Writing effective copy for the web is different from writing books. In today's guest post, Jan Bear shares some important tips about how to keep readers on your website longer.
Writing for the Web
You can encourage your reader to stay on your site if you consider factors that make web reading a challenge. Every kind of writing has its own set of rules, determined by the medium. The "inverted pyramid" structure of the modern news story came about because reporters sending on the American Civil War battlefront had to take turns sending paragraph by paragraph over the only telegraph in town. So they sent the most important information first. Writing for the web has its own set of best practices, just as much determined by the medium as any other kind of writing -- from brochures to books to four-panel comics to billboards. Here are 7 readability factors that make a big difference whether a visitor stays and reads your site or immediately bounces off to somewhere else.
1. Your Readers Are Using a Backlit, Strobing Screen
The computer screen is a tool for creating eye strain. It's like staring into a fluorescent bulb. And it's not just the light. It also goes dark and redraws itself (the refresh rate) at a speed too quick for your conscious mind to see. But your eyes are having to reorient themselves every time it refreshes. Don't make your readers' eyes work any harder than necessary. Keep plenty of white space on your page, and use images as much as possible to carry or at least reinforce information. Keep paragraphs short, 6 lines maximum, 3-4 on average, and a 1-line paragraph every now and then. Shorter sentences help, too. Readers absorb information in sentence-sized bites. Break up long thoughts into shorter sentences, and even an occasional effective sentence fragment. And always put lists of information into bulleted or numbered lists.
2. Your Readers Are on a Mission
Most people go to the web looking for something. They want an answer to a question or a solution to a problem. When they stop to browse and read, it's generally at a place they already know, like Facebook or a favorite site. If they're coming to your site for the first time, they're probably looking for something. For an author, this is your opportunity:
- Tell them about your book
- Make sure they can find it on your site
- Give them a chance to buy it
Usability studies show that people will look around a site for only a few seconds to decide whether they've come to the right place or not. You do yourself and your reader a service to make your offer clear and immediate and right up front. Then deliver.
3. Your Readers Use Google to Find What They're Looking For
Searchers get information by using one of the search engines (Google has 65 percent of the search volume) to find it on the web. If the search engines can't find you, the people actively searching for your site won't find you either. Get your site in front of your target audience by doing the simple things that communicate with the search engine robots:
- Use the terms your users are searching for
- Put the information where the robots are looking for it
There are strategies for finding and using keywords and technical know-how to communicate with the Google robots that are outside the scope of this post. The point is that your on-site search engine optimization comes down to those two fairly simple steps.
4. Your Readers May Not Be Native English-Speakers
China is now the world's largest English-speaking country, followed by India, and people around the world are scrambling to learn English as a means to participate in the global economy. That means that the vast majority of the English-speaking world speak English as their second (or third, fourth, fifth, etc.) language. You're wise to take these people into account as you write. It's not a matter of "dumbing down"; "dumb" is not the problem. Your readers from Indonesia, Africa or China may be working hard to master the language as well as your subject matter. Don't make it unnecessarily complicated. And even your English-speaking readers from English-speaking countries will be grateful if you:
- Define jargon terms or include a glossary on your site
- Don't use a 5-syllable word if a 1-syllable word will do as well
- If a 5-syllable word is all you've got, make the meaning clear in context
- Be careful with idiomatic expressions (like "shake a leg") or geographical connotations ("What did you expect? They're from Lake Oswego")
In all cases, you're writing for your audience. If you really don't expect anybody outside your home town to read your stuff, you can just say "Joneses' Gulch" and expect everybody to laugh. But if you want to acquire new readers, make sure your writing is comprehensible to them.
5. Your Control over the Look of Your Site Is Limited
What a browser program, such as Firefox, Chrome or Safari, does is to compile a page based on the information in the HTML code. The user gets to tell the browser to increase or decrease the size of the type or to take up a full screen or a small part of the screen. They also can block your Flash animations or popups. What that means for you is that you have limited control over how the text appears on your reader's screen. If you want your site to be readable, lean toward simple designs in vertical patterns. Put the big, fancy Flash stuff on optional pages, so that people can go there when they choose to. I read the web on my iPhone, and have run across pages with a big "sign-up-for-my-mailing-list" popup. I can't make it go away and can't read around it. I refuse to sign up for a list just to find out if the site has any useful information on it. So those sites lose a reader right away. That brings up the whole mobile revolution. More and more people are reading the web on their smart phones and tablet computers. If you have a WordPress site, you can easily install a plugin that will automatically detect that your reader is reading on a smart phone and change the format of the site for readability on that platform. In any case, take those people into consideration.
6. The Web Is as Distracting as a Pinball Machine
The whole time you're trying to communicate with your readers, they have flashing, blinking, beeping, pinging distractions vying for their attention. If you want them to keep listening, you need to get to the point. Answer their questions and meet their needs. Be entertaining and engaging, and then tell them what to do next.
7. Reading on the Web Is Not 'Leisurely'
People reading on the web are looking for information. They want it entertaining, they want it relevant, and they want it now. If you give them what they want on that first visit, they may bookmark the site to browse later. If not, they bounce, and they're gone. What's your pet peeve or your biggest turnoff about reading on the web? Answer in the comments. Better writing for the web will help us all make the web a better place.
About the Author
Jan Bear helps authors rule the age of digital publishing. New media, new ways of communicating, and new marketing methods make it possible to get your book into the hands of your ideal audience. At MarketYourBookBlog.com she explores authors' strategies and opportunities in the wake of the digital publishing revolution.
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