Any time you are writing online content – a blog post, an article, a web page or a sales letter, it is important to consider how people read.

There are several factors that have been identified as being essential for inducing the greatest number of visitors to actually read all the text on your website or blog. Here is a brief overview of the most important.

How We Read Online

As human beings, we read a book far differently than we skim through online content – and that is a key factor; we tend to skim through the page before deciding whether or not we want to invest time reading every word all the way through to the end.

Few people want to read a book online; instead they are searching for information. They want to quickly and easily ascertain whether or not the pages of your website contain the data they are seeking. Don’t make this difficult or time consuming; when it comes down to it, most internet users are lazy. Besides, the internet is supposed to save time, not waste it wading through lots of long pieces of text.

Distractions, such as an incoming email or IM message offer distractions that also make it less likely a reader will finish a long article or post.

Online Content – Style And Design Elements

Text pieces need to include white space. It’s a simple fact that when faced with a page of tightly spaced text with small font and run-together paragraphs, people simply won’t read it. It could contain some truly valuable or really interesting content but your visitors will never know because they will make it all the way through.

Here are some effective ways to design text that gets read:

• Group the text into small paragraphs with appropriate spacing between each.
• Use a font size that is easy to read (i.e., larger than 10 point).
• Skip the fancy fonts and stick with a tried and true sans serif such as Verdana or Arial.
• Use bold phrases sprinkled throughout to grab attention.
• Bulleted lists provide an easy way to read through a large amount of information.
• Refrain from using too much punctuation; particularly exclamation points!
• Dark text against a light background is easiest on the eye.
• Break up the text with graphics and photos.
• Add links, which appear in a different colour than the overall text font.
• Use fewer words to get across the same amount of information in printed format.

General Content Writing Tips

Think of your audience as you write. Not everyone knows the jargon of your particular industry or will appreciate a vocabulary your English professor would be proud of. Use short sentences and simple words that can be understood by any reader.

Limit the length of the pieces to no more than 500 words and articles to around that same number, wherever possible. Web pages can have more text but be sure you utilise the tips above so that blocks and paragraphs are appropriately separated and incorporate sufficient white space.

It is easy to shorten a piece if you include hyperlinks to pages that more fully discuss a particular topic. This is also a great way to build inter-site links, always good for page ranking SEO.

If you want your website visitors to read your online content, ensure that you lay it out properly and think about ways to get them from the top to the bottom of the page.

Sean Rasmussen
Aussie Internet Marketer
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