My most feared competitor

There are many talented copywriters out there – some can even write a convincing website.  But, I don’t consider them competition.  My competition is the second hand on the clock.

With web content, it’s always a race against time.  Web readers are often in a rush.  They are overwhelmed with information and have limited attention spans.  You have just a few seconds of someone’s time.  Anything more has to be earned.

To earn extra attention, respect your readers’ time.  Structure the information so it’s easy for them to find what they are looking for.  Use your headlines wisely.  Headlines should be informative, relevant and describe the information that follows.  Based on the headline, people can decide to read on or click away.

Tell a clear story to each target audience in an appealing tone.  Engage them with content that is informative, readable and relevant to their visit.  No fluff, no happy talk, just good usable content.  To save readers’ time, eliminate unnecessary text and images.  Make links clear so people know what to expect before they click.

I am determined to win the web content race against time.  How about you?

Like this post?  Share it.  Written by Don Seidenberg.

Six tips to enhance your site’s readability

Your website is not about you.  It’s about your visitors and how they experience your site. Online readers usually scan for information to complete a task.  Since they are impatient by nature, you need to write for people in a hurry.  The following tips will add clarity and make your content more readable.

1 –  Make content relevant – Understand why people visit your site.  Make your content relevant to their visit.  If you’re a writer, show writing samples. Your visitors are most likely not interested in your vision or mission.  So don’t waste their time.

2 – Get to the point – If you have irrelevant content, there’s a good chance visitors will miss the good stuff.  Edit your content so the heart of your message is clear.  The length? Long enough to cover the details, short enough to be a pleasant read.

3 – Omit needless words  –  The more words you use, the more difficult it is to follow your point.  Shorter sentences make for easy reading.  Break up longer sentences into two or three sentences.

4 – Headlines are traffic signs – A good headline is like a traffic sign.  It informs people what’s coming next.  Make sure your headline illustrates a benefit and is informative.  Then visitors know what to expect.

5 – The most important sentence first – Visitors often scan the first sentence of each paragraph. If the information is useful, they will complete the paragraph.  Write every first sentence, so visitors know what will follow.

6 – White space makes people notice – The more white space around something, the more people will notice it.  Break up your text into shorter paragraphs and use bullet points where appropriate.  This makes it easier to scan.

If you find these tips helpful, forward this post to a friend or colleague.  Or re-post it on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.  My list is not comprehensive, so feel free to add your favorites in the comments section.

Like this post?  Share it.  Written by Don Seidenberg.