If it looks easier to read, more people will read it
One technique for making sure even a long story looks easy to read is to use Edmund Arnold’s dollar-bill test.
Arnold, a journalist and design consultant for more than 50 years, said that no chunk of copy should stretch longer than and wider than a dollar bill.
Break copy up.
To keep copy chunks short and easy to read, break up the copy with such display copy as
Passing the dollar-bill test has a side benefit: It gives your piece multiple points of entry — or lots of places where a scanner can dive into the text. Given reading patterns today, that’s a big deal.
The dollar-bill test in action
I think you would agree that this piece, from the Chicago Federal Reserve, does not pass the dollar-bill test. It looks off-putting.
And that’s fine. As long as you don’t want anyone to read your piece.
Test your online communications.
So pull out your wallet. Slap down a dollar bill. And do what you must to make your piece look easier to read.
Now here’s the bad news: The dollar-bill test is for print. Online, it’s the palm test.
Get to the point faster
Because web visitors spend 80% of their time above the fold
Consider the numbers:
- Web visitors spend 80% of the time above the fold, or on the first screen of a webpage, and just 20% below the fold.
- Material near the top of a webpage gets 17x the attention of that near the bottom.
- The average difference in how users treat information above vs. below the fold is 84%.
But where’s the fold? Content that shows up above the fold on a 30-inch monitor can take as many as five screens on a smartphone.
Reach readers where their eyes are.
So how can you reach your readers where their eyes are?
At Writing for the Web and Mobile — our two-day hands-on web-writing master class on June 12-13 in Chicago — you’ll learn how to:
- Pass the 1-2-3-4 test to put your message where web visitors' eyes are. Tip: Try this simple test on your smartphone for best results.
- Make it a mullet — and 4 more steps for writing effective web heads. (No. 5 is the most important thing you can do to improve the ROI of your site.)
- Optimize webpages for Google and humans with our three-part test. Note: If you're still using SEO tricks you learned in the 'oughts, Google may be penalizing your pages.
- Don't drop the deck. Learn to make the most of the best-read element on your webpage.
- Steal headline-writing tips from the BBC — the source of the best news heads on the web, according to Nielsen.
Learn more about our
Chicago master class.
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