What’s the difference between 2012 and 2000? The grand total of…four seconds. That’s right – thanks to our love of cat videos and pop culture memes, according to figures published on Statisticbrain.com, the average attention span originally reported at 12 seconds back in 2000 has now lowered to a less-than-impressive 8 seconds.
With many websites pushing for unique and exclusive content in a bid to promote their popularity, many blogs are doing their utmost to go all out by revamping their designs (often with garish results). The biggest stumbling block many websites face is not being in the mindset of the reader – and due to knowing each and every nuance of their web presence, will often fall into the trap of writing for themselves and NOT the reader.
Wow – you’re still reading this?
Congratulations! You’re one of the rare few who read 28 per cent of words on an average (593) web page. So why do you think this is? Were you astounded by the visuals or intrigued by the intricately planned wording?
Reel those readers in for improved retention rates – courtesy of your business blog:
- Place the important content at the beginning and end of the piece. A reader’s attention span is at its lowest around the mid-point, so as they scan the web page, the visitor will retain any first and last information in their memory banks.
- Their loss is your gain. Use any disadvantages to your advantage – by reiterating the cost of not using your service. Additionally, place any costs together whilst keeping benefits separate.
- The proof is in the (online) pudding. Research shows that people tend to act upon personal recommendations rather than being professionally marketed at, so back your cause with any customer testimonials, accreditations/endorsements, figures revealing how many countries/people use your product etc.
- ‘Highlight’ the effects. A smart German scientist by the name of Hedwig von Restorff noticed that when presented with a list of 10 items, people will remember them if their color differed from others. By the same token, web marketer Paras Chopra found that vivid, bold colourings are remembered AND clicked 60 per cent more than others.
- Familiar versus foreign. Don’t show off with strange-looking synonyms – the last thing you want to do is alienate your audience. Keep the wording and navigation of your website simple by using everyday language, as any technical jargon will just result in your visitors being lost in translation.
- Going in head first. Were you attracted to the headline? Of course you were – as results from various eye tracking studies show that headlines are not only the first thing to be noticed on a page, they’re also looked at far more compared to any other content. Emotive headlines fare especially well, with anger, anxiety and inspiration the top three emotions most likely to be shared.
- Make it mobile friendly. You can’t go anywhere these days without being faced with a sea of people whose eyes are permanently glued to their mobiles. If you’re looking to tap into the modern day market then mobile optimisation is the way forward – if your readers have to spend time faffing around before they can actually read your content then they’re likely to just not bother. Reward your lovely readers by making their life easy – they’ll thank you for it.
In short, keep it ‘short’
So now you know all there is to know about maintaining a reader’s interest, do a quick audit of your blog and put this preaching into practice.
But if you thought 8 seconds was bad, what’s worse is that the average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds (maybe because they don’t take as much joy in feline virals the same way as us humans do).
Happy blogging!
Post contributed by Rachael Pegram and Mariel Norton in collaboration with 123 Print
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