Screen reading causes insomnia, backache — even serious illness
Yes, reading that blog post does make your butt look bigger. But mushy thighs are just one of the symptoms of screen reading.… Read the full article
readers
Stop wasting web visitors’ time with puffery
Web visitors ‘get visibly angry’ at verbose sites
Here’s an interesting dichotomy: Killing time is the killer app for mobile devices. But mobile users are in a hurry and “get visibly angry” at verbose sites that waste their time.… Read the full article
How to get the hyperbole out of your web page
Improve your fact-to-fluff ratio
Readers are busy. Fluff takes space. Space takes time. So let’s cut the fluff and get on with it.
To cut the fluff, aim for a fact-to-fluff ratio of at least 1:1.… Read the full article
Display copy: Why is it important?
Because ‘readers’ don’t read
I’m often amazed at the amount of energy writers put into perfecting the sentence structure in the fourth paragraph of their piece when those same folks toss off a headline in the 17 seconds before happy hour on a Friday afternoon.… Read the full article
Key links writing: Don’t overlink
Don’t overwhelm readers with options
In one study — on a web page with, granted, a ton of links — visitors looked at 71% of links in the first paragraph, but none of the links in paragraphs 13 through 24.… Read the full article
Why writing links well is so important
Get clicked by writing good link text
Users look for links on pages like puppies look for your best shoes.
Or so say Kara Pernice, Kathryn Whitenton and Jakob Nielsen, the authors of How People Read on the Web.… Read the full article
To reach readers, avoid writing in the first person
Stop We-We-ing on the reader
It feels so good to talk about ourselves.
Talking about yourself activates the same pleasure centers in the brain as food, money or sex, according to Harvard neuroscientist Diana Tamir and her colleague Jason Mitchell, whose research on the topic was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.… Read the full article
Focus your web copy
Make it relevant
Usability guru Jakob Nielsen recommends condensing copy by 50% online.
That’s certainly a useful guideline. But no single, overarching rule makes sense all the time.… Read the full article
Develop a 4-part fear appeal
Avoid losing readers in these hot spots
Fear appeals persuade. But they can also paralyze.
Strong fear appeals persuade … The stronger the fear appeal, the more likely it is to move your readers to act, according to 50 years of research and 100 studies reviewed by researchers Kim Witte and Mike Allen.… Read the full article
How to organize a blog post: before & after
Content marketing writing structure made easy
“Always grab the reader by the throat in the first paragraph,” said Time magazine reporter Paul O’Neil, “sink your thumbs into his windpipe in the second and hold him against the wall until the tag line.”… Read the full article