Get More Eyes on Your Content
When you let go of the words, you leave room to connect with more readersHow to get more eyeballs on your content.
To get more eyes on your content, use only what they (your scrollers and scanners) need! Shorter is usually better.
Want to get more eyes on your content but don’t know how?
Start with 3 reality checks.
1. We have short attention spans.
On a desktop view of a website, we spend 45-54 seconds before we leave. Trim that to 30-40 on mobile. At least half are viewing on a mobile—and that’s growing.
Why spend time making content that isn’t engaging people?
You might think it’s hard to keep it short.
It is.
But it’s worth it.
John Locke wrote in 1690, “I am now too lazy, or too busy to make it shorter.”
Mark Twain didn’t write, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.” But the Chicago Tribune attributed it to him in 1975. It stuck.
And I say I’ve never met content that couldn’t be twice as good if it was half as long.
Just like our lean muscles may hide under fat, chances are, your best content is hiding under too many words—or too long of videos.
2. We like simple.
I mean short words, sentences, and paragraphs. Active voice, not passive. And be gone, jargon and technospeak.
People prefer simple language.
Everything you need to write well you likely learned between third and eighth grade.
By high school, you complicated it, writing for word count. Then you ruined it from college on.
Sorry.
The average reading level is 7th to 8th grade. Even those with advanced degrees read simple faster and remember it better.
3. We scroll and scan—we don’t read.
If your content offers self-promoting headlines, walls of words, and utilitarian jargon, you’re not offering anything to catch the scanning eyeballs.
And what are the thumb stoppers? If a solution to people’s problems doesn’t catch the eye, they are scrolling on by.
Be bold. Be brilliant. Be gone.
You have only a couple of seconds to engage your viewers and readers—or else they leave.
Yes, it is more work to produce short content. But you’ll find your true value proposition in that effort.
That value will shine through when you distill your ideas to what really connects with people.
Just like seeing those baby abs emerge from months of healthy eating and hard work in the gym, it will pay off.
Hi! I’m Edie, and I help organizations make every word count. Want to learn more about how I can help you? Contact me!
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