I write for a monthly real estate newsletter on topics relevant to small real estate agencies. My blog isn’t targeted at SME web development, though I thought I would repurpose my articles in any event.
The reality is that we read very little online; we might look at a lot, but that doesn’t mean we’re reading.
There are two reasons for this:
1. Most websites are difficult to read.
2. Most website content is irrelevant for the requirements of those trying to read it.
There a direct correlation between the success of a website and its readability and relevance; if people can’t read your website, they can’t you’re your website. Subsequently, businesses should focus on improving these factors, and can do so with relatively little effort.
Not only will users read your website, but it will leave a very strong impression with them; we all remember and respect websites we like and this will say a lot about you.
Making content readable
We read content on-screen very differently to how we read content off-screen. This is a reflection not only of the very nature of a screen, but our habits and tendencies as users of the web.
We read only that content that looks easily digestible and quickly read; it has to look easy because users have utterly no patience or energy to work for a website. If content looks in any way tiring, it is all over.
We cannot read paragraphs and paragraphs of text as if it were a page from the printer. While this might appear the most straightforward way to layout our content, it is represents arguably the most worst layout approach of all. Even websites such as news websites where users are highly captive and have visited specifically to read the content, typically try to break up their content in some way.
There are a few obvious layout tactics:
· Use bullet points.
· Use paragraphs.
· Keep the text narrow compared to the page.
· Utilise an introduction to pages, utilising a larger font and maybe a different shade of the body copy’s colour.
· Use headings, again with a different font size.
· Use a breakout box for key points, contacts and links.
· Put a shade under key paragraphs.
· Basically, break up the monotony of the content.
The litmus test of course is whether you can easily and enjoyably read your website. Is it hard and boring and tiring to read, or a real thrill with no difficulty getting to the bottom?
Making Content Relevant
In the same way that we read content on-screen differently to off-screen, so too do we expect a different style of content online than offline.
We expect content to be gratifying, to the point and easily understood. We expect content to immediately answer our questions.
Content that goes in circles and on-and-on is not good content. If users want endless background, they’ll ask for the product brochure.
There are a few tips:
· Understand the different audiences reading your website, and consider what they will be looking for and at what point in the buying cycle they are at.
· Never assume users know anything about your products or services.
· Break the content into clearly labeled sections.
· Consider the top questions and points to be said and focus on these; put background on a page entitled background if need be.
· Genuinely, less is more. Make the point and move on.