Readability, or how easy content is for a reader to understand, is critical to reaching an audience.
More readers in your audience can engage with your web content when it is easy to read and comprehend.
Stronger visitor engagement allows better relationship-building with potential customers and can lead to a higher conversion rate and happier customers.
Discover three examples of how readability impacts web content in this guide.
Looking to review the readability of your text? Try the Originality.ai Readability Checker!
Your digital content is a vital part of your marketing strategy, and it works best when used effectively to attract, engage, and retain your audience.
By creating great, readable web content, you can turn visitors into readers and customers.
The first step in engaging your visitors is to ensure your web content is readable.
Readability in web content centers around simplicity, clarity, organization, and conciseness.
Sometimes, it’s easier to visualize readable web content by first thinking about the opposite.
What makes content less readable? The answer: complex, hard-to-follow, disorganized, or fluffy writing that can impact bounce rates as readers look elsewhere for information.
Readability in web content centers around some specific guidelines:
Readability is critically essential in blog posts. Readers who visit your website to read blog posts are looking to read something that’s entertaining and informative. They may even be looking to solve a problem they’re experiencing.
Most readers will scan first to see if your blog post has what they are looking for.
This is where another guideline for readability comes in:
If a reader quickly scans through your article and can tell by the headings that it appears to have the information they are looking for, chances are good that they’ll read deeper.
Good headings also help with accessibility and SEO. Search engines use them to figure out your article's structure and key messaging.
Here are two comparative examples of poor and good readability in a blog post.
Something for Everyone
During the holidays some people on your gifting list can be tough to shop for, especially if you’re looking to buy them a present and not just get them a gift card. For the recipients on your list who are focused on technology and wear smartwatches, play video games, and use tablets, something from the tech and electronic section can make for some great gifts during the holiday season. To help you find just the right thing, we are going to share some great gift ideas for those items, as well as some ideas for different hobbies, like birdwatching, flying drones, and listening to record albums. Whatever they enjoy doing, something on this list of technology and electronics is sure to please them and make you feel great about your gift.
Not sure if the web content or blog post you’re editing is difficult to read?
Scan it with the Originality.ai Readability Checker, just as we’ve done with the poor readability blog post example in the image above. Get clear highlights on difficult sentences to make editing a breeze.
Top Tech Gifts for Your Holiday Shopping List
Holiday shopping can be tough if you’re venturing outside of the gift card aisle. But technology and electronics never fail to impress. We’ve rounded up the best tech gifts, from smartwatches and drones to automatic birdfeeders. You’ll find something for everyone on your holiday gift list!
Landing pages and home pages are a key part of content marketing. They serve as a place where visitors and readers are converted into leads and customers.
They are key to making an excellent first impression.
While home pages and landing pages are bound to have plenty of information, what readers find there must be easy to read and understand.
Helpful headings, a clear call to action, and excellent organization are all fundamental.
Readability ensures that your visitors will comprehend your message, understand the call to action, and take that next step.
If your landing page is garbled with too much text, lacks clear organization, or uses complex and wordy language, you could lose leads and conversions.
Design elements and images play crucial parts in presenting web content on any web page, but first, the copy must be clear.
Give your readers enough information to:
Avoid unnecessary fluff. Make every word count and present a highly visible call to action.
Here is an example of how readability can improve the copy of a landing page.
[Example Content Marketing Software]
[Example Content Marketing Software] is a groundbreaking new enterprise-wide software for your marketing team. The user-friendly interface serves as a nexus for your clients and creative team, where projects move from request to copywriting, design, proofing, editing and production. Clients fill out a form, fully customizable by your company, to request a new project that the traffic manager can flow through to the creative team for production. Through harmonized process orchestration and task choreography, your campaigns are garnered into one platform, by which you improve the visibility of your creative work among the team and stakeholders and allocate less time to managing workflow, which you can utilize for strategy and ideation.
Hundreds of teams are using our software and saving their teams time and stress. We are rated #1 by [Example Marketing Publication].
To learn more about how [Example Content Marketing Software] can help your team save thousands of work hours each month, fill out our contact form.
(button: Yes! I want to learn more about [Example Content Marketing Software])
[Example Content Marketing Software]
Introducing [Example Content Marketing Software], the #1 marketing software according to [Example Marketing Publication]
Join hundreds of creative teams who are saving thousands of hours a month.
[button: Get Started]
Why [Example Content Marketing Software]?
Help guides, such as customer service guides, user guides, and FAQ pages, provide the visitor with clear information to help solve a problem or answer a question.
There is hardly a more important time to focus on readability.
Whether a customer is consulting a guide before or after a purchase, they are seeking out specific product information and want clear answers.
Get to the answer quickly and use readability best practices to offer concise, clear, helpful information.
Here is an example of readability for FAQ web content:
For this example, the FAQ is in answer to this hypothetical question: “Can I use my [Example Brand] smartwatch without a smartphone? “
Well, that all depends on what you want to use it for. In most cases, yes, the [Example Brand] can be used without a smartphone if you are connecting it right and it is maintaining wireless connectivity. For instance, it must be connected to home or work Wi-Fi or wireless service via your cellular carrier. But the functionality may be minimized. For instance, you can use it for phone calls and texting but not for fitness apps, entertainment or making payments.
Yes! Your [Example Brand] can make and receive calls and texts, even when not paired with your smartphone. Simply connect to Wi-Fi, and you’re set! Connect to your smartphone for advanced features like fitness apps or buying and paying online.
Readability is the first step in ensuring your web content is accessible to the widest audience.
With all the hard work you and your team put into copy, design, and publishing, think of readability as the part of your web content that helps open the door a little wider to grow your audience.
Review the readability of your content today and streamline your editing process with the Originality.ai Readability Checker.
Learn more about readability and content marketing in our top guides: