Test People are constantly bombarded with blog content these days, and it’s a real challenge to write copy that stands out from the rest. In order to understand how to turn content skimmers into actual readers, it’s important to understand how busy people are processing all of the information that presents itself through emails, social media, and websites all day, every day.

 

Set The Hook

 

Obviously, the first step is to present your content in a way that gets readers to give it a chance. You do this with titles and email subjects that accurately offer the reader something they want. It’s easy to write enticing titles, but if those titles turn out to be misleading or over-promising, people will quickly stop reacting to anything you send them. Sensationalistic titles that misrepresent the content break the reader’s trust, and you may never get a second chance to win that trust back.

 

Make Bite-Sized Chunks

 

When you succeed in attracting readers to open your content and they’re met with the sight of a page that’s solid text, you’re going to see a huge bounce rate for that page. People are skimming to determine whether or not a page’s content merits their time and effort, so writing scannable content is a must.

 

• Short, Tight Copy – Overall, the content on a single web page should fall into the range of 400-600 words. On most computer browsers (as opposed to mobile browsers), this allows the readers to see all or most of the page’s text without scrolling. It also shows that you respect their time enough to keep your message brief.

 

• Subheads – Breaking your message into short segments with subtitles helps the reader understand the flow of the message at a glance. Even if the reader is in a hurry, they’ll come away from skimming your page with the major points of your message, so you’ve still provided them value for their time.

 

• Bulleted Lists – Laying your message out in a logical manner with bulleted lists helps the reader absorb even more information in a short time, and it provides valuable white space on your page, which makes your copy seem more approachable and less overwhelming than a page written in large blocks of text.

 

Include Easter Eggs

 

Ultimately, you want people to respond to your content by spending more time on your site, reading your content thoroughly, clicking through to more of your posts, and converting. Embedding links to additional, related content on your site creates a treasure hunt-type feel. Again, use anchor text that accurately represents the linked content, and don’t break their trust with a wild goose chase of a link that has nothing to do with what they’re interested in reading about.

 

Is Your Website Content Converting Skimmers?

 

If you’d like to see your company’s web content bring better results, Design & Promote can help. Writing scannable content that drives conversion is our primary focus. Contact us for a complimentary website audit and we’ll help you create content that builds your reputation as a valuable and authoritative source in your field.