Written by: George Alexandrov
Friday, May 09, 2008

Content that cannot be easily scanned diminishes your website's usability. Most often this results in lost revenue. In the worst case people won't ever come back again to your website. In our practice we do make sure that each website we launch is usable. One of the criteria is a well written and formatted content. However, today a lot of websites, including all of the ones that we roll out, are content managed, and it is the owner who edits and keeps her website's copy up to date. Unless she knows how to keep her content usable (i.e. easily scannable), it is very easy to make information hard to find within her website. Sometimes her users will not be able to see it even if it is in front of their eyes on the page they are currently viewing.

The main premise for the following tips is that web users behave differently than when they read print. People on the web scan the web page for information of interest rather than read. They will never read the whole page. Unless you are a novice Internet user, chances are that you behave the same way. According to recent research done by NNGroup, one of the authorities on Web Usability, people will most likely read about 20% of the content on a web page.

The following tips are just a few of the many things that will make a web site easy to use. However, if you manage to apply them, you will ensure that you produce scannable copy, which should be one of your top priorities.

1. The length of web pages should be about 50% or less than on your printed materials. Most optimal would be 1000 to 2000 words.
2. Short paragraphs increase scannability. Otherwise people will be intimidated by huge blocks of text and may not even bother fighting with it. Remember, they need to find the information they are looking for fast (i.e. within a few seconds).
3. Use short sentences, too. If your audience is very broad and diverse, make sure that your sentences are written for the seventh grade level. If your audience is more educated you afford to raise the level with a few grades. In either case, remember that complex, long sentences are hard to scan. This is especially true for home pages. You can get away with longer sentences on pages deeper within your website. Chances are that if someone is already on such a page they are interested in what you have to say and they will read it.
4. Start each paragraph with the conclusion. Start each page with the main point. People who scan read the firs one or two sentences of the first few paragraphs at best. If you hide your main points at the end of paragraphs and pages, chances are that no one will see them.
5. Use bullet points generously. They will increase scannability immensely. Start each bullet point with the information carrying words. Avoid repeating filler words in the beginning. For example, if all your bullet points start with "Information about ..." they will not be  scannable.
6. Begin paragraphs with information carrying words. Again, if people scan, they will read them first and these are the words which must convey what this paragraph/bullet point is about.
7. Place all main points above the fold of the page. The fold is the bottom of the screen where content is cut off and viewing the rest of it requires the user to scroll down. According to research done by Jacob Nielsen, only 23% of people will ever scroll your home page on their first visit, and even less will do so on subsequent visits. For internal pages the number is 42%. Consider this point before placing a pointless big banner on top of the page, unless it conveys a very important message. Everyone's company is reliable, great and innovative, so displaying such an empty-worded, cool looking animation or image will not win clients or trust. It is simply a total waste of precious real estate.
8. Use larger size fonts. The standard screen resolutions have increased to at least 1024x786. In this case if you use a font of 10 pixels, it may be harder to read. It will be even worse on higher resolutions.Again, make it easy for people to read your message. For your reference, the font size on our website is 12 pixels. Additional tip - choose Verdana as your website's font. It is considered the easiest to read for the Web.
9. Choose a writing style that conveys your main points as clearly as possible. People avoid, and in many cases hate, too much marketing or corp talk that does not clearly tell them what you will do for them. Try to you speak more naturally on your website. This does not mean that you will not sound professional. You can be upfront, clear and professional in your writing at the same time.
10. Clever metaphors are often counter-productive, unless you choose metaphors that are very popular among the average person of your target audience. Otherwise people simply won't get your point easily. This is especially true for home page copy - you have less than 7 seconds to capture the attention of a visitor and you will likely lose if they can't get what you're saying within this time frame.
11. Bonus tip: use black text on white background. This is the best contrast for reading. Make it easy for your visitors. If you do not have enough contrast between your words and the background, you will just cause them eye strain. It is even worse when there are patterns or watermarks behind the text. If being cute and creative is your purpose, then go for crazy colors, without contrast. However, if your point is to tell the visitor with the least possible effort on their end what your message is, use black text and white background.

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