You’re Not Going To Read This Article
Admit it. You don’t read every single word of an article — you skim-read it. And you’re going to do it for this one too.
I read a few years ago that people tend to skim through an entire article first before deciding if they want to read it. This is a subconscious behavior to evaluate if your content is worth their time.
As they skim, they want to find out the general idea of what your content is about, why they should read it, and how it can help them solve a problem.
More often than not, if the article is difficult to skim, the reader will feel overwhelmed and leave.
Then they’ll likely turn to your competitor to get the information they need. And I’m sure you don’t want to drive traffic away from your content this way.
This is why writing in the 21st century needs to be skimmable, and here’s how you can do that.
THREE WRITING FUNDAMENTALS TO FOLLOW WHEN CREATING A SKIMMABLE ARTICLE
1. Whitespace.
In writing, whitespace is the space between paragraphs, sentences, and characters. It helps deliver information to the reader in an enjoyable manner, creating a smooth reading experience.
Cluttered writing makes it difficult for readers to digest information. Whitespace, on the other hand, makes it easy for readers to scan to decide whether you have what they want.
The most common way to use white space is to include spacing between lines and break up your paragraphs. Take these two pieces of writing, for example:
These two pieces have the same content. You can see how the writing on the right with spaced-out lines and paragraphs is easier on the eyes. As for the unbroken text, I doubt you’re eager to read page after page of that.
2. Include Subheadings
A subheading is a small headline for each segment of your writing. It is arguably the most crucial tool you’ll need to create skimmable content.
A subheading serves three essential purposes:
- Captures the reader’s attention as they skim through your content
- Breaks down the content into sequential sections to help the reader navigate the information
- Gives the reader insight into what each section talks about
If your article is more than 200 words, you need to include subheadings. Let’s compare two blocks of the same text again — one with subheadings and one without.
When you look at the writing on the right, you can instantly grasp what the article is going to talk about in each section. First, it lets you know what Lorem Ipsum is; next, it explains the origin; and finally, it tells you why people use it.
3. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Short, Stupid)
Remember to keep things short — this means short sentences and paragraphs. Keeping things short and to the point helps the reader absorb more information in a short amount of time.
Many digital writers have adopted this type of “short-and-easy-to-read” writing style in the past few years. This writing style is not the typical English essay writing we’ve learned. But in the age of skimming, this style of writing is far more effective for information retention.
If you’re a lengthy writer, check out the Hemingway App. It helps you keep your sentences as short and straightforward as possible. But use it with a grain of salt because if you follow every single correction it suggests, your writing will sound dry.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO WRITE A SKIMMABLE ARTICLE
According to Microsoft, our attention span has gone from 15 seconds in 2000 to 8.25 seconds today. It’s not great, but still better than a goldfish!
Data from the Technical University of Denmark suggests that our attention span is shrinking because there’s so much information out there competing for it.
Today, an average adult is exposed to over 5000 marketing messages a day. This insane statistic correlates with the ad revenue of many pay-to-play tech companies, such as Facebook and Google.
Google’s ad revenue alone in 2020 has amounted to over 146 billion US dollars!
Not to mention other types of content we’re also presented with, such as news, entertainment, and so much more.
This is why readers aren’t going to want to pay attention to a blob of cluttered information that’s hard to digest. In the age of skimming, it doesn’t matter how good your content is or how much value it can give. Readers can’t appreciate it if they don’t find out whether you’re worth it in a few seconds.
I mean, after all, who am I kidding? At the end of the day, we’re both busy people with barely enough time for ourselves. As nice as we say we are, we aren’t going to waste time reading each other’s content word for word unless we know it’ll do something for us.
