Engaging people with your content needs to happen quickly in order to keep people scrolling or clicking. If your visitor can't get to the meat & potatoes of your message with a quick scan of your homepage, it’s time for a content cleanup.
What's important
Identify your key message and build from there. Be sure to address what you want your audience to do: call you? fill out your contact form? read more to self-educate?
Make it scannable
Utilizing various images, graphical elements and font weights within your page layout can lead users through your site, starting with the key message first. Your visitors are looking for words connected to the task they are trying to accomplish. People tend to scan down your homepage in an F-shaped pattern; the less words and the better structured your content, the easier your content is to understand. Be specific, informative and concise.*
Navigation
Some websites offer too many pages, which can overwhelm the user and cause confusion if people aren't clicking down a path that gives them what they're looking for. Ask yourself: can I combine pages or nix areas that really don't serve a purpose or feel redundant?
Takeaways
- Use clear headings and subheadings
- Place important information/keywords above the fold
- Write short paragraphs or lines of text to group related themes together
- Use bulleted lists
- Rely on simple vocabulary
These tips all contribute to designing website content that is easy to scan and understand, supporting users in finding what they need on a website.**
*Content design London: Readability Guidelines | **UX Planet