Website Sales Copy - Give Website Visitors A Break
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Give Website Visitors A Break
I went to see how the new sales copy looked on a client’s website the other day… and sighed when I found long blocks of text staring back at me on the web page.
By: Tracy Needham
I went to see how the new sales copy looked on a client’s website the other day… and sighed when I found long blocks of text staring back at me on the web page.
By: Tracy Needham
Tracy Needham, founder of Compelling Communications, LLC, helps small business owners boost their business through compelling copy and marketing strategies that make the most of their time and money. Sign up for her FREE Special Report: The One Press Release You Can Write to Get Thousands of Dollars Worth of Free Publicity at www.compellingezine.com.
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I’ll admit, it drives me batty when a client or designer changes my formatting. I know their intentions are good, but there are reasons why its formatted that way…such as the fact that long blocks of dense text sends most people fleeing for the nearest exit.
I know-your English teacher said every paragraph has to have at least three sentences. But she was teaching you to write for the college world, not marketing. And the Internet wasn’t even around when most of us were in high school!
Studies show most people don’t read online, they scan-looking for what’s most important to them. And then they read that. Have you tried scanning a page full of mile-long paragraphs? Good luck…
And if they can’t scan, they don’t get your message at all because just the sight of all that text makes them think, “Wow, I don’t have time for all this right now. I’ll have to look at it later…” And later comes just about as often as a handwritten thank you note these days.
Instead, you want to keep your paragraphs to 3-4 lines max. This helps create what’s called “eye relief” for the reader-making your content seem shorter and “read” much faster so they’re more likely to actually read it.
Like anything, too much of the same is dull. So mix it up-and yes, one sentence or even just a phrase can be a paragraph. In fact, this is a great way to emphasize a point or introduce something important. For example…
“Best of all, your purchase is completely guaranteed.”
“But even more important…”
Make Your Content Even More Readable
You can also make your content less daunting and easier to read if you…
· Break up long sentences - if you find yourself typing “and” stop and ask yourself if it can just be a new sentence. Or phrase masquerading as a sentence. (Yes, that’s OK and usually sounds more conversational too.)
· Use headings and sub-headings to highlight new sections or topics-and make them meaningful. Since most folks scan a web page or email, you want them to get the gist of your message and where they can find the info they’re most interested in in a snap.
· Dashes and ellipses are great for giving your copy room to breathe and highlighting important points. Use the “em dash” (which is two hyphens in a row) and no more than three periods in each ellipsis.
· Bullets, bold, colored fonts and other formatting can help as well with these caveats…
- Like Peter who cried wolf too many times, if you try to emphasize too much, you end up emphasizing nothing at all
- Avoid that bright blue color that usually indicates a hypertext link unless it is, in fact, a link… or you just like annoying readers
- ALL CAPS are good in small doses (while they’re attention-getting they’re also harder to read on a web screen)
- Italics are also harder to read and don’t always show up well with some fonts-so if you use it for a sentence or more, make sure it’s nothing critically important
- Underlining used to be a no-no if it wasn’t a hyperlink because people would try to click on it anyway, but that may be changing now since blue non-underlined text has become the predominant link format
- Highlighting on a screen is just flat-out annoying and hurts my eyes-so I avoid reading anything in it and I find a lot of women feel the same. I think it’s also become an automatic sign someone is being “sold to.” But historically, it has tested well. My advice-proceed with caution and test for yourself
In fact, every audience is different so you should always test ANY recommendation for yourself. But even a small improvement in making your website and email copy easier to for visitors and subscribers to read is sure to be a winner.
I know-your English teacher said every paragraph has to have at least three sentences. But she was teaching you to write for the college world, not marketing. And the Internet wasn’t even around when most of us were in high school!
Studies show most people don’t read online, they scan-looking for what’s most important to them. And then they read that. Have you tried scanning a page full of mile-long paragraphs? Good luck…
And if they can’t scan, they don’t get your message at all because just the sight of all that text makes them think, “Wow, I don’t have time for all this right now. I’ll have to look at it later…” And later comes just about as often as a handwritten thank you note these days.
Instead, you want to keep your paragraphs to 3-4 lines max. This helps create what’s called “eye relief” for the reader-making your content seem shorter and “read” much faster so they’re more likely to actually read it.
Like anything, too much of the same is dull. So mix it up-and yes, one sentence or even just a phrase can be a paragraph. In fact, this is a great way to emphasize a point or introduce something important. For example…
“Best of all, your purchase is completely guaranteed.”
“But even more important…”
Make Your Content Even More Readable
You can also make your content less daunting and easier to read if you…
· Break up long sentences - if you find yourself typing “and” stop and ask yourself if it can just be a new sentence. Or phrase masquerading as a sentence. (Yes, that’s OK and usually sounds more conversational too.)
· Use headings and sub-headings to highlight new sections or topics-and make them meaningful. Since most folks scan a web page or email, you want them to get the gist of your message and where they can find the info they’re most interested in in a snap.
· Dashes and ellipses are great for giving your copy room to breathe and highlighting important points. Use the “em dash” (which is two hyphens in a row) and no more than three periods in each ellipsis.
· Bullets, bold, colored fonts and other formatting can help as well with these caveats…
- Like Peter who cried wolf too many times, if you try to emphasize too much, you end up emphasizing nothing at all
- Avoid that bright blue color that usually indicates a hypertext link unless it is, in fact, a link… or you just like annoying readers
- ALL CAPS are good in small doses (while they’re attention-getting they’re also harder to read on a web screen)
- Italics are also harder to read and don’t always show up well with some fonts-so if you use it for a sentence or more, make sure it’s nothing critically important
- Underlining used to be a no-no if it wasn’t a hyperlink because people would try to click on it anyway, but that may be changing now since blue non-underlined text has become the predominant link format
- Highlighting on a screen is just flat-out annoying and hurts my eyes-so I avoid reading anything in it and I find a lot of women feel the same. I think it’s also become an automatic sign someone is being “sold to.” But historically, it has tested well. My advice-proceed with caution and test for yourself
In fact, every audience is different so you should always test ANY recommendation for yourself. But even a small improvement in making your website and email copy easier to for visitors and subscribers to read is sure to be a winner.
