The bMighty Blog -- Business & E-Business
Web Text: They're Not Reading Much So Keep it Short
Posted by Naomi Grossman Thursday, May 8, 2008, 11:29 AM ET
Recent research into the reading habits of the average Internet user reveals what we've all long suspected: those visitors to your site are not reading much. The lesson for smaller businesses is obvious: Tighten up that copy and remember to make those words that you put up there count.
Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen analyzed the data from a recent study on Web use and his conclusions, while not too surprising, are significant for smaller businesses.
Nielsen writes: "On an average visit, users read half the information only on those pages with 111 words or less. In the full dataset, the average page view contained 593 words. So, on average, users will have time to read 28% of the words if they devote all of their time to reading. More realistically, users will read about 20% of the text on the average page."
As David Utter writes on WebProNews: "Out of that hundred-plus words, you might be getting 50 across to the visitor. That's not just a short attention span, it's a veritable eyeblink."
Significantly, Nielsen notes that the study was designed to track typical users: "In the study, the authors instrumented 25 users' browsers and recorded extended information about everything they did as they went about their normal Web activities. What's important about this study is that it was completely naturalistic: the users didn't have to do anything special."
These are your customers, your clients, your users that they're talking about. Don't drown them in text that will have them clicking away faster than you can say lost sale. Make every word you put on your Web site count.
Nielsen's concluding advice is simple but apt: "If you target a broader audience or have sales cycles that are shorter than 5 years, you'd be wise to put your word count on a strict diet."
Or as Utter writes: "Save 'The Sound and the Fury' for your reading list, rather than your site copy. Visitors are coming for the facts, delivered in some tasty, effective "bytes."
Business & E-Business | Internet/Web | Sales/Marketing
This is a public forum. CMP Media and its affiliates are not responsible for and do not control what is posted herein. CMP Media makes no warranties or guarantees concerning any advice dispensed by its staff members or readers.
Community standards in this comment area do not permit hate language, excessive profanity, or other patently offensive language. Please be aware that all information posted to this comment area becomes the property of CMP Media LLC and may be edited and republished in print or electronic format as outlined in CMP Media's Terms of Service.
Important Note: This comment area is NOT intended for commercial messages or solicitations of business.
Spotlight on Solutions (Sponsored By Cisco)
Explore the bMighty Blog
Most Recent Posts
- That's One Way To Choose A Technology Vendor
- Microsoft's First Update to Office 2008 Is Big. Literally.
- You Think You've Really Destroyed That Data? Take A Look At What Got Recovered From Shuttle Columbia
- Should Smaller Businesses Twitter? Some Say Yes
- Firefox 3.0 Release Schedule Update
bMighty Blog Topics
- Apple
- bMighty
- Business & E-Business
- Company Size: 1,100-1,500
- Company Size: 1-49
- Company Size: 250-999
- Company Size: 50-249
- Economics
- Education
- Finance/Accounting
- Finance/Banking/Insurance
- Government
- Green Business
- Hardware & Software
- Healthcare
- HR
- International
- Internet/Web
- IT
- Linux
- Management
- Messaging
- Mobile
- Networking & Communications
- Non-Profit
- Open Source
- Operations
- Piracy
- Professional/Creative Services
- Retail
- Sales/Marketing
- Security
- Services
- Storage
- Strategy/Analysis/Biz Dev
- Technology/Telecom
- Transportation
- Travel
- Windows
bMighty Bloggers
bMighty Blog Roll
- Ars Technica
- Business know how
- ChannelWeb Hot Topics
- ChannelWeb The Chart
- Datamation
- Freakonomics
- GigaOmNet
- Guy Kawasaki
- IT Organization Management
- IT Manager's Journal
- IT Toolbox
- LifeHacker
- MonkeyBrains
- Scott Berkun
- Network Computing Blog
- Search Engine Watch
- SmallBusinessHub
- SmallBizResource
- SmallBizTechnology.com
- TechCrunch
- Tech Republic
- The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
- USA Today Small Biz Connection
- Valleywag
- Walt Mossberg Feed - All Things Digital
- Web Worker Daily
- WorkHappy.net
bMighty email newsletter!
Browse by Category
FREE Technology Services Locator!
Search our database of 200,000 solution- provider locations by business activity, technology, vertical market, and customer size. Find a technology partner NOW.
goTech Term of the Day: RT PC
TechEncyclopedia gives you the meaning of today's word, plus more than 20,000 additional IT terms and definitions.











