There is no doubt in my mind that the Internet has been revolutionary in changing the way we see and do things. It has been instrumental in the way we perceive the world and how we interact with it. Where else can you have information at your finger-tips, shop without leaving the house, and earn money from home. For many, the Internet community is their second family.
A down-side of this is that our attention spans have become minute. We are all looking for a quick fix and if we don’t find it on the first site we click the next and so on.
As Internet Marketers we want people to come and visit; but more importantly we want them to stop and browse. The longer a person stays on your site, the more likely they are to act, whether it is to buy, sign-up for a newsletter, join your affiliate program or whatever you want the visitor to do. The traffic we accomplish through SEO; the Browsing we accomplish through thoughtful web design.
Think of your index page as a store front window. Have you noticed that a lot of care is put into setting up attractive window displays to tempt the casual passerby into the store. When you get inside, you find even more product displays to further tempt you to look closer. Your ‘online’ shop window, the very first page, is exactly the same.
During my psychology studies I learned that we humans can only process information in chunks of 5 +/- 2. Which means whenever you want to draw some-one’s attention try not to overload them with too much all at once. Chunk the information into 3-7 pieces; 5 bits of information is a good rule of thumb.
So what does this mean for us Bloggers?
Your front page is dynamic; which means it changes every time you add more information. For every post, your archives, RSS Feed, and latest story changes. Every time you add a page or a link to the Blog-Roll the list gets longer and before long you will find that your sidebar starts going on forever. If you are like me and tend to write long posts, and if you have set your blog to show 10 posts on the first page, your posts go on forever.
From a browsing point of view this is not user friendly. Who wants to wade through tons of irrelevant information (from the visitors’ point of view) in the hopes of finding that gem. Our click happy visitor will vote with their mouse and go elsewhere. If you are lucky in this circumstance they will exit through a Google Adsense Ad.
Presentation Chunking Tips:
Try to use the 5+/-2 Rule where ever you can.
- Keyword Categories: Organize your keyword categories into sub-category groups of 5 using a broad category as an umbrella keyword.
- Links and Blog-roll: Remember to use Keywords as categories whenever possible. Try using a scrolling list of links and group links into topic categories with a topic heading in the sidebar. This will keep your lonf lists looking more compact. (see this post on how to do it)
If your Wordpress version and theme includes presenting Blog-roll categories, group your links into link categories. - Writing Posts and Articles: Use sub-headings to break up your post and articles. Write one key idea and only use 3-5 sentences per paragraph. Check your spelling andgrammar - read what you have written out loud - Does it make sense? Not only does doing this things make it look nicer, it makes for easier reading.
- Use bullets and Numbered lists: This is a good way to chunk information and key ideas. Lists are also indented so they draw the readers attention.
- Use the More tag for long posts: You can find this feature in the WordPress Composer. You just insert the more tag after a couple of paragraphs and it will put a link on the front page to the whole article post. (Newspapers have been using this technique for years.) The effect of this is a list of attention getting article snippets on your front page that the visitor can browse without scrolling for miles.
- Balance the lengths of your post area and sidebar: If you find your sidebar run a lot lower than your posts consider showing more posts or use a two sidebar template.
If you find your posts extend way past your side bar consider using the more tag on long posts or showing fewer posts on your first page. - Reduce the need for scrolling: unless you have the undivided attention of your reader, the casual browser hates to scroll. It is far easier to click even if you have a scroll mouse.
Points to Remember When Using the More Tag.
Using the more tag can cut off your posts in RSS Feeds, therefore the opening paragraphs of your posts need to be attention grabbing.
If you are using anchor text links to monetize your blog (linking to product pages) make sure you insert these into the first few paragraphs that will be seen in the RSS Feed.
Understanding how visitors perceive the information on your website and maximizing your website design to take advantage of this, will result in your blog or website being more effective.
