Nielsen International B2B Audiences: Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Site for Global Users
October 9, 2016
International B2B sites should demonstrate regional presence, adapt to local conventions, and ensure that localized sites are consistent with a main site.
Topic: Writing for the Web
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The Impact of Tone of Voice on Users' Brand Perception
August 7, 2016
A two-part experiment found that different tones of voice have measurable impacts on users’ perceptions of a brand’s friendliness, trustworthiness, and desirability. Casual, conversational, and enthusiastic tones performed best.
The Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice
July 17, 2016
A website’s tone of voice communicates how an organization feels about its message. The tone of any piece of content can be analyzed along 4 dimensions: humor, formality, respectfulness, and enthusiasm.
How Chunking Helps Content Processing
March 20, 2016
Chunking is a concept that originates from the field of cognitive psychology. UX professionals can break their text and multimedia content into smaller chunks to help users process, understand, and remember it better.
Cringeworthy Words to Cut from Online Copy
January 17, 2016
The right words can make or break trust; they affect your tone of voice and how people perceive your site.
“Learn More” Links: You Can Do Better
December 13, 2015
The phrase ‘Learn More’ is increasingly used as a crutch for link labels. But the text has poor information scent and is bad for accessibility. With a little effort, transform this filler copy into descriptive labels that help users confidently predict what the next page will be.
6 Ways to Encourage Social Participation on Intranets
November 22, 2015
Promote employee contributions by setting examples, creating enticing topics of conversation, keeping a light tone of voice, and providing positive feedback.
Legibility, Readability, and Comprehension: Making Users Read Your Words
November 15, 2015
Users won’t read web content unless the text is clear, the words and sentences are simple, and the information is easy to understand. You can test all of this.
Headings Are Pick-Up Lines: 5 Tips for Writing Headlines That Convert
August 9, 2015
Attractive headlines and titles are critical in making the right first impression. Concise titles that sound authentic and relevant get noticed.
Great Summaries on ‘About Us’ Pages Engage Users and Build Trust
June 21, 2015
Tell your story on top-level pages in ‘About Us.’ People who trust you are much more open to engaging with your organization and website.
A Link is a Promise
December 14, 2014
The words in a link label make a strong suggestion about the page that is being linked to. The destination page should fulfill what the anchor text promises.
Use Specialized Language for Specialized Audiences
November 16, 2014
B2B sites and other sites with specialized content that target professionals or enthusiasts should use their audiences’ jargon to communicate more precisely and professionally.
Related Content Boosts Pageviews, When Done Right
October 5, 2014
Links that follow up on the user’s current interest encourage site exploration and reduce bounce rates. With the proper invitation, people will stay longer on your site.
3 Tips for Better Product Descriptions on Websites
August 24, 2014
Key content requirements for product pages are: answer users’ questions, be direct, and help with product comparison.
Accordions Are Not Always the Answer for Complex Content on Desktops
May 18, 2014
Longer pages can benefit users. Accordions shorten pages and reduce scrolling, but they increase the interaction cost by requiring people to decide on topic headings.
Really Break Grammar Rules on Websites: Part Two
April 1, 2014
Deviating from old writing guidelines makes digital content seem very fresh!!
Satisficing: Quickly Meet Users’ Main Needs
March 30, 2014
Unless faced with life-changing information, most site visitors won't read all of the content provided but settle for a “good-enough” answer. Better sorting and clearer writing satisfy users without exhausting the limited time they’re willing to spend on a website.
Break Grammar Rules on Websites for Clarity
March 23, 2014
Web writing differs from print writing to emphasize scannability. Some grammar rules are worth breaking if they improve fast comprehension.
Writing Hyperlinks: Salient, Descriptive, Start with Keyword
March 9, 2014
To help users quickly find what they need, anchor text should stand out from the body content and accurately describe the page that it refers to.
Avoid Category Names That Suck
December 15, 2013
Categories and hypertext act as signs and should give people a strong indication of what will happen even before they click on the link. People avoid clicking on unknown items or, even worse, ignore them all together.
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How Users Read on the Web
October 1, 1997
Users don't read Web pages, they scan. Highlighting and concise writing improved measured usability 47-58%. Marketese imposed a cognitive burden on users and was disliked.
Concise, SCANNABLE, and Objective: How to Write for the Web
January 1, 1997
Studies of how users read on the Web found that they do not actually read: instead, they scan the text. A study of five different writing styles found that a sample Web site scored 58% higher in measured usability when it was written concisely, 47% higher when the text was scannable, and 27% higher when it was written in an objective style instead of the promotional style used in the control condition and many current Web pages. Combining these three changes into a single site that was concise, scannable, and objective at the same time resulted in 124% higher measured usability.
Be Succinct! (Writing for the Web)
March 15, 1997
Reading from screens is 25% slower than from paper and we know that Web users skim rather than read. Web text should be short, emphasize scannability, and be structured into multiple hyperlinked pages (each focused on a subtopic).
First 2 Words: A Signal for the Scanning Eye
April 6, 2009
Testing how well people understand a link's first 11 characters shows whether sites write for users, who typically scan rather than read lists of items.
Long vs. Short Articles as Content Strategy
November 12, 2007
Information foraging shows how to calculate your content strategy's costs and benefits. A mixed diet that combines brief overviews and comprehensive coverage is often best.
How Little Do Users Read?
May 6, 2008
On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.
Website Reading: It (Sometimes) Does Happen
June 24, 2013
When web content helps users focus on sections of interest, users switch from scanning to actually reading the copy.
Applying Writing Guidelines to Web Pages
January 6, 1998
Rewriting pages from a popular website improved measured usability by 159%. Word count was cut to 54%; long pages were split into hypertext; Web writing guidelines were applied.
Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines
September 6, 1998
Online headlines must be absolutely clear when taken out of context. They should be written in plain language (no puns or clever headlines). 5 additional guidelines + examples of bad microcontent.
Cloze Test for Reading Comprehension
February 28, 2011
Cloze Tests provide empirical evidence of how easy a text is to read and understand for a specified target audience. They thus measure reading comprehension, and not just a readability score.