Business Web Content Writing Success: Scan-Ability

by E-NewsCast Team
May 23rd, 2010

Scan-ability is a measured, objective, scientifically provencriterion of successful written web content. While makingcontent easier for users to scan rather than read word-for-wordinvolves a number of factors, simply re-structuring web contentinto sections and lists can yield stunning improvements.Proven Web Content Success Factor: Scan-abilityI’ve found that scan-able content written with web publicationin mind seriously out-performs content that was written asthough for print:* Greater conversions (sales or leads).* Fewer visitors leaving the web page as soon as they arrive(“bounces”).* Longer average visits.* More reprints (of distributed content), meaning greaterexposure and links–especially impressive considering that mostreprint article directories only allow plain text, meaning thatthe formatting features that help to make content scan-able arenot available.User tests have repeatedly demonstrated that a majority of webusers scan the page rather than read word-for-word. In suchtests, optimizing content for scan-ability has been proven tomake web content more successful–at least, for a few measurablecriteria, mainly reading speed, comprehension, and retention(recall of what was read). While humor, style, empathy,persuasiveness, and other classic characteristics of goodwriting can’t be objectively measured, the scientific evidenceshows scan-ability is a strong foundation on which to buildstrong content.Based on the evidence, the web usability expert Jakob Nielsenwrote guidelines for successful web writing in the mid-late1990s. Today, those guidelines are still the basis for most ofwhat’s written about web content writing, including this article.Scan-able Web Content ExampleLook at the two versions of the same content, below. Askyourself: which version would you be more likely to payattention to if you came across it?———————– Version one (traditional text mode):Who scans website text? A large majority of web users preferscanning for main ideas over reading word-for-word. Nearly allfully literate users scan–and web users disproportionately tendto be fully literate. Even highly literate users who areinclined to read a page word-for-word will scan it first to makesure it will repay their investment of reading time.Less-literate visitors (i.e., those for whom reading is a slowchore) cannot scan content because they simply cannot parse text(i.e., make sense of it) fast enough. Yet I firmly believe thatscan-able content will usually be easier to read word-for-wordthan traditional writing. Scan-able content places importantideas first, so someone reading word-for-word will comprehendmore even if he or she doesn’t make it all the way to the end ofthe text. Scan-able content avoids superfluous niceties thatwould waste a slow reader’s time.————————–Version two (scan-able mode especially for the web):Who Scans Website Text?A large majority of web users prefer scanning for main ideasover reading word-for-word:* Nearly all fully literate users scan–and web usersdisproportionately tend to be fully literate.* Even highly literate users who are inclined to read a pageword-for-word will scan it first to make sure it will repaytheir investment of reading time.* Less-literate visitors (i.e., those for whom reading is a slowchore) cannot scan content because they simply cannot parse text(i.e., make sense of it) fast enough. Yet I firmly believe thatscan-able content will usually be easier to read word-for-wordthan traditional text-style writing.* Scan-able content places important ideas first, so someonereading word-for-word will develop greater comprehension even ifhe or she doesn’t make it all the way to the end of the text.* Scan-able content avoids superfluous niceties that would wastea slow reader’s time. —————————-Scan-able Web Content Structure: Sections and ListsIn the above example, the differences between version one andversion two, which use the exact same text, are purelystructural. There are other features of scan-able content, suchas keywords, sentence structure, and word choice, but that’s foranother article. For now, just look at the powerful improvementsin web content you can get simply from structural improvements,which take two basic forms: sections and lists.* Sections. Any web content longer than 250 words should bedivided into sections based on main ideas, with each sectionhaving a descriptive heading. Even briefer content can bedivided into sections, though most commonly, the simplest way toorganize shorter content is with lists. Content over 500 wordscan put one or two sections each on separate web pages.* Lists. Multiple facts, ideas, items, or any multiple anythingthat have any kind of logical relationship among each othershould be placed in unordered (bulleted) or ordered (numbered)lists if they have any importance at all. For instance, thislist of features of scan-able web content merits a list, while”facts, ideas, items, or any multiple…” was less important andso was just written out.The most exciting part of optimizing content with sections andlists is that you can optimize existing content without changinga word: no pencil-chewing over the right word to use, noconsultation with the legal department, no readjustment ofkeyword densities (though adding headings might shake things upa bit).To make content as scan-able and successful as possible, youneed to go deeper into issues such as logical organization,keywords, sentence structure, and word choice. But slimplyre-structuring content into sections and lists will provide abig boost.

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