Bright Ideas # 45 – Satisfying Everyone: Part III of Why Writing for the Web is Different

When I first started this series on writing for the Web a few weeks ago, I gave you a list of the many ways writing for the Web is different from writing for print. One of the most critical of those is that people don’t read the same way on the Internet that they do on paper.

In fact, to a large degree many people don’t read on the Web at all…they skim.

But that doesn’t mean you should skimp on the amount of content (or copy) you write. Because, as I’ve also talked about in the last couple of emails, your Website has to have all the tools and information it needs to be a good salesperson.

It has to be friendly. Be easy to understand. And have all the answers to your customer’s questions.

It also has to achieve three core goals:

1. Make the shopping experience easy and convenient.
2. Inspire confidence.
3. Show what’s different, or better, about buying from you.

So it’s not really about how much copy. It’s about how you write and format that copy.

Now, let’s get back to what I was saying about skimming versus reading…

Most people will skim your Website before they read it—at least initially. Why?

Because they want to see if you have what they are looking for. And they want to find it as quickly as possible.

However, when they are really interested in what you are saying—or serious about buying soon—then they will devour every last word you put up there.

Assuming, of course, that it is interesting to them, informative, and easy to read.

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How do you write to satisfy both the readers and the skimmers?
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You have to edit and format your content with a few key rules in mind:

1) Banish Big, Bulky Paragraphs
Here’s the thing. Big, long chunks of text are just not inviting to read. Especially on the Web. They just look like too much work, and they are almost impossible to skim.

So make all your paragraphs no more than four lines long. Even a one sentence paragraph is fair game on the Web.

2) Be Up Front
Stick to one point and state it early in the paragraph. People who skim read the beginning of a paragraph far more often than they read the whole thing. And the last thing you want to do is bury critical information where it won’t get seen.

3) It’s Good to Be Short
It’s easier to both skim and read ideas that are broken down into bite-sized pieces. So keep sentences around 20 words or less. This seems hard at first, but you can almost always find a way to break a long sentence into two shorter ones. You can use Tools/Word Count in Microsoft Word to keep yourself honest.

4) Use 5 Cent Words, not 50 Cent
Long words take more thought, and are more likely to be misunderstood than short ones. Plus, these days people (even college educated ones) read most comfortably at about an eighth grade level. So anytime it’s possible use a shorter word, or two short words instead of one long one, do it. The exception: if the long words are specific to an industry or market you are trying to reach, then by all means use them.

5) Catch Their Eye
One of the best ways to make your copy both skim friendly and effective is with well-written headlines and subheads. Someone should be able to skim nothing but your headlines and subheads to get all the major points and decide whether or not to read deeper.

6) Bring on the Bullets
Next to headlines and subheads, bullets are one of the best tools for satisfying both skimmers and readers. Just make sure each one provides a clear, compelling benefit—not just a feature. Because it’s not just about what your product or service does, it’s what it does for your customer that matters.

By writing and formatting your content with these rules in mind, you make it easy for people to find exactly what they are looking for. And you can still write as much copy as you need to satisfy anyone who wants to read more and convince them to take action.

Now, the next step is to organize your content on the page so the most important items get the most attention. Which I’ll talk about in next weeks email…

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Do you have a marketing, advertising or writing question you’d like to have answered? Email me and you might see the answer in a future edition of Bright Ideas.

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