readers

How to write email that’s easy to skim

3 ways to get the word out to nonreaders

Email newsletter subscribers read word-for-word just 19% of the e-zines they receive, according to the Nielsen Norman Group’s latest eyetracking study.… Read the full article

Break up copy with sidebars, boxes

Think packages, not pieces

Readers would rather read 800 words if you delivered it in a package of shorter bites — say, a 400-word main story, a 300-word sidebar and a 100-word resources box — than if you ran it in one long river of text.… Read the full article

Reading online hurts your web visitors’ bodies

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

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