You have crafted some creative, compelling and converting copy, uploaded it to your website – and now no one seems to be reading it.

What’s the deal?

Meet great copywriting’s best friend – formatting.

No matter how stellar your website content or blog, if it is all chunky paragraphs your visitors will automatically scroll past and look for something more easily digestible instead.

Readers scan for quick snippets of information before they decide it’s worth their time to settle in and read. As a copywriter, you have to make this easy for them by breaking up your content into bite-sized bits – making sure your main points and most vital information will jump out first.

Most visitors will only read 20% of the content on a webpage!

We want them to read 100% of your copy, so here are some tips to get your point across quick-smart before the reader’s attention wanders away…

 

1. Check your Fonts

Are you using a clean, clear and scan-friendly font? Test it out on someone who hasn’t been staring at it for as long as you have. If they can’t quickly read it, try something else. Anything curly or cursive will be harder to scan, so unless it’s larger font in a headline, stick to plain-Jane fonts.

Note: Anything smaller than 12pt will be harder to read –so pretend you are back in school writing that essay and stick to 12pt and above.

 

2. Use Bullet Points or Number Lists

Are you are listing;

• services
• prices
• benefits
• locations etc?

Bullet points are an excellent way for a reader to quickly see if what you are offering suits them. Once they know that, they will be more willing to read further for details.

 

3. Use Headlines

Anything that is an absolute MUST for the reader to know, anything that will grab attention; a question, fact or statistic – put it in a headline. Have a paragraph loaded with important information? Headline it with something that makes the reader want to know more.

Check out our blog on writing headlines that pop!

4. Break up Text with Images

Try to use pictures or icons throughout your website content or blogs so an image can always be seen while scrolling through your content. If it looks like everything after the featured image is just massive amounts of text, they may stop scrolling and get out while they still can!

 

5. Mix Things Up

Don’t be afraid to use italics, bold font, quote blocks or coloured fonts. Anything that lightens the load on the eyes will keep people engaged for longer – just make sure it’s on-brand and doesn’t turn your page into a sensory-overload. Everything in moderation.

 

6. Break it Down

Applying the above tips may have already fixed this, but just to be sure, give your content a quick scan to see if you still need to break down any heavy chunks of text into shorter paragraphs. 4-5 sentences long is a good paragraph length to keep things moving on your page.

Et Voilà!

You now know 6 ways to format your content so it’s easy on the eye and attention-grabbing for the reader.

Now that you have levelled up your copywriting skills it’s time to test them out! Take a glance over any blogs or existing website content you have created and see where you can apply these tips for more compelling content.

 

Happy Copywriting!