I’m betting that much of what you write ends up in email messages, or on the web. If that’s the case, Jakob Nielsen has some advice for you, based on his studies of how people read email and web pages.
First, you need to understand that, when reading online (on the web or in email), readers don’t read as much as they scan.
“In research on how people read websites we found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word. (Update: a newer study found that users read email newsletters even more abruptly than they read websites.)”
With that in mind, your goal should be to make your text easy to scan.
- Highlight keywords*
- Use meaningful headings and subheadings
- Use bulleted lists
- Limit paragraphs to one idea
- Use the inverted pyramid, putting the most important information at the beginning
- Use fewer words
- Use simple, clear language; readers hate marketese and gobbledygook
According to Nielsen’s research, these changes can more than double the effectiveness of your web pages and email messages. There’s some bang for your buck!
*I admit that I seldom highlight keywords in my blog posts. Based on Nielsen’s advice, and the results he cites, I’m considering doing it more.
Jakob Nielsen has done a lot of research on readability. For me, his work on low-literacy readers has been very helpful. (Low-Literacy Users: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20050314.html) Low-literacy users read very differently than a capable reader. They plow through text, grow tired, and start to skip chunks, meaning they are even more likely to miss important information buried in a long paragraph.An English teacher once told me to try to cut half of the words in every sentence when writing. It has been one of the best writing guidelines that I’ve tried to use. – K
Thank you for making a printer-friendly version! I first printed out the page (to post in my cubicle) and it was very ugly. Then I saw the link. Much better!
Kate,Thanks for pointing out Nielsen’s work on low-literacy readers. (I expanded the link you provided so people could see where it was going.) Depending on your potential audience, that information can be vital.Karla,You’re welcome. I’m happy that you were able to get to a usable version.
Highlighting keywords is a guarantee that I will not read the article. I find it very distracting. Just my two cents.
Honeybee,Interesting. I hadn’t considered that some would have such a vehement adverse reaction to highlighted keywords. So the question then is: Does the benefit of highlighted keywords outweigh the possible loss of a subset of your audience?(By the way, I don’t want to lose you!)
MAKE SURE YOU DON’T USE ALL CAPS!!!
JAKE,I’LL BE SURE TO REMEMBER THAT.