as you would for the same content in print. If you can do it with a smaller percentage of words, even better.
Studies show that about half your readers will not bother to scroll down a page. In the newspaper business “it’s called keeping the news above the fold.”
Newspaper reporters learned long ago to write in an “inverted pyramid style,” meaning that the most important content is at the top of the story and the least important content trails off at the end. You probably learned all about the “who, what, when, why and how” concept in English class. On the Web, that concept is even more important because people are less likely to scroll, as I noted, but also because they’re in a hurry and want the facts toute de suite. They’re also not as literate as previous generations, but that’s a topic for another time and place.
Readers love lists because lists are easy to read and pack a lot a info into fewer words. Use bullets and numbers to make your lists stand out.
Two or three sentences per paragraph. One idea per paragraph. Hit your reader with steady jabs of information. Often short pops work better than long, looping roundhouses.
Not only are subheads guideposts for your readers, but also resting places for fast-moving eyeballs.
and give readers a place to pause as they scan. Here’s how I construct my links: For more information on my writing and editing background, check out my About page. This link breaks up the copy flow for starters and makes it seem less dense. Equally important, the link is descriptive, it’s meaning is clear. You know what you’re going to get if you click on it (or at least I hope so). I’ll write about how to craft effective inbound and outbound links before too long.
The fact your company is located in the beautiful hills of Lubbock, Texas is irrelevant to everyone except Mom. Try to stay on message. I discussed KISS in tip 5 but what I’m talking about here is a bit different. “Omit needless words,” as famed author E.B. White once wrote.
- they DO make your posting more clickable = read.
No one other than my brother-in-law says stuff like: “We need to marginalize the real estate agent’s input so we can orchestrate options that will materialize in greater assets.” Why write that way? Keep it real. It’s also easier for you write that way if you’re not a polished writer.
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