Business Websites and Blogs: How to Avoid the Wall of Text…
How many websites have you come across that display that intimidating “wall of text” – blocks and blocks of never-ending paragraphs that often bore readers to death? A wall of text is literally painful to endure and can actually cause eyestrain and headaches. That doesn’t seem like a very effective way to keep readers on your personal or business website and/or blog.
Always remember that writing for online readers is much different than writing for print. In order to attract repeat visitors to your website or blog – you need to promote easy scanning of the text.
Let’s face it – people rarely read an entire blog post or web page. They rarely dissect every word or fully absorb all information. Instead, they scan the page. Certain words, phrases, and sentences will catch their eye. If you’re successful in keeping their attention, you may gain a reader that will digest most of what you have to say. Successful websites learn how to make things easy for readers. They may use:
Subheadings.
Alert your audience to distinct changes in your text. Make the information that is most important to readers easier to find. For instance, a business offering an article on various training tricks for animals could use ‘Dogs,’ ‘Cats,’ and ‘Birds’ as their subheadings. A dog-owner that comes to the site will save a lot of time by easily locating the training tips focused on dogs.
Bulleted lists.
Call attention to significant pieces of information by using bulleted lists instead of burying details in a wall of text.
Highlight keywords.
Lure your reader to certain blocks of text by highlighting certain words and phrases. When you highlight keywords in your text, you can choose to change the typeface or color, or use hypertext links.
A simplified writing style.
Remember to use vocabulary that is easy to follow. Let’s say you’re trying to sell a product. Deliver the most important information to potential consumers in a concise manner. In other words, don’t lose the interest of a reader by using ‘big words’ that typically don’t see the light of day outside of the dictionary.
One idea at a time.
Each paragraph should address one idea at a time. Some readers tend to skip the end of paragraphs. Position the most important information within the first few words.
Short paragraphs.
Long-winded paragraphs not only lose the attention of a reader, but also contribute to a wall of text that smothers key points.
The inverted pyramid.
Take a hint from newshounds and embrace the inverted pyramid approach when writing for the Internet. Deliver the conclusion first, followed by the most important details. Basically, the ‘who,’ ‘what,’ ‘when’, ‘where’, and ‘how’ are presented in the first paragraph. The end of your article, web page, or blog post is then used to give background information. When using an inverted-pyramid writing style, visitors can stop reading at any point and you’ve still impacted their lives.
