3 Website Copywriting Facts That Should Change Your School’s Content Strategy

Here are 3 facts and statistics that should impact the way you approach your next school website copywriting project.

Consumers’ average attention span is now 8 seconds – 1 second less than a goldfish. (This is 4 seconds SHORTER than it was in 2000). (source)

This is a pretty shocking fact that has been widely reported– although further investigation reveals that it might not be true. Regardless of the exact attention span of a goldfish and the average person today, if you think about your own personal actions on the web, they probably include lots of link-clicking, scanning, and jumping around. It’s the same for your readers.

So how can you make the most of the limited time you have to grab their attention?

• Focus on your headline and your hook. You want to create engaging intro copy that draws the reader in.
• Tell the reader what he or she will get from reading your page. Set expectations, and demonstrate why your page is valuable.
• Keep the most important information at the top of the page. Journalists have been doing this forever — keeping all of the critical information in the story’s first paragraph, or “lede”. Copy their lead.

On the average web page, users read only 20% of the content. (source)

All those words you’ve painstakingly selected, edited, and had your internal review team stew over are most likely never going to be read. But that process is still critical. Each and every word on your website is important because you want the select few words that ARE read to resonate with your reader.

Want to make sure your readers are reading the RIGHT words?

• Cut down on the amount of content. A lot. Your website should be the “hello”, not the entire conversation. Your words should be enticing audiences to take the next step. Don’t feel like you need to say it all upfront.
• Shorten your sentences. Remove unnecessary words, and avoid flowery language.
• Create white space and levels of reading. Add subheads and bullets to make it easy for audiences to scan and absorb key points.

Users look for facts online, so incorporate facts to attract and keep readers. (source)

Most readers are looking for sources they can trust online. By incorporating trustworthy facts and statistics, you help position your site as a resource. Plus, humans are drawn to numbers within content, because they’re short and easy to understand.

• Keep information straightforward and easy to understand. Creativity is not as important as comprehension.
• Seek out and include facts and information that will help your audience make a decision or meet a need.
• When applicable, create a numbered list to attract the eye and make dense content easier to read.
• Standard writing rules say we should spell numbers zero through nine, but if you really want to catch a reader’s eye, consider breaking these rules and using the numeral instead (note how we’ve done this in this blog post!).

In short, focusing on answering reader needs up front, keeping content short and simple, and incorporating straightforward, helpful facts and numbers will help strengthen your web pages.

Want more help crafting website content that converts? Learn more about working with us.