photo credit: gwilmore
It is unfortunately true that most people reading your copy only reads the first few lines. Now this does not mean that all of your time and frustration writing the copy has gone to waste, all this means is that if those first few lines don’t grab the attention of your reader, then maybe your efforts were wasted as they will toss it aside and move on.
In the writing world it truly is correct in saying that “less is more”, meaning rather than packing your copy full of facts, stats, stories, information about your company, etc, provide the reader with less info and more interesting attention getters. Such as, you can take “save money on shipping costs when ordering chocolate bars now” and turn it into “have sinful chocolate delivered free to your door” and that has their attention immediately.
Strategic Chunking Retains Readers. Take a closer look at your pages – especially the very first paragraph. How can you condense and filter your message to attract the casual browser and convince them to stay? Try “chunking” your message and test it on your audience. You may be pleasantly surprised at how many more people stick around to keep reading!
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