When you post something online, even if you’ve made sure it is well crafted and worthy of awards, few people will read it to the end.
The numbers vary a bit across studies, but generally as few as 60% of people who find your content online will actually read it to the end, with only about two-thirds of them even scrolling beyond the first page. As Nielsen puts it, your readers are “far more likely to scan than read word for word.”
So we need to set aside some of what we learned in school and compose our content first for accuracy and readability, and then for scannability. Whether it is a web page, a blog post, a white paper, or a longer document—making sure that is is easy for a reader to quickly scan is the key to your main points being seen.
How do you make your content easier to scan and yet still get your point across, or hopefully entice readers to actually read it all?
- No walls of text: Break those long sentences into multiple smaller ones, and use plenty of paragraph breaks. And make sure your paragraphs lead with the main point, to catch those who only read the first part
- Headings: Use carefully worded headings and subheads to break your content into discrete sections. Many readers will at least scan a paper across those headings, so use them to give your outline and to help readers zero-in on the parts most important to them (and to you).
- Inline heads in lists: Lists can be made easier to scan when each word starts with a bold subject. For all but the most simple lists, start each item with a bold word or phrase followed by a period or colon.
- Jump-links: Use links within your content to take readers to other sections of the document. This is especially useful as a mini table of contents at the beginning, or for links to more detailed sections in an introduction.
Want help making your content more scannable? Drop me a line!