Psychology of how people read

Open a sample of various websites, and you’ll most likely see the result of a person or firm trying to adapt a printed brochure to the Internet. It doesn’t work because people read them differently.

Brochures. In a brochure, people tend to look at your headline, subheads and bullet points. They will use look at those points to find relevant information. If they find it, they'll read more of your content.

Web. On your website, people tend to read even less and skim even more. They jump from point to point in an “F” pattern. (Jakob Nielsen) They look at the first headline and typically read most of it. Then, they drop down to the next big, bolded line and read some of it. Finally, they skim down the left side of the page looking for something else to grab their eye’s attention.

If you want to capture your visitor’s attention, you have to reformat and edit your web content to take advantage of how people read websites.

Logic. Think in these terms: smaller chunks of information, preceded by a relevant subhead, all written to give the most important information first.

Like this info? This information comes from our new eBook. It's so new that we're still finalizing the content, and the working title is Words that Guide Minds. It is an intense class in how to use psychology in your marketing, specifically how to use words to motivate people.

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-- Michael Lovas