In today's age of speed, how can you ensure that your audience is actually reading your content entirely online, without going through the speed-reading method?
As we all know, today's generation loves speed, and they do not have the patience required to read, so we must take into account writing flexible texts, which are easy to read when writing content.
This article will help those who have learned to know 3 important basics for writing easy-to-read content that is not difficult or boring that leads the audience to read it quickly, or even neglect it.
In fact, people don't read. Rather, they think they read by quickly looking at the introduction and headlines, according to research conducted by Jacob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group, only 16% of people read slowly, while the rest look at the content with their eyes. Like a scanner, and if he does not like it, he will not continue reading it, so we need to know smart methods that facilitate the process of reading online content on the audience and force them to do so.
How do you write easy-to-read content?
How to write content for the Internet
"There are 3 important characteristics that must be present in all online content for it to be successful," says Nisslin, who holds a PhD in human interaction with computers:
Brevity: Express everything you need to say in as few words as possible.
Ease of text: Make the reading task easier for the readers.
Use objective language: Do not overstate matters, be clear and stay away from promotional methods that may make the reader exaggerate.
Let's start by explaining each point in detail:
First: brevity
We can define writing briefly as not using 3 words if you are able to use two words to describe a specific idea, and the reader is in the review stage and with practice, he will have experience in how to shorten the speech as much as possible, while communicating the information as required.
Content writers usually tend to explain in detail when writing, due to some habits that increase the number of words without necessarily increasing the value of the content. Not to mention it makes the text boring and confusing to read and it is:
Add unimportant details:
Never underestimate the reader's intelligence and imagination, but rather respect your audience's imagination in the first place.
Repeat similar ideas in different terms:
You cannot follow this strategy in writing as it dilutes the content, while you can focus on only one idea per paragraph.
Overuse of the "passive voice" rule:
The phrase “Ahmed answered the phone” is easier to read than “Ahmad answered the phone,” as it directly conveys the idea, while the second may weaken the meaning and distract the reader.
Adverb frequently used in English:
In English it ends in "ly", such as "Privately", "Slowly" and others. When writing content, instead of using adverbs, you can just replace it with a stronger verb. For example, instead of saying "He spoke loudly" you can use "He clamored".
Second: Ease of text
Since most people read quickly, why not make the reading process enjoyable for them? If you want the audience to read your entire content, do not look at it from your side only, but see it from their point of view as well.
To be easy to read and suitable for today's readers, texts should contain the following elements:
Distinguish some words:
When writing content on the Internet, there are several methods that enable you to distinguish some words in the text, such as using bold or italic font, or underline the word, or even linking it to another web page through the so-called hyperlinking, without excessive Doing so, as it may affect the smoothness of reading.
Subheadings:
The clear and concise subheadings will tell the readers straight away what they need to know, and it will even endear them into the text and thus feel the desire to continue reading it.
Punctuation:
The punctuation system makes reading very easy and organized, and thus it is the best way to attract today's readers who prefer reading information quickly.
White space:
Contiguous texts that include a lot of speech will make it difficult to read the content, so placing a slight white space between texts in the content makes the text more organized and clear to the reader.
Each of these elements is important to attract the attention of today's readers, as it attracts something that forces them to continue reading, and without them your content may become like a mass of lifeless words.
Third: the use of objective language
Consumers on the Internet prefer that you talk to them in a substantive language about your product or services that you provide if you are writing marketing content, for example, and for the content to be objective, it must have the following characteristics:
Honesty:
In all content, whether it is marketing for a product or service, or informing important information, you must be honest in every word, without resorting to adding unreal details, because that, of course, will lose you 100% of the reader’s confidence after the experience.
Reliable guide or reference:
You cannot write content without a real evidence or reference, and as we mentioned earlier, you can distinguish some words using the hyperlink, and through this method you can add links to the reader so that he can return to them easily when needed.
Do not overdo it:
Do not exaggerate the description while writing the content, because that weakens it completely and makes it useless, which also affects the reader's confidence in the site and the content.
By following the previous steps, your content will definitely get the interest and interaction of the current era readers, because it will make them feel that this reading increases their culture and not wasting their valuable time.
This is very helpful thanks