10 Readability Tips: Writing Website Content that your Visitors Will Read

Many of my clients write content for their websites in big blocks of text like it’s some kind of school research paper. The bottom line is if we ignore the importance of readability, online visitors won’t read it. Readability is a tool that seeks to achieve reading ease and make online reading more enjoyable and understandable by removing the clutter around what you’re reading.

According to usability studies, most web surfers do not read all your page’s content, but SCAN it often times in an upside down “L” pattern. So what’s the solution?  There are several techniques to get your point across to your visitors, even if they are not reading everything.

Here are 10 readability tips to get readers to understand your message:

1. Write in the style, tone, and language of your readers — Since the 1930s, national literacy surveys have shown that the average adult in the U.S. reads at the 8th-grade level.

2. List your content in numbers or bullets.

3. Break up blocks of text into shorter paragraphs.

4. Use more narrow column lines of text – eyes don’t like to read from far left to far right of the page.

5. Be concise. So, if the same point can be made in a shorter sentence, then do that.

6. Write in an Inverted Pyramid Style, Start with the Conclusion.

7. Emphasize your main points through bolding or CAPITALIZATION.

8. Use illustrations, if appropriate to convey your message. Pictures are worth a thousand words!

9. Use large enough font size.

10. Ensure enough contrast between the text and it’s background. Otherwise, your readers will barely be able to see your words.

Try these tips out. They work like a charm!

And let us know how they worked for you.

Abdul Suleiman