Trending Upward

Higher education websites have a tendency to be … shall we say … wordy. We forget that web users scan and don’t read. Yes, this includes *our* web pages! Gasp! Not *our* web pages! Surely users read *our* web pages word-for-word, don’t they?

No. Don’t fool yourself.

A recent Jakob Neilsen alertbox article states users typically only read about 20% of the words on the page. Again, *force* yourself to repeat after me. Users are not reading my web pages.

So, how can we best get users attention when we know they’re only reading 20% of our content?

We need to:

• be concise
• use bullets
• use emphasis only for emphasis
• always use the number, not the words (5 instead of five)
• write using short paragraphs

What do you mean, “use emphasis only for emphasis?” I mean that the more words you bold, less emphasis is actually given to those bolded words. If you bold an entire paragraph, the emphasis on the specific sentence you want users to read in that paragraph is wasted.

Poor journalism majors. If you are reading this post and you studied journalism, you may take issue with the last two bullets above. I know I did at first. Any number under 10 should be written out, right? Paragraphs should be used appropriately. Not so on the web. Remember we’re writing for scanability. This is not a newspaper or magazine. Write to the medium.

There are also arguments about long and short web copy. In marketing, the standard is sometimes around the price of the item you’re selling. The higher the price, the more users will read. Demographics also play a part. Generally, women read more than men and less web-savvy users read more than more web-savvy users … etc, etc, etc.

Of course we have to know our audience. But, even more than that, I think we need to understand the topic of web page in question.

For example, when writing any process, keep it *chunky* … keep it concise and precise.

Admissions Process. Articulating the admissions process is important for university websites. If the admissions process is long, difficult, and complicated, find a way to simplify it. How?

• Bullet lists.
• Don’t over-justify
• If it’s too complicated, encourage users to call for further information.

Most website owners understand that bulleting lists is a good idea, but remember to keep bulleted lists short. If they’re not, you risk falling into the same trap as emphasizing too many words. If your bullets are each paragraphs, then what’s the point of using bullets?

Another common mistake with bulleted lists is to use the same words in the beginning of each bullet. For example, this bulleted list is confusing:

• Master’s of Education in Adult Education
• Master’s of Education in Children’s Literature
• Master’s of Education in Educational Technology

Create a heading called “Master’s of Education” underneath which was a list of degrees. For example:

Master’s of Education Degrees

• Adult Education
• Children’s Literature
• Educational Technology

Using only three examples doesn’t make the list look too daunting, but imagine if the list were ten degrees long or more. Which list is easier to read, or more importantly, scan?

If using “Master’s of Education” in each bullet is necessary, consider bolding the actual topic. For example, Master’s of Education in Adult Education.

Another issue that some universities have is that the process itself is complicated because so many variables are involved.

For example, the admissions process may vary depending upon if the potential student is:

• re-enrolling
• an international student
• an adult learner
• an undergraduate vs. a graduate student

The list can go on and on. One idea I’ve been playing with is setting up a *wizard* type of page for complicated processes like these. For example, the first page would ask which group best describes the user and the users would continue to answer questions until they are presented with the exact process for that user. Hopefully there would only be a few questions before they are presented with the correct process.

Where does web analytics come in? To get an idea of some pages that may need to be re-written, take a quick look at some of these reports:

• time on page
• internal keyword searches on page
• page bounce rates
• phone volume with questions pertaining to the topic of the page
• feedback sessions on the page

Of course these reports should be used in context and they won’t tell us the whole picture, but they might give us a clue as to what might be going on and where to start.

Re-write the page and run the reports again. Is there any change? Hopefully. Then you can run a quick usability test with the before and after copy.

The bottom line? Know your topic. Know your audience.

Any other web copy tidbits I missed? I’d love to hear them!

Trackback URI | Comments RSS