Make your message easier to read
Making a publication “easy to read” is the No. 1 way to increase readership.
If newspapers (and, by extension, other publications) become more “relaxing to read” and make it easier “to find what I’m looking for,” people will:
- Spend more time reading the publication
- Read it more completely
- Read it more often
That was a key finding of “Impact,” a study by the Readership Institute.
How do you make it easy to read?
- Include more “go and do” information. This “news you can use” is the information readers need to take action on a story. Only 10 percent of all newspaper stories include it.
- Use the feature-style story structure instead of the inverted pyramid more often.
- Promote content more effectively. Do a better job of advertising your stories to make it easier for readers to find what they’re looking for.
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Source: “Understanding and Improving ‘Easy to Read’ Content,” Readership Institute
