As I mentioned in my previous post, your prospects simply don’t have time to screw around on your site. They want bite-sized phrases their eyes can scan and latch on to. From there, they’ll determine if they want to seek more.
As a writer, it’s not only my job to make sure copy sells, but also to make sure it scannable in its final destination – whether that’s a web page, a brochure, print ad, etc.
A few tips to giving your customers scannable copy:
- Break long paragraphs into smaller ones. Six lines to a paragraph is a good number to aim for if you’re writing a web page.
- Use pretty lists. Like this one. It breaks up your pages and people tend to believe that important info is in those lists.
- Don’t be afraid to use more than one headline. If your web page contains two similar, yet different topics, by all means use two headlines. Your reader will thank you for it.
- Be concise. Use simple and compound sentences. Compound-complex sentences are generally too long an awkward for a typical visitor.
If you need more advice, you know where to reach me.
