If you don’t read blog posts from begining to end, and you simply skim through them, then stop here. Just jump down to the page a bit and continue your skimming. You know you were going to do that anyways. I would have done the same thing.
Most people skim through blogs, they don’t really read them. All the hard work you put into your posts will probably go unread by most people. Sorry to break the news. What should you do to make sure the readers and the skimmers leave with your entire message in their brains?
There are a few tips and tricks to make sure skimmers read the real important points of your posts. Most of them tricks; on the eyes. Human eyes get bored easily so they start to look for different things on the page. A whole post of just plain ole text will get skimmed pretty quickly. Adding variations to the text or post will draw the eyes to those areas, and hopefully will get read.
Try these tips in your blog. I’ve has success with them in the past and it’s actually increased my visitor’s average time on site.
Use lists - If you skimmed or read this blog, you probably stopped at this list at some point. Please leave a comment below and let me know how you made it here (reading vs. skimming). Be honest, I’m sure everyone here would be interested in the percentage.
Use Bold, Italics, Underline - Also attention getters in a post. The eye natually pauses and usually reads the sentence that contains the BOLD, Italic or Underline.
Use pictures - We love pictures. So do skimmers. Put a pretty one next to your bullet points and the eyes will follow.
Get to the point within the first 2 sentences - If the first 2 sentences don’t give a good intro to the rest of the paragraph, the skimmer will have jumped to the next paragraph.
Write a killer first sentence - This is the hardest one to do, but if done properly, you may be able to get the skimmer so engaged, that they might actually read your post.
July 9th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
LOL! I’m a “skimmer” and you got me! I did stop at the “Use Lists” section. I guess you know us “skimmers” too well.
July 10th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I actually read the whole thing and got to the first bullet point. But I usually skim. Your first paragraph made me want to read more because you sounded like you were scheming. :)
July 11th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I was daydreaming, but then I saw the bolded font and woke up :)
Great job.
July 14th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Great minds think alike. I have just posted an article in a similar vein.
Visitors do skim or scan our sites, there is no doubt about it. There is nothing we can do about this apart from writing in a way that accommodates the scanners.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Haha, very true. I was about to skim until you challenged me not to.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:58 am
I agree with most of your points, except using underline. When I see underlined, my brain immediately sees a link … as in additional information about the subject. I’ve watched others click on underlined text several times before realizing it is not a link. An important rule in writing: do not anger/frustrate your reader. Your other points, however, are spot on.
Along with images, I would also suggest limited use of a nicely formatted callout or quote with your one or two main points. Done well, and limited to only your top points, this can really help skimmers and maybe slow them down enough to read your article. I said maybe. :)
September 18th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Excellent point Mark. Thanks for the feedback.