Too Much Text… Do you really expect me to read all of this?
On the web most people have the attention span is of a light match and most don’t want to read War and Peace on a website. Instead it is recommended to write in what’s called inverted pyramid style which is used by newspapers, with headline first and then the detailed information below. Given what was said at the start of this post concerning visitors attention span, using this format allows you to get your message across even if the visitor does not read the full content. If not the visitor may get information overload which leads to the visitor hitting the back button and moving on.
Information overload can look like this where long paragraphed style writing is used, and if you are familiar with the Charlie Brown cartoons, this starts to sound and will most likely guarantee it to sound like the adults in these cartoons, “Waa- Wah-Wah – Waaa.” Normally people do not wish to have their time wasted with a lot of content all at once, but this is not to say you cannot have lots of content is just needs to be organized and segregated properly under a more details link in which you can then go on and on. News flash – no ones cares about your new sales pitch and content more than you do.
The Fixes
Use clear headlines and headings. Put the important things first and write in “inverted pyramid” style. Do not write in complete sentences, use short bullet points. Using what you learned in English class is not always the right way to go on a website. Studies have shown that the less text the better the conversion rate, the better the retention level so always work on, edit and try to shorten your text where you can. A good starting point is to cross out every adjective you use and every subjective claim you have. If you cant back it up with numbers you are just forcing people to spend their brain time and attention trying to filter out the marketing speak from what is valid information.
