If you’ve ever looked at web traffic statistics, you’ll know that a shockingly-high number of people visit one page of a website and then leave without ever clicking around. But why is that? What are websites doing wrong? Author websites included…
Here are six ways to present your information online, courtesy of Internet and Marketing Report, so that people will get sucked in and not want to leave!
1. Focus on headlines. If a headline is boring, then why would someone read the paragraph below it? Make sure your headlines catch people’s attention and get them interested in the subject matter.
2. Review your web pages with your right eye shut. Studies show that people read websites in an “F” shape — with their attention going to the top left more than anywhere else. So close your right eye and look at your website — that’s how someone who is just giving it a first glance is viewing it. Make sure you’re putting the links/information you want to be most prominent in the right places.
3. Go short. Website readers like short paragraphs. Studies show that short paragraphs and/or bullets get twice as much attention as longer paragraphs. Keep that in mind as you’re writing the copy for your site.
4. Provide a summary. People visiting a site want to be able to quickly scan a section and get a sense of what it’s about. So consider providing a short summary in bigger or bolder text before a large slab of copy. This lets people decide if they want to invest the time in reading it.
5. Avoid dividing lines. Those lines under a headline or between segments of text may be attractive, but research shows that they also are the easiest time for readers to decide they don’t want to go any further.
6. Use font size wisely. There’s actually a hidden message in your font sizes. Larger fonts promote scanning with the eye, and smaller fonts promote focused reading of every word. Put the attention-grabbing text in larger fonts, and the more detailed text in smaller fonts.
Hope all of this helps as you go about designing your author website!